1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,119 Speaker 1: I am Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. I 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: have a slight cold voice today, so apologies that side 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: of the episode for that. Yeah, we both caught some 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: crab while we were in New York. Yep, souh that 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: apology aside. The last time we mentioned Hamilton's on the podcast, 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: I said it would be cool to do an episode 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: about one of the ladies on the show because Hamilton's 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: men are becoming really well represented in our podcast archive already. 11 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: So today that is what we are doing. She's a 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: figure who played a hugely important role in that show 13 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: despite not singing any songs or even ever being on stage. 14 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: It's Theodosia Burr Alston, and in keeping with our Halloween 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: theme because it is October, we're going to be spending 16 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: some time on her mysterious eighteen twelve disappearance and all 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: the stories surrounding it, some of which are quite maccab 18 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: hooray maccob. It's almost impossible to separate Theodosia Burr Alston's 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: life from her parents, Erin Burr and Theodosja bartow and 20 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: when they met the elder. Theodosia was married to Jacques 21 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: Marcus Provo or Provost, depending on how you pronounce it 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: if you're French or American. He is also sometimes known 23 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: as James Mark Provost, who was an officer in the 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: British Army. Jacques and Theodosia had five children together, three 25 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: daughters and two sons, none of whom are the subject 26 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: of this episode. They all lived on a two and 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: fifty acre estate in New Jersey known as the Hermitage, 28 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: and they lived there along with Theodosia's widowed mother and 29 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: an enslaved household staff. When the Revolutionary War started, Jacques, 30 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: who had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 31 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: earlier wars, returned to service in the army. He became 32 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: second in command to his brother Augustine, and Augustine is 33 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: actually sometimes incorrectly named as Theodosia's husband. Jacques's role in 34 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: the British Army put Theodosia in a precarious position because 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: the Hermitage was in territory controlled by the Patriots and 36 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: she was entertaining a lot of their most prominent military 37 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: and political leaders there, but somehow she managed to walk 38 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,639 Speaker 1: a very fine line in which her husband and most 39 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: of her male relatives were fighting for the loyalist cause 40 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: while she was at home playing host to such prominent 41 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: patriots as the Marquis de Lafayette, John Lawrens, Alexander Hamilton's 42 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: Charles Lee, James Monroe, and George Washington himself. Basically the elder. 43 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: Theodosia was hosting the entire cast of Hamilton's at the estate, 44 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: and of course there was her future husband, Aaron Burr, 45 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: who Theodosia met at the at the Hermitage while her 46 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: husband was stationed in Jamaica. Aaron Burr was a notorious philanderer, 47 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: but the first time he saw Theodosia, he was totally 48 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: convinced that she was, to use a slightly more recent term, 49 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: his soul mate. This was in spite of the fact 50 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: that she was married, she was a decade older than 51 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: he was, and she already had five children. Eventually, Theodosia's 52 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: husband was recalled to Georgia, and after defeating the patriots 53 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: forces there, he was installed as Lieutenant governor under the 54 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: British government. That delicate line that Theodosia had been walking 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: back at the Hermitage started to falter. New Jersey law 56 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,559 Speaker 1: allowed the confiscation of land belonging to loyalists, and Theodosia's 57 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: husband was no longer just an officer in the British Army. 58 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: He was a prominent part of the British government in 59 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: North America. So an organized effort got underway to try 60 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: to have Theodosia and her family evicted from the Hermitage, 61 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: and among those who defended her, in part due to 62 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: her connection to so many on the patriots side, was 63 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: Aaron Burr. Theodosia did eventually leave the Hermitage because the 64 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: war in area became way supercarious for her to be 65 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: safe there, but the organized effort to force her off 66 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: the property was ultimately dropped. In addition to advocating for 67 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: her to remain at the Hermitage, Aaron Burr spent much 68 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: of the Revolutionary War preparing for what he saw as 69 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: a foregone conclusion that one day he would marry Theodosia Provost. 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: As long as he was stationed anywhere nearby, he visited 71 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: her as often as he could. In seventeen seventy nine, 72 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,479 Speaker 1: at the age of twenty three. He resigned from the 73 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: army because of his failing health, and he resumed his 74 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: study of law, hoping that that would allow him to 75 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: support her. He also developed a relationship with her two 76 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: sons and paid for a tutor to see to their educations. 