Robert Burton (statesman)

Robert Burton ( born October 20, 1747 Chase City, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, † May 31 1825 in Granville County, North Carolina ) was an American politician, who participated as a delegate from North Carolina to the Continental Congress.

Robert Burton was educated at private schools in Virginia. In 1775, he moved to North Carolina and settled in the part of Granville County, which now belongs to the Vance County. There he worked as a planter. After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he joined the Continental Army and took it as Quartermaster-General to the rank of Colonel.

After retiring from the army Burton was active politically. He was a member from 1783 to 1784 on the senior staff of the Governor of North Carolina, before he was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress of the State in 1787, which met at that time in New York. In 1801 he was a member of a Commission which was mandated to define the boundary line between the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Burton died in May 1825 and was buried at his estate " Montpelier " near the present city of Henderson. His nephew Hutchins Gordon Burton was 1824-1827 Governor of North Carolina.