Willie Olcott Burr was born in Connecticut on September 27, 1843. He married Angie L. Lincoln of Upton, Massachusetts, on May 21, 1874. Burr began his journalism career in 1861 at the Hartford Times, which was founded by his father. He became the active head of the paper in 1900 upon the death of his father. Burr served as director of the Connecticut State Prison from 1897 to 1898.