77 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: In December of see, Theodosia Provost learned that her first 78 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: husband had died, so Aaron Burr had successfully waited out 79 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: their relationship. This information actually came to her second hand 80 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: from a loyalist newspaper. She never got official word on 81 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: it from the British Army. Aaron Burr at the time 82 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: was in the middle of applying for admission to the 83 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: New York Bar, which he earned on April seventeenth, seventeen 84 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: eighty two, and then on July two of that year, 85 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: he and Theodosia married at the Hermitage, which she had 86 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: returned to earlier in the year, once it was safe 87 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 1: for her to be back there. From there they moved 88 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: to Albany, where Aaron Burr set up a profitable law practice, 89 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: and their early marriage was, by all accounts, a very 90 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: happy one. Theodosia was extremely intelligent, she was very well read, 91 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: and she and her husband shared a keen interest in 92 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: culture and art. Aaron Burr saw his wife as an 93 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: intellectual equal, and he trusted her to handle aspects of 94 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: his business for him. Their marriage also raised an eyebrows since, 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: in addition to the part where he had visited so 96 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: much before her husband died, she wasn't wealthy, and she 97 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: also was not considered to be particularly attractive, and it 98 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: was assumed that Aaron Burr would marry someone rich or 99 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 1: beautiful or both. They made their al Mauny residents into 100 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: a place that was home to French literature and fine art, 101 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,119 Speaker 1: and on June twenty one, seventeen eighty three, their daughter, 102 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: who was christened Theodosia Barto Burr the following July, they 103 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: nicknamed her Miss PRIs, and in their letters to each 104 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: other and eventually to her, they called her Theo. Although 105 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: the Birds occupied a prominent place in Albany society and 106 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: his law practice was successful, erin Burn wanted to pursue 107 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: even greater opportunities. He was, as was the case through 108 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: much of his life, short on liquid funds, so he 109 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 1: borrowed money from an uncle to relocate the family to 110 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: New York City. Theodosia wound up being nearly the entire 111 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 1: focus of her parents and especially her father's ambitions. Her 112 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: three half sisters aren't really mentioned much in the historical record, 113 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: and they disappear from it altogether. By sevent Her two 114 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: half brothers were already old enough to work as clerks 115 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: and their father's law office by the time that she 116 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: was born. They both had to swear allegiance to the 117 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,359 Speaker 1: United States that they had been sent to fight with 118 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: the British when they were little. Her sister, Sally, was 119 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: born on June five, but she died at the age 120 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: of only three, and the younger Theodosia also had two 121 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: brothers who were both stillborn. So it was really Theodosia 122 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: who Aaron Burr started grooming for some future greatness as 123 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: part of his own personal legacy, And we're gonna talk 124 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: about how he did that, but first we're gonna pause 125 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: for a quick little sponsor break. Both of her parents 126 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: absolutely adored the young Theodosia Burr, and they raised her 127 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 1: in a home that was nurturing and loving, and if 128 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: they had not, if they had been distant and cruel people, 129 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: she could have easily buckled under her father's demands. Because 130 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: his plan for her education was intense. Aaron Burr is 131 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: often described as giving his daughter her in education that 132 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: would have been expected for a young man from a 133 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: prominent family, but it really goes way farther than that. 134 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: His expectations for her were incredibly high, and he got 135 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: to work on shaping her into a person who could 136 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: meet those expectations. Basically as soon as she was born, 137 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: she had multiple tutors dedicated to different subjects, with multi 138 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: hour blocks every day devoted to practicing them. It was 139 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: a wide ranging education, with its only notable omission being religion, 140 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: something people were still commenting on the oddity of one 141 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: years later. Theodosia was a brilliant student even as a 142 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: young child. She was writing her father letters by the 143 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: age of three, and writing them well by the age 144 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: of five. At the age of eight, she was assisting 145 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: her half sister Luisa, who was more than a decade older, 146 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: with her math. At ten, she spoke both French and Latin, 147 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: and her penmanship looked like it belonged to a professional calligrapher. 148 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: And also at that age she had reportedly read all 149 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,840 Speaker 1: six volumes of Edward Gibbons The History and Decline and 150 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: fall of the Roman Empire. She was widely regarded as 151 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: a prodigy. Mary wolston Crafts of Vindication of the Rights 152 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: of Woman is often credited as having inspired Aaron Burr 153 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: to secure this education for his daughter, and he definitely 154 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: did read that work in after which he called it 155 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: a work of genius. But by that time Theodosia's education 156 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: was already well underway. All of those accomplishments that Tracy 157 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: spoke of just a moment ago had already happened. What 158 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: a Vindication of the Rights of Woman did do was 159 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: make Aaron Burke consider thinking about the education of other 160 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: girls and the way he thought about his own daughters. 