Burrage Yale

Burrage Yale (1781 – 1860) was an American tin ware manufacturer and justice of the peace from Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was the town treasurer and the largest employer in the town. He gave his name to Yale Avenue and Yale Fire Station. He was also the first postmaster recognized in Washington, D. C., and the cofounder of South Reading Academy, with abolitionist minister, Cyrus P. Grosvenor.

His son, Burrage Buchanan Yale, became one of the founders of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale., a major gun-making machine manufacturer for Abraham Lincoln's army during the American Civil War.

Early life Michigan Exchange Hotel, Detroit, property of Harvey P. Yale's relative, Capt. Lyon

Burrage Yale was born on March 27, 1781, in Meriden, Connecticut, the son of soldier Amerton Yale and Sarah Merriman, members of the Yale family. His father was a member of the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Capt. Hough during the American War of Independence, and was at Tryon's raid in 1779.

Other cousins included Capt. Josiah Yale from the Revolutionary War, and Col. Braddam Yale of the War of 1812.

Biography

Yale started working at an early age, and arrived in Wakefield, Massachusetts, at the time named South Reading, in the early 1800s.

In 1808, Yale married teacher Sarah S. Boardman, daughter of Colonel Amos Boardman, and became a brother-in-law of sea captain Amos Boardman Jr. and Dr. Moses Long.

In 1812, at the incorporation of South Reading (Wakefield), Yale was elected as one of its officers, and was nominated on a committee to help the poor and settle other matters. The basis of his fortune came from the growth of Wakefield from a small village of about 800 individuals at its incorporation, to a thriving suburb of Boston with thousands of citizens.

Yale would hire about 100 peddlers, selling tin ware articles with covered wagons and horses throughout New England, and used his newly acquired wealth to build a large general store in the city, with family members working under him. Number of luxurious homes would be built on his former estate on Yale Avenue by Boston businessmen.

Yale died on September 5, 1860, at 79 years old. His two other daughters, Lucilia T. and Octavia A., married Reverend Nathan Monroe and Reverend George P. Smith.

Yale's only son, Burrage Buchanan Yale, co-founded with Ebenezer G. Lamson the gun manufacturer Lamson, Goodnow & Yale. They also obtained special government contracts from the Lincoln administration, manufacturing muskets under their own brand, such as the Springfield Model 1861, in partnership with Samuel Colt, and dealing with Lincoln's Secretaries of War, Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton.

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