Hetty Burr

Hester "Hetty" Elizabeth Burr (née Emery) (c.1796-1862) was an abolitionist and clubwoman in early America.

Biography Hester Emery was born to Sarah Emery and John Emery, a free Black man who served as a private in Pennsylvania's Fifth Regiment during the Revolutionary War. Hetty was born in about 1796. Her father died on January 19, 1809, when Hetty was about fourteen.

Hetty Emery was a dressmaker or hairdresser by trade.

On May 15, 1817, Hetty married John Pierre Burr at African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. They had ten children together. This organization promoted purchasing goods produced by free labor. In 1838, the Female Vigilant Association was founded, with Burr as a member, as an auxiliary to the Vigilant Association of Philadelphia, an underground railroad organization led by black Philadelphians. The Female Vigilant Association raised money to clothe, feed, and shelter runaways. and was friends with abolitionists Sarah Moore Grimké and Angelina Grimké. She also was president of one of Philadelphia's female literary societies.

In 1849, Burr co-founded the Woman's Association of Philadelphia.

Burr died around 1862.