Charles Hiram Burnett Sr

Charles Hiram Burnett the son of Hiram Burnett and Elizabeth Merriam Gibbs Burnett of Seattle, Washington. He married Jeanette Campbell McLean and they had two children Amy Louise and Charles Hiram Jr. When his wife died young he continued living with his in laws his and mother in law Georgia McLean for forty years. His children were raised by Mr. Howard Cranston Potter and Alice Kershaw Potter the parents of Bertha Potter Boeing (Mrs. William Boeing). Amy Louise Burnett became the wife of Marshall Latham Bond and Charles Hiram Burnett Jr. Seattle City Councilor, Council President and Acting Mayor of Seattle.

Charles Hiram Burnett Sr. was the first Treasurer of the City of Seattle 1869-1872, a commission merchant and the General Superintendent of various coal mines in King and Pierce Counties on Puget Sound in the state of Washington.

In April 1867 Hiram Burnett published a legal notice in the newspaper that his minor son Charles Hiram Burnett was free to go in to business with S. B. Hinds. He was in partnership first with Hinds then after their firm merged with Corliss P. Stone he was a junior partner in Hinds, Stone & Co.. When Hinds left the firm became Stone, Burnett. They developed real estate, built a pier with warehouses and they sold wagons and carriages. They were the first merchants to use the Pike Street coal bunker to stock and ship Washington coal. Charles Hiram Burnett managed Seattle's first commercial delivery service. Charles Hiram Burnett met his wife because father in law Charles Edward McLean operated a Puget Sound delivery boat. In 1873 his partner Corliss P, Stone removed the liquid funds from their partnership and then temporarily absconded.

Charles Hiram Burnett was put in charge of the sale of shares, house lots and coal for the Renton Coal mines. Among the other executives involved with Burnett in Renton Coal and other subsequent coal mines were Charles D. Shattuck, Erasmus M. Smithers. Subsequently Charles Hiram Burnett spent time managing operations at several other Washington locations. He was the founder of the village of Burnett, Washington and the first owner of the land created by the lowering of Lake Washington that is now the Boeing Renton Factory in Renton, Washington. In the city of Renton Charles Burnett has an avenue, a park and a train station named after him.

References

* [http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Facts/treasurer.htm Seattle City Treasurers]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2858 HistoryLink Essay: Voters elect Corliss P. Stone as mayor of the City of Seattle on July 8, 1872]
* [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=197 HistoryLink Essay: Seattle Mayor Corliss P. Stone embezzles $15,000 and runs on February 23, 1873]
* [http://maryryan.com/renton.htm "Renton, Where the Water Took Wing" by Buerge]
* [http://www.rentonhistory.org/pdfs/Newsletters/RHM_Oct2006.PDFRenton Historical Quarterly 19.p65]