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The Reverend Aaron Burr ( 1715 or 16 - September 29, 1757) was a founder of Princeton University and the father of United States Vice President Aaron Burr.
He attended Yale College, where he obtained a B.A. in 1735. He married Esther Edwards, daughter of the New England Divine, Jonathan Edwards, and his wife Sarah, daugher of Rev. James Pierpont. Jonathan Edwards is significant in that not only is he considered by many to be one of the greatest minds of colonial America, but he was also responsible for the Great Awakening which helped to bring America back to its spiritual roots in Christ, in time to defeat the British forces against all odds and form the greatest nation in the world. Without this awakening revival, it is highly doubtful America would have ever been independent of the British Empire, and Edward's son-in-law, Aaron Burr did his part to preserve the tradition, keeping the flame alight through his preaching and for his part in forming one of America's finest Christian Universities. At a time when the Yale Corporation, of which he was a member, was split regarding the disciplines introduced by Yale's first President, Rev. Thomas Clap, Jonathan Edwards, Rev. Aaron Burr, and Jonathan Dickinson , in opposition to Clap, left New Haven, Connecticut for Newark, New Jersey, and later founded the College of New Jersey, (now Princeton University) in 1746.
Jonathan Edwards was the third president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) but died the same year due to complications from a small pox vaccination. Rev. Burr then honorably took over the responsibility as the second president (1748—1757) of the College which he founded.