In the 1860’s Miles W. Burford, a banker from Independence, Missouri, moved with his wife to Indianapolis to join his son-in-law, William Braden, in the printing business. Miles and Braden operated the business together until about 1873, when Braden, who dabbled in real estate, fell victim to the Panic of 1873. Miles died not long thereafter, in 1877.
In 1875, Miles’ son, William, who served in the Civil War, took over the printing business. The William B. Burford Printing Company eventually held the printing contract for the State of Indiana, which it held at the time of this ad in 1911.
William died in 1927, and his son-in-law, Henry Danner, who was married to William’s daughter, Caroline, took over the company. The company was passed down to Henry’s son, Burford Danner, and then to Burford’s Danner’s son, William Danner. William Danner owned the William B. Burford Printing Company in 1993, when the company moved to Zionsville. It seems this over a century old company ceased to be sometime after that.
Among those buried in the Burford family lot at Crown Hill is Celia Burford, who only lived for two weeks in the 1880s. Her granite monument is in the shape of a crib.