Here's Where It Gets Interesting - A Tale of Two Theodosias and a Well-Kept Secret

Episode Date: August 5, 2022

On today’s episode of Here's Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon takes us deep into the lives of the women who greatly influenced the same man: Aaron Burr. Theirs are stories of great minds, insatiable appetites for knowledge, grief in motherhood, and untimely tragedy. Listen in as Sharon turns over the stones of their lives and hear about a disappearance at sea, a mysteriously scavenged portrait, and a family secret. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends. Welcome. Welcome to our new series where we are examining untold aspects of popular stories or introducing you to people you might not know. You are going to want to buckle up and hold on tight for this one because here's where it gets interesting. I'm Sharon McMahon, and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. This is a tale of two women. Two women who share the same first name. Two women that had a deep and consequential connection to an important figure in early America. Two women named Theodosia. Theodosia Bartow was born

in 1746, and she was the descendant of a woman who was renowned for her beauty. Her father died a few weeks before she was born. And when she was 17 years old, Theodosia Bartow married. She married a man named James Prevost. Together, Theodosia and James had five children, Sally, Anna Louisa, Mary Louisa, Augustine, and John. James Prevost was a British officer, which at the time of their marriage, more than a decade before the Declaration of Independence, was sent as this sort of ultimate Dear John letter to a despotic king of England. It was not a particular problem. It provided a good income and allowed the Prevost to live in a lovely home on a large parcel of land in New Jersey. They called the property the Hermitage. Eventually, being a British officer did become problematic, however. As the colonies came closer and closer to rising up, Theodosia

knew that she needed to do something. The property of British soldiers was often seized. And to keep that from happening, Theodosia became a patriot. James was often sent away on missions for the British army. And while he was gone, Theodosia opened the hermitage as a gathering place for American soldiers. as a gathering place for American soldiers. When she heard that George Washington was nearby after fighting the Battle of Monmouth, she sent word to him and offered him and his soldiers her home as a reprieve. Theodosia was well-educated and well-read. She spoke French fluently, and her aristocratic manner provided good conversation to military officers in need of time off. Theodosia's home is now a museum, and in an interview, the director of the museum said, for a long time, we've kind of perpetuated this idea that Theodosia was a patriot, and we now really view her as a politician.

When George Washington accepted her invitation, he didn't just rest his weary head for a night and ride away. No, he arrived with Alexander Hamilton and James Monroe and the Marquis de La Fayette, and they partied for four days. They drank and ate and conversed with Theodosia and her female friends. Washington spent most of his time planning the army's next move. And to say thank you for the hospitality, Washington offered Theodosia a chance to visit New York City later that summer. And he even offered to provide her a chaperone. And a chaperone would have been needed because her husband James was away on military service, and traveling alone as a woman was not something that was considered appropriate. Future President Washington chose a young lieutenant colonel as her chaperone,

someone who had just been injured after falling from his horse at the Battle of Monmouth, someone named Aaron Burr. After the trip, Burr spent four months recuperating from his injuries at the hermitage. How convenient. Theodosia and Aaron Burr began having an affair. And we know for sure that Theodosia and her husband James owned slaves. We know this because there are newspaper records of an advertisement that James placed offering a reward for the return of a married couple who had run away from the Prevost's home. What we don't know is how many people the Prevost enslaved, or really many details about the people that lived on their property in New Jersey. And we strongly associate slavery with the Southern United States, rightfully so,

but at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, slavery was actually permitted in every one of the 13 colonies. People enslaved in the North were often house servants, or they were skilled tradespeople like shipbuilders and seamstresses. And unlike the slave quarters of the South, where most enslaved people resided in separate buildings apart from the people who owned them, enslaved people in the North often slept in the same house, often in attics or basements, sometimes just on a pallet in the corner of the kitchen. And within a few months of meeting, Aaron Burr wrote to his sister and mentioned Theodosia's honest and affectionate heart. Other friends mentioned in gossip that Theodosia was clearly the object of Burr's affections. And by 1780, they were openly together.

