Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr, received a higher education and became a socialite. She married Joseph Alston and managed the family estate while her father was in Europe. She disappeared at sea in 1812 and her ghost is said to haunt a South Carolina plantation.
Theodosia Burr Alston was born in Albany, New York in 1783. The only daughter of former United States Vice President Aaron Burr, Theodosia Burr spent much of her childhood under the close supervision of her father, who was intent on giving her a higher education . While most girls of the time only studied music and French, Theodosia Burr also studied arithmetic, economics and Latin.
After her mother’s death, Theodosia Burr became the official landlady of the stately family home in Greenwich Village. By the age of 14, she was hosting dinner parties for heads of state, bishops, and New York’s elite. She rose to fame as the Burr family’s “child prodigy”.
In 1801, Theodosia Burr married Joseph Alston, a wealthy plantation owner. She moved to South Carolina, where her husband had recently been appointed governor. The marriage provided enormous financial relief for Aaron Burr, who was going through difficult times, and a social outlet for Theodosia, who became a staple in South Carolina high society.
Aaron Burr had been plotting for years to form a new empire by separating Louisiana from the United States. However, things didn’t go as planned, and he was eventually arrested on treason charges in 1807. Aaron was acquitted on the condition that he leave the country, then left for Europe soon after. Theodosia Burr became ruler of the family estate, managing the funds and ensuring that her father was well established in Europe.
A few years later, Aaron returned to New York, just days after Theodosia’s son had died of malarial fever. On December 30, 1812, a heartbroken Theodosia Burr sailed on The Patriot to meet her father. She never made it. The story suggests that the vessel was lost in a storm or captured by pirates, but it is believed by some that she Theodosia Burr survived the shipwreck, only to die hours later in the arms of a Karankawa Indian warrior. The ship has never been found, but a portrait of Theodosia who was aboard the ship appeared in North Carolina in 1821. No one knows how he got there.
Joseph Alston died in 1816 and was buried next to his infant son. Legend has it that the ghost of Theodosia Burr haunts the South Carolina plantation where she lived and can sometimes be seen floating above the water at Huntington Beach State Park.
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