The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allston, Theodosia Burr

ALLSTON, Theodosia Burr, was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1783, daughter of Aaron and Theodosia (Provost) Burr. She was tenderly reared, her father directing his efforts to train her up to become something more than a "mere fashionable woman with all the attendant frivolity and vacuity of mind," and she is admitted to have been the "most charming and accomplished woman of her day." She was the mistress of her father's house in Washington when only eleven years old, at a time when he was at the zenith of his political popularity. She returned with him to their New York home, and on February 2, 1801, after he had been elected vice-president of the United States, she, in her eighteenth year, was married to Joseph Allston, a wealthy young planter of South Carolina, son of William Allston and relative of Washington Allston, the historical painter. He afterward became governor of the state of South Carolina, and their son, Aaron Burr Allston, was proclaimed by his proud grandfather as the intended heir to the throne of the empire of Mexico, which he dreamed of wresting from the Montezumas. Aaron Burr awoke from that dream to find himself a prisoner confronted with a charge of treason, while the lovely Theodosia, the petted and beloved leader of the social circles of two capitals, found herself an object of distrust and suspicion, shunned by her nearest friends and derided by those who before had not been so fortunate as to share her favor. Upon hearing of her father's imprisonment at Richmond she hastened to his side, and through the long trial clung to him with more than filial devotion, sharing in his disgrace, and by her beauty and heroism charming even the most bitter of his enemies. From her childhood she had been his friend and companion, and in the dark hours of his checkered career her faith in him and her devotion to him were the only ties that bound him to his fellow-beings. Subsequently, when her exiled father was weary of his four years' wanderings in foreign lands, it was through her eloquent appeals to Mrs. Madison, Secretary Gallatin, and other old-time friends, that the way was finally opened for his return to his America. The death of her son, in his eleventh year, before his grandfather's return, prostrated her completely. In the hope that the companionship of her beloved father would restore her broken health and spirit, her husband obtained passage for her to New York in the Patriot, a coasting schooner. The vessel was never heard from after its departure from Charleston, S. C, in December, 1813, and it was believed to have foundered off the coast of Hatteras. Some forty years afterward, however, a romantic story found credence and went the rounds of the press, to the effect that a dying sailor in Detroit had confessed that he had been one of a crew of mutineers, who, in January, 1813, took possession of the Patriot, bound from Charleston to New York, and compelled the crew and passengers to "walk the plank." Charles Burr Todd has written biographical "Sketches of Rev. Aaron Burr, D.D., Col. Aaron Burr, and Theodosia Burr Allston," published in New York, 1879.