Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston
Lost at sea? The tragic mystery of
Theodosia Burr Alston

Two hundred years after her death, Theodosia Burr Alston’s
name found itself revived in the most unexpected of places –
inside a Broadway theater.

In the 2015 musical sensation “Hamilton,” Theodosia’s father,
fourth Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr, sings a
song to his young daughter about his dreams for her life in
the newly independent country of America.

“You will come of age with our young nation,” sings Burr’s
original portrayer Leslie Odom Jr. “We'll bleed and fight for
you, we'll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough
foundation, we'll pass it on to you. We'll give the world to
you and you'll blow us all away.”

That song and the Tony-winning musical from which it sprung
is chiefly about the story of America built on the backs of
immigrants like Alexander Hamilton, who would infamously
die in a duel with Burr in 1804.

But for novice history fans, the musical was likely the first
time they had ever heard the name Theodosia Burr. Had they
left the theater interested in learning more about the players
of “Hamilton’s” story, they might have come across
Theodosia’s tangential tale – one staked on promise and
underscored by a tragedy that some say befell the young
woman right off the coast of the Cape Fear.

Theodosia Bartow Burr was born on June 21, 1783, a few
months before the colonies declared their victory in the
American Revolution and their independence as a country
free from the grip of the British crown.

She was born into a nation of promise, with a name that
would, for a time, open up a lot of doors for her. Her father
was a renowned lawyer and Patriot soldier who raised her on
a curriculum meant a future scholar, ensuring she was fluent
in several languages and equipped to handle herself in just
about every subject, from math to music.

In so many ways, his world revolved around his daughter. He
had fallen in love with her mother, also named Theodosia,
while she was already married and the mother of five
children. After her first husband died, she and Aaron made
their love official, despite the controversy that surrounded
their courtship, and had Theodosia, their only child to survive
birth.

His daughter was his pride and joy, especially after his wife
died when Theodosia was just 11.

Despite her intensive schooling under her father’s
supervision, Theodosia still followed a path that was

expected of women of the time. In 1801, she married Joseph
Alston, a wealthy planter from South Carolina, who would
become the governor in 1812.

The Alstons are considered to be the first couple to spend
their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, a major high society
moment that would turn the trio of natural waterfalls into a
destination for newlyweds.

In the first decade of their marriage, Theodosia bore her
husband a son, Aaron Burr Alston. But following the difficult
birth, Theodosia struggled with relentless health issues and
learned it was unlikely she would have another child.

She remained cooped up in The Oaks, the South Carolina
plantation where she and Joseph moved, and yearned for the
life she once knew up north.

She would leave the family’s home in South Carolina, her son
in tow, for months on end to attend health retreats to her
home state of New York.

She remained close with her father through it all, even as his
political clout and influence plummeted after he killed
Hamilton in their duel in 1804.

Burr was Vice President of the United States at the time of
the duel, but he would never recover from the ramifications
of killing the revered Hamilton. He would fight and fail to
remain part of the high society, which cast him out. He
traveled the country looking for work and a political
comeback, but faced an insurmountable number of hurdles.

In 1807, after trying to establish a new country made of
western states over which he would rule as emperor, he was
tried for treason, a trial that saw Theodosia stand by her
father’s side. He was acquitted, but felt he could no longer do
anything substantial in America, a country he helped found
— and fled to Europe, mostly on Theodosia’s dime.

With her father and confidante gone, she resumed her role
alongside her husband’s own rise to power in the South, but
was greeted by tragedy once again.

Her son died of malaria in June 1812, devastating the already
mentally strained mother. She had found purpose in
resolutely caring for her father, her husband and her son –
but who was to care for Theodosia?

Her father was set to return to New York the following month,
but she had sank into a deep depression and wrote of seeing
hallucinations and flashes of light. She was unfit to make the
journey north, so she waited until December to reunite with
her father.

Now Governor Alston, Joseph had to tend to matters of state
and couldn’t accompany her on the trip, but he feared for
her safety. So he put his wife on the Patriot, a schooner that
shoved off from Georgetown, South Carolina on Dec. 31,
1812. Also on board was a small crew and her father’s friend
Dr. Timothy Green, brought on to keep her company.

None of them were ever seen again.

This is where Theodosia’s story collides with that of the Cape
Fear – depending on whose story you believe.

What actually caused the ship and it’s passengers to
disappear has never been determined.

It is said the ship sank off the East Coast sometime after the
New Year, likely overcome by a string of brutal storms that
battered the coastline on January 2 and 3.

But without hard evidence, the void of certainty has allowed
200 years of conspiracy theories to fill in the final chapter of
Theodosia’s story.

Fueling that fire is the tale of a portrait, discovered in Nags
Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the 1860s, that
many believe to have been of Theodosia. While never
verified, it’s owner claims it was salvaged from a shipwreck
that washed ashore on the barrier islands, leading many to
assume the Patriot met its fate off the Carolina coast.

But wilder stories have cropped up as well, some claiming
pirates took over the ship and made every passenger walk to
plank. Others say Theodosia was captured, taken prisoner
and transported everywhere from the Caribbean to Texas.

Deathbed confessions from those claiming they were the
pirates that slaughtered the ship’s passengers or they were
the crew that staged a mutiny littered newspapers for
decades. The disappearance of Theodosia was a mystery that
kept on giving.

But in the Cape Fear, it still lives, at least in legend, on Bald
Head Island. The island’s ties to Theodosia are dependent on
you buying the theory the Patriot was crashed into the
deadly Frying Pan Shoals and left its passengers for dead. Or

that the ship was overcome by pirates and Theodosia was
taken to shore as a prisoner.

Legend has it her ghost is eternally chased by three pirates
on the shores of Bald Head, some versions even say those
pirates are headless. In most sightings, she’s dressed in all
white, the outfit she is said to have slipped into before
pirates made her walk the plank.

Is it possible Theodosia made it to shore in the Cape Fear? Or
did she die on the open ocean, a tragic end to her already
traumatic story?

The Nags Head Portrait has led some to believe there was
more to Theodosia’s life after she boarded the Patriot.
Whether it was spent under a new name, a captive life or
simply as a lovely face in a portrait, we will never know.

But what we do know is that the promise Aaron Burr saw for
his daughter was fulfilled. Maybe not in the ways he intended,
but certainty as a woman who dedicated her life to those she
loved — and as someone who will live forever in history.

A painting of Theodosia Burr Alston in 1802 or 1803 by John Vanderlyn, about a decade
before she disappeared at sea while traveling from South Carolina to New York.