Burt's mother Wealthy lost her father, William Austin, at sea. She therefore discouraged her son from becoming master of a ship. Burt decided then to apply his science and mathematical knowledge and bought a broken surveying compass when he was eighteen years old in 1810 to see what he could do with it. He repaired it and surveyed the vicinity of where his father had farm land since 1809. This was near East Aurora in Erie County, New York. In 1812, he enlisted in the United States army, which interrupted his surveying work for a while.