John Bott Burwell
Historic Hillsborough Commission
Historic Hillsborough Commission
(1834-1904)
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John Burwell was the child of Robert Burwell and Margaret Anna Robertson. He worked as a teacher and later fought in the Civil War alongside his brothers.
John Bott Burwell was the second child of Robert Armistead Burwell and his wife Margaret Anna Robertson. He was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia on his mother’s 24th birthday, October 3, 1834. The Burwell family moved to Hillsborough, NC in late 1835, and John grew of age in the small village. He attended school locally at the Caldwell Institute from 1845-1850 when he entered the sophomore class at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. John followed in his father’s footsteps, as Robert had also attended Hampden-Sydney.
After graduating, John began teaching in Virginia, at one point bringing on younger brothers Armistead and Robert as his students. It was in Virginia in 1853 that he met his first wife, Irene Spraggins, daughter of John D. and Almira Spraggins. He was 19-years-old and she was 14-years-old, but the couple wouldn’t marry until December 1857 after Irene had completed school. At the time of their marriage, Irene’s father gifted the couple with four enslaved individuals, Bill, Susan, Louisa and Cleo.
John & Irene made their home in Virginia, moving to Charlotte, NC in October 1859 when John was offered a place with his parents at their successful school for young women, the Charlotte Female Institute. John brought not just his wife and young daughter, Mary who had been born in September, but also the four “servants” as slaves were referred to at the time.
For several years John would teach alongside his parents at the school before enlisting in the 53rd NC Infantry on June 4, 1862. Five of his brothers would also serve in the confederacy, including younger brother Jamie who joined the same regiment in April 1864 and died in battle in October 1864. During the duration of his time at war, he was accompanied by his enslaved worker, Bill.
After the war ended, John returned to Charlotte and continued to run the school with his parents. Following the death of his mother in 1871, John and his family, which now numbered seven children moved with his father Robert to Raleigh, NC and took over as principals at Peace Institute, a school for young women.
John’s wife died in 1879, and he remarried to Widow Mary F. Foster in 1880. In 1896, after the death of his second wife, John Bott Burwell moved to Iredell County, NC, and took over the Statesville Female College. For four years he would run the school there and his family would become an integral part of the community.
He remained in Statesville after retiring from the female college and on January 26, 1904, while going about his normal routine in town, he collapsed on the street and died at the age of 59. He was buried beside his first wife, Irene, in Raleigh’s Oakwood Cemetery.
John Bott Burwell was born on October 3, 1834. He died on January 26, 1904, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, NC.
, Frances Armistead Burwell (1838-1856) , Mary Susan Burwell (1832-1859) and Virginia Isabella Burwell (1851-1867). and Virginia Bridges (1832-1859) .