Edward Burd

He studied law with his uncle, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Edward Shippen, whose daughter Elizabeth he married on December 13, 1778.

Upon the outbreak of the Revolution, Burd volunteered and eventually rose to major in Colonel Henry Haller's Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp.

After his release, ill health prevented him from reentering military service, and he returned to his legal practice in Reading.

He was appointed as Prothonotary of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on September 1, 1778, and served with great distinction until his resignation December 29, 1805.

It was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1822 and hung for a time at Peale's Museum, New York City.