161 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: He became one of the very few men who was 162 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: outspokenly supportive of Wolston Craft's work, especially as it related 163 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: to the education of girls and young women. He imagined 164 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: that Theodosia could provide a living example that girls could 165 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: and should be educated and could excel in school. He 166 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: wrote of his daughter, quote, I hope yet by her 167 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: to convince the world what neither sex appears to believe 168 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: that women have souls. Even though Theodosia excelled at her 169 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: studies and grew into a lively accomplished young woman. This 170 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: wasn't without its problems. Aaron Burr spent as much time 171 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,679 Speaker 1: at home as he could, but his work did keep 172 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: him away for long stretches. This was especially true when 173 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 1: he started his political career, which began with a turn 174 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: for the New York Assembly the year after Theodosia was born, 175 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: and whenever he was gone, it was up to Theodosia's 176 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: mother to carry out the exacting and educational plans that 177 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,439 Speaker 1: he had created. So just overseeing her daughter's education might 178 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: not have been too much for the Elder Theodosia to handle, 179 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: but simultaneously she also had to oversee the management of 180 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: their various New York City households, including the enslaved staff. 181 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: She was also interested with carrying out various business matters 182 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: on her husband's behalf. At the same time, her health 183 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: had already been really poor even before her second marriage. 184 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: Towards the end of seventeen, the Elder Theodosia's health really 185 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: started to fail, and she was given a wide range 186 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: of treatments, from hemlock to laudanum two wine to mercury, 187 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: and none of this worked, and she died at home 188 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: on May eighteenth sevent The actual cause of death was 189 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 1: most likely stomach cancer. The young Theodosia was only ten 190 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: when her mother died. She had been the person most 191 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: responsible for her mother's care in the last months of 192 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: her life. Her father, by then a senator, returned to 193 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: work almost immediately, Theodosia threw herself into her studies, and 194 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,959 Speaker 1: she gradually started taking on additional duties that had formerly 195 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: been handled by her mother. The Birds had multiple residences 196 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: in and around New York, but following the death of 197 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 1: his wife, Aaron and Theodosia made a mansion known as 198 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,959 Speaker 1: Richmond Hill their primary home, and that is the younger 199 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: Theodosia we're speaking of, and enslave staff of approximately ten 200 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: people saw to a day to day care and management 201 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: of the property, including cook's maids, coachman, a valet, and 202 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: a doorman. By her early teens, Theodosia was officially the 203 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: mistress of the house, and by running the household and 204 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: acting as hostess, Theodosia meant and interacted with an incredibly 205 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: posh list of guests, including politicians, statesmen, and war heroes. 206 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: Her education was also still ongoing even as she was 207 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: basically running the household. Around the time of her mother's death, 208 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: she acquired a new teacher from France known as Madame 209 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: de Senat, who was governess to Natalie Delage Devolude. The 210 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: two of them, along with Senat's own daughter, had fled 211 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: the French Revolution, and upon arriving in New York, Madame 212 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: de Senat had set to work establishing a school to 213 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: cater to the children of prominent families. There she lived 214 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: and worked from her residence that burr also used as 215 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: an office, and Natalie and Theodosia, who were about the 216 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: same age, became best friends. In eighteen hundred, two days 217 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,600 Speaker 1: happened that would radically change Theodosious life. One was an 218 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: incredibly convoluted presidential election, which would ultimately wind up with 219 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: her father becoming the third vice President of the United States. 220 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: The other is that she met South Carolina planter Joseph Alston. 221 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: Joseph was wealthy and educated, and he had practiced law 222 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: before turning his attention to agriculture. His rice plantation on 223 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: the Wakama River covered more than six thousand acres, which 224 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:34,479 Speaker 1: were worked by more than two hundred enslaved Africans. Theodosia 225 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,079 Speaker 1: was definitely attracted to Joseph, but one of the hallmarks 226 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: of her education had been rational thought. She believed they 227 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: were much too young to get married, that she was 228 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,680 Speaker 1: only seventeen and he was twenty one. She thought a 229 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:49,959 Speaker 1: way more appropriate age for a man to get married 230 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: was thirty. She told Joseph she would only agree to 231 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: marry him if he made an argument strong enough to 232 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: convince her that it was the best thing to do, 233 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: along with easing her concern about what life would be 234 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: like is the wife of a planner in South Carolina. 235 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,679 Speaker 1: He returned with a letter that was clearly influenced by 236 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: his time in law, in which he suggested that the 237 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 1: negative things she'd heard about plantation life were just rumors 238 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: spread by northern abolitionists, that Charleston was a beautiful and 239 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: cosmopolitan city, that there were other educated and intelligent women 240 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: in South Carolina, and that the primary arguments against marrying 241 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: young were discretion and fortