Personal Life

Photograph of portrait 

At twenty years old Ruth married John W. Burgess, widower of the sister of Samuel Minot Jones, our library’s benefactor. A distinguished Professor of Columbia University, Burgess is credited with the development of political science as an academic discipline in the United States. As members of the intelligentsia and high society, John and Ruth maintained homes in New York City, Montpelier, Vermont, and Newport, Rhode Island. The couple had one child. Seen here is a photograph of a portrait presumed to be their son Elisha Jewett Burgess.