In 1875 Governor Tilden appointed him one of three commissioners to remove obstructions from the Delaware River. The commission served without pay, and after their work was thoroughly done a balance was returned to the State treasury—a result so unusual in the expenditure of public money that it excited no little comment.
No public work was ever dearer to Mr. Burt than the establishment of the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital. Serving as chairman of the building committee he saved the State much money by his watchful care. He was appointed by Governor Dix on the first board of trustees of this noble institution, and gave twenty-seven years of ungrudging service; acting first as vice-president, he eventually became president for the eleven successive years before his death. All this he did amid the stress and strain of conflicting business cares in behalf of suffering humanity.
In Warwick his name was coincident with its progress. He was one of the agitators for incorporating it under a special charter; an incorporator of Warwick Institute, serving thirty-two consecutive years on the board of education; one of the founders of Christ Church; on the committee of three to bond the town to pay volunteers in the late rebellion; on the first board of trustees of the Warwick Cemetery Association, active in building the reservoir and water-works; on the first board of directors of the First National Bank, where he served as vice-president for fifteen years.
The American Trossachs trip, which he inaugurated, was one of his many-schemes to bring our valley's beauties into a wider recognition. This excursion as planned by him would challenge comparison for varied interest and charm with any one day's excursion taken in any part of the world. Mr. Burt also did much for the development of Greenwood Lake. The artistic station and his own stately home, both built under his direction and out of our native McAfee limestone, are evidence that Grinnell Burt was a man of taste and culture as well. If you would see his monument, look about you in the little village he so loyally loved and served.
In 1849 he married Miss Jane S. Van Duzer, daughter of Isaac Van Duzer, of Warwick, by whom he had one son and four daughters: Frank Howard, who died in infancy; Kate V. D., who married Charles Caldwell, of Newburgh; Lily, wife of Frederick Halstead, of Brooklyn; Jane, who died in 1903, and Mary Herrick Burt, who resides in the old homestead. Mrs. Burt died in 1870. In 1886 he married Miss Louise Pierson, daughter of Samuel V. Pierson, of Middletown, N. Y. By this marriage he had twin sons, Grinnell, Jr., and Howard Pierson. Mr. Burt died August 3, 1901.
Surely a few words of tribute should be added in honor of this man whose unfaltering honesty, ability and enthusiasm called to his side noble helpers and the capital necessary to carry out these difficult public works. Personally he was possessed of most genial social traits—to see him in his home was to see him at his best. Here he dispensed the widest hospitality. He held high national ideals free from party lines. He was capable of long hours of unremitting physical and mental toil. He did not waste his energy talking about things he would like to do—he did them. He was acknowledged to be a winning and witty public speaker, and, when occasion demanded, a formidable antagonist, as he was absolutely fearless and not to be shaken from his convictions; and yet being[?] so fair withal that his warmest personal friends were among those with whom he differed on many occasions. In every walk of life he was a man.
When death came it seemed only a momentary interruption and to point back triumphantly to his long and honorable life of service.
THOMAS BURT, of Warwick, was born January 5, 1821. Both of his parents died when he was about fifteen years of age. He then lived with his uncle, Thomas M. Burt, in Albany, who sent him to an academy for one year. The next year he was employed in the printing office of Packer and Van Benthuysen. The next three years, he was employed in farming in central Ohio. In 1841 he returned to his native place, Bellvale, and soon after bought his father's farm and sawmill, which he operated until 1868, when he moved to his farm in Warwick, where he now lives. In 1846, he married Hannah Sayer, and lived a married life with her over fifty-four years. His surviving children are Elizabeth, Lydia, Annie, and Mrs. Vernon B. Carroll.
The next seven years he was in the lumber and coal business in the firm of Taylor, Burt and Pierson. In 1876 he organized the Warwick Savings Bank and has served as secretary and treasurer to the present time. As secretary and treasurer of the Warwick Cemetery Association he has had the care of its records and funds for twenty-six years. He was one of the commissioners who introduced public water into the village. He has served as trustee in the district school, academy, and Union Free School for many years, and as executor and administrator of estates and of trust funds.
He is independent in politics, has never held public office, has supported free soil, anti-slavery, and republican candidates, as well as Grover Cleveland.