Elzy Burroughs

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Elzy Burroughs (1771/77-1825) was an American stonemason, engineer, Lighthouse builder and keeper.

A native of Stafford County, Virginia, Elzy Burroughs' family leased and operated a sandstone quarry in the Aquia Creek area of Stafford County. Known as Aquia sandstone, material from quarries in this area was utilized in the construction of Mount Vernon, the U.S. Capitol building, the White House, and the base of the first lighthouse constructed at Cape Henry in Princess Anne County, Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. As a young man, Burroughs traveled Tidewater Virginia at the turn of the nineteenth century building stone and brick structures, including the county clerks' offices in York and Middlesex Counties. His oldest son, John J. Burroughs (who later served as Clerk of Court of Princess Anne County), was born during this period in 1798 in either Middlesex County or Essex County, Virginia.

Under contract with the young United States Government under President Thomas Jefferson, Elzy Burroughs built three lighthouses along the Virginia coast, at Old Point Comfort at Fort Monroe in 1802; New Point Comfort, in Mathews County in 1804, and Smith Point in Northumberland County around 1803 (moved further inland and rebuilt by Burroughs in 1807). Only the towers at Old Point and New Point have survived until the present, and both of these are known to be constructed from Aquia sandstone, likely from the Burroughs family quarry. The early Smith Point tower was said to have been an iron frame structure.

Soon after the construction of the lighthouse at New Point Comfort, Burroughs settled there in Mathews County with his wife and son John and was made keeper of that lighthouse, where he served officially until 1814. Elzy's younger brother William K. Burroughs was appointed the second keeper of the lighthouse at Smith Point in 1806. Elzy is known to have moved to Norfolk in 1810, before the end of his keeping service. By this time he is recorded to have been a widower with a large family. During the War of 1812 he reputedly served on the staff of Brigadier General Robert Barraud Taylor, who was in charge of military operations in the Hampton Roads area. In connection with his service, some sources have called Burroughs the "hero of the Battle of Craney Island", but no verification of his status as such is currently known.

Following the War of 1812, Burroughs lived the rest of his life in Norfolk and was a successful road construction contractor in the region. He was also contracted by the Federal Government to conduct repairs on the three lighthouses that he originally built, along with old Cape Henry lighthouse, all of which had been badly damaged by British troops during the War. He married his second wife, Ms. Ann Murphy, on December 12, 1820, in Norfolk, but she died less than two years later. Not long after this, on November 8, 1825, Elzy Burroughs himself died after a short illness at what was then called "Cedar Grove", the farm of his eldest son John on Holland Road in Princess Anne Courthouse. Elzy's place of burial at Cedar Grove became the Burroughs Family Cemetery, which is now within sight of the modern City of Virginia Beach Municipal Center.