Theodosia would sometimes go to stay with Burr's sister, Sally, to get away from the prying eyes and the wagging tongues of people local to her that knew her husband, James, who was still, by the way, away in the British military. In December of 1781, several years after meeting Aaron Burr for the first time, Theodosia received word that her husband James died in Jamaica of yellow fever. Burr, who was done with his military service, was studying for the bar exam to become an attorney. Aaron Burr is widely known to history as a ladies man. You can even see it referenced in the show Hamilton, where Burr is trying to attract the attention of the Schuyler sisters. And he's like, there's nothing like summer in the city, someone in a rush next to someone looking pretty. You

know what I'm talking about? Excuse me, miss. I know it's not funny, but your perfume smells like your daddy's got money. And then one of the Schuyler sisters says, Burr, you disgust me. And he says, ah, so you've disgust me? I'm a trust fund, baby. You can trust me. Like it's a reference to the fact that Burr got around. And I'm sure Burr found Theodosia attractive, but he did like her for more than her looks. One of Theodosia's biographers says that Theodosia lacked the beauty of some of Burr's many previous loves. But what she did possess was a highly educated, razor-sharp mind, a quality largely unknown in a society which placed little emphasis on the education of women. In case you didn't know, Burr was a literal genius. That's not hyperbole. He was incredibly smart. And so you could maybe understand why he found her intellect so attractive.

Theodosia's biographer goes on to say that the few surviving letters give some insight into what increasingly bound them together, an interest in the ideas of leading thinkers and thoughts touching on the meaning of life, their happiness and their future, as well as how to react to the negative opinions of others concerning their relationship. as well as how to react to the negative opinions of others concerning their relationship. Theodosia's husband died at the end of 1781, and in 1782, Burr, who was now an attorney, decided to marry Theodosia. They had a double wedding with Theodosia's half-sister at her property, the Hermitage. Here is what the show Hamilton never tells you. Theodosia was 35 years old with five children and Aaron Burr was 25. That is not mentioned. Nowhere

in the show does it tell you that Theodosia was already married with five children and was 10 years older than him. Also, the show Hamilton, which I love, does not mention that Aaron Burr and Theodosia had four children together and only one of them lived. And the one that survived was a daughter that Aaron Burr insisted on naming Theodosia, just to make this podcast confusing. That's the only reason. Their daughter Theodosia was born the year after they got married in 1783. was born the year after they got married in 1783. So Aaron Burr moves his new wife, two of his step-sons, and their new baby to New York City, where he is now a practicing attorney.

And his political aspirations carried him forward. He got elected as a state representative and then was appointed the attorney general of New York State. It was this office, though, and the connections that he made while attorney general that allowed him to defeat Philip Schuyler in a race for U.S. Senate in 1791. By the way, remember at the time, senators were not elected by the citizens, they were elected by the state legislature. So all of the connections that Burr made helped him get elected. Burr was often away working as a senator in Philadelphia because the Capitol had not yet been formally moved to Washington, D.C. And while he was gone, Byrne Theodosia often wrote to each other. There's evidence in the letters that they sent to each other that she constantly disagreed with his views and was never shy to point out his flaws. He sent her things like political books and newspapers.

He really treated her in many ways like an intellectual equal. And it was in part her intellect, her sense of observation, her adeptness at sizing up other people in Aaron Burr's sphere that helped propel his political career forward. Both Theodosia and Aaron Burr had a passionate commitment to the education of their daughter, Theodosia. They both insisted that she would be educated as well as any male would have been educated. She could read and write reportedly at age three, and by the age of 10, she reportedly was reading Latin, Greek, and French. Theodosia, his wife, began to get sick. And as her health declined, Aaron took over more and more of their daughter's schooling. The doctors could do very little for Theodosia, and she lived her life in constant pain. Aaron offered to resign from the Senate so

he could spend more time with her, but she refused to allow it because he had come too far. Theodosia Prevost Burr died in May of 1794 at the age of 47, most likely from stomach cancer. Aaron later wrote that she was the best woman and finest lady he had ever known. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We are best friends. And together we have the podcast Office Ladies, where we rewatched every single episode of The Office with insane behind the scenes stories, hilarious guests and lots of laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve! It's my girl in the studio! Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from The Office and our friendship with brand new guests.

And we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments. So join us for brand new Office Ladies 6.0 episodes every Wednesday. Plus, on Mondays, we are taking a second drink. You can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. Well, we can't wait to see you there. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. I won't tell you the whole story of how Aaron Burr was almost elected president in 1800,

but was instead elected vice president. I will tell you that Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr assumed their office in 1801. And that was the same year that Aaron Burr's daughter, Theodosia, got married. She got married to a man named John Alston, who would later become the governor of South Carolina. Theodosia Burr Alston and John Alston became the first recorded couple to ever take a honeymoon in Niagara Falls in New York. And they started the trend of Niagara Falls being a great place to honeymoon. Theodosia and John Alston had one child together who was born the year after they got married, and his name was Aaron Burr Alston. But the birth of her son took a very

heavy toll on Theodosia. She was severely injured in a traumatic birth. She had a uterine prolapse. It left her in immense pain for the majority of her life. They never had any additional children. And she had a very difficult time adjusting to being the mistress of a plantation in South Carolina. She ended up spending considerable amounts of time, like almost half the year, living with her son and her dad in New York. And we all remember what happened in 1804, right? We all remember about how Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton, and Alexander Hamilton died, and then Burr got away with it and was never prosecuted, right? We all remember that. By the way, it was not a conflict about who would become president that led Aaron Burr to shoot Alexander Hamilton.

It was the fact that Aaron Burr was trying to run for governor of New York and Alexander Hamilton dissed him in the press. And he was mad. And it was that conflict that led to the duel that killed Alexander Hamilton. Aaron Burr, again, never put on trial, never suffered any consequences other than the scorn of the public for killing Alexander Hamilton. But he was put on trial for something else. Treason. Treason. After serving out his term as vice president, Aaron Burr decided, you know what? Let me make my own country. Let me go ahead and make my own country. I'll be the emperor.

My daughter Theodosia can be the empress after I'm gone. The territory that Aaron Burr wanted to use to make his own country is in what is now Texas and Louisiana. Some of the land belonged to the United States. It wasn't a state yet, but it was territory of the United States. And some of it belonged to Mexico. And there's actually records of Aaron Burr attempting to write to England, asking for assistance in taking over this territory so that he can start his own country that he is going to be in charge of. Well, let me tell you how much Thomas Jefferson was amused by that. And the answer is 0%. 0% amused by the fact that Aaron Burr is out there trying to make his own country. And Thomas Jefferson insisted that Aaron Burr be arrested and put

on trial for treason. Okay, yada, yada, yada. Aaron Burr is not convicted. So he killed Alexander Hamilton, not even put on trial, tried to make his own country. By the way, I am completely ignoring the massive conspiracy that he engaged in to try to get this land to become his own country. I'm completely skipping over all of that. It's way more than I mentioned. The bottom line is that Ered Burr was put on trial and he was acquitted. But he was so wildly unpopular at that point. He was being burned in effigy in cities all over the United States that he felt he had no choice but to flee to Europe. And while he was in Europe, he went to France, lived most of his time in exile in France. He decided he would try to talk to Napoleon and

try to entice Napoleon to help him conquer Florida. That also, turns out, didn't work out for him. And his daughter Theodosia stayed behind in the United States, taking care of his business, sending him money, writing letters on his behalf, but her health continued to deteriorate. She even wrote to a doctor and said, The most violent affections have tormented me during the whole of the last 18 months. Hysteric fits, various colors and flashes of light before my eyes, figures passing around my bed, strange noises, low spirits, and worse. That sounds absolutely terrible, but unfortunately, it gets worse because at the end of June of 1812, the War of 1812 is going on. Theodosia's son, her only child, died of malaria, and she was so grief- stricken that she could not travel to New York to meet her father's ship that returned from Europe in July of 1812. She spends months in a severe depression

with severe pain. And finally, at the end of December, she decides she can't wait anymore. She needs to go to New York and see her dad. And they made arrangements for her to travel via ship on a small ship called the Patriot. She departed on December 31st of 1812. And one week went by, two weeks went by, three weeks went by. And after three weeks when there was no word from the patriot, her husband was losing his mind. He said, my mind is tortured. After 30 days, my wife is either captured or lost. And again, he had just lost his only child. By February 24th, he wrote another letter and said, my boy and my wife, gone, both. This then is the end of all the hopes we had formed. So what happened to the Patriot? Erin Burr believed she was lost in a shipwreck, and in fact, there had been a number of bad storms in the area at that time.

But more than 50 years later, a doctor who was on vacation was called to assist an ill elderly woman named Polly Mann. This doctor's name was William Poole. And while he was attending to his patient, he saw a portrait on the wall. His daughter, who was with him at the time, described this portrait as being of a beautiful young woman about 25 years old. Dr. Poole was looking at a portrait of the long-vanished Theodosia Burr Alston. So how did Polly Mann get her portrait? Did it wash ashore? Was it sold by a pirate? Did Theodosia survive a shipwreck and give it to her? Some deathbed confessions from pirates claimed they had

slaughtered everyone aboard the Patriot. There was one deathbed confession that was widely repeated, and it was from a pirate who said there was one lady on board the Patriot who was beautiful and appeared intelligent and cultivated who said her name was Theodosia Alston. And when her turn came to walk the plank, she asked for a few extra minutes, and the pirate said she then went down to her room, changed into all white, and appeared on the deck with a Bible in hand and said, I'm ready. And the pirate said she appeared calm and composed as if she were at home. He said not a tremor crept over her frame as she walked towards her fate. And he said that as she was taking her fatal last steps, she folded her hand over her bosom, raised her eyes to heaven, and sank without a murmur. Is that story true? I don't know. How would we know? I don't know.

But it is interesting that so many pirates claimed to have captured the Patriot. Other people said that the ship washed ashore on the barrier islands of South Carolina and that Theodosia lived on. Polly Mann, the woman with her portrait, said that her father and husband were wreckers. And a wrecker was somebody who scavenged ships that washed ashore on the outer banks. She said that decades before, her husband and his friend had come upon an empty ship. In one cabin, they found many fine items, including that portrait of Theodosia, dresses that Polly was now in possession of, and some other things like a shell carved in the shape of a nautilus and a vase of wax flowers under a glass globe.

Also noteworthy is that Theodosia reportedly had a trunk full of Aaron Burr's papers and letters, and that has been lost to history. And if you think that is where the story ends, you would be wrong. Because Aaron Burr had a secret family. He had two children with a woman who worked as a servant, or perhaps was enslaved enslaved in the home that he shared with his wife, Theodosia. There aren't sufficient records to know exactly what her status was in the home, but we do know that she arrived to the United States as a very young woman. Some records say she was as young as 10 from from India. And she mothered two of Aaron Burr's children, a daughter named Louisa and a son named Jean-Pierre. And here's something that I found interesting, was that we know that she worked in the home of Theodosia before Theodosia and Aaron Burr got married. And so she undoubtedly knew

that Theodosia had two daughters, one named Anna Louisa and one named Mary Louisa, and the daughter that she had with Aaron Burr was named Louisa. Her name was changed to Mary Emmons when she arrived in the United States. And it took many decades, but Louisa and Jean-Pierre have now been officially recognized as the descendants of Aaron Burr. In fact, a professor from New Mexico was somebody who uncovered this connection between her and other descendants of Aaron Burr. Jean-Pierre was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. I have a podcast on the Underground Railroad if you're interested in that. And his headstone was changed to read, champion of justice and freedom, conductor on the Underground Railroad, son of

Vice President Aaron Burr. Both of these children, Louisa and Jean-Pierre, married into the free Black communities in the northern part of the United States. And so their descendants are people of color. And it seems pretty certain that Louisa and Jean-Pierre knew about their half-siblings, that they knew that Aaron Burr was their father because Sherry Burr, the professor who unearthed this connection, found a letter that Louisa Charlotte sent to Aaron Burr that said, will you have the goodness to lend me the miniature of my beloved Theodosia? And then she kind of concluded this letter with kind remembrance from all the family. Believe me, always sincere and affectionate. And we also know that Mary Emmons, the mother of these two children, Louisa and Jean-Pierre, at some point moved to Philadelphia, which is where Aaron Burr did a lot

of his work when he was senator. And so it's very possible that Aaron Burr had two households and two lives, one with Mary Emmons and the children that she bore, and one with Theodosia. with Mary Emmons and the children that she bore, and one with Theodosia. It does not stop there, though, because Aaron Burr fathered two other children in Paris while he was away in Paris, and he later adopted them. Their names were Aaron Columbus Burr and Charles Burdette. They were reported to be his biological sons. They came to the United States and he adopted them. And he also fathered two daughters while he was in his 70s with two different women. And their names were Frances Ann and Elizabeth. He made provisions for Francis Anne, Elizabeth, Aaron, Columbus Burr, Charles Burdett. He made provisions for all of them in his will.

He did not leave money to Louisa and Jean-Pierre, but descendants of Jean-Pierre did track down a deed in which he gave Jean-Pierre a parcel of land. And that is the story of two Theodosias. And at least four other women who bore Aaron Burr's children. I'll see you soon. Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful for you. And I'm wondering if you could do me a quick favor. Would you be willing to follow or subscribe to this podcast or maybe leave me a rating or review? Or if you're feeling extra generous, would you share this episode on your Instagram stories or with a friend? All of those things help podcasters out so much.

This podcast was written and researched by Sharon McMahon and Heather Jackson. It was produced by Heather Jackson, edited and mixed by our audio producer Jenny Snyder, and hosted by me, Sharon McMahon. I'll see you next time.