lawyer, politician, b. Pittsylvania County, Va. He spent his early years in Kentucky, attended an academy there, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice law at Paris, Ky. A Democrat, he was appointed sub-Indian agent at Prairie du Chien in 1829, moved there in 1830, and served until 1834. Burnett was district attorney for the western counties (1835), president of the rump council at Green Bay (1836), and the first reporter for the territorial supreme court. In 1837 he moved to Grant County. He served in the territorial lower house (1845-1846), and was a delegate to the first constitutional convention (1846), but died shortly after it convened. Burnett County was named for him in 1856. C. N. Holford, Hist. of Grant Co. (Lancaster, Wis., 1900); Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 2; Proc. State Bar Assoc. Wis., 1 (1905); P. M. Reed, Bench and Bar of Wis. (Milwaukee, 1882); WPA field notes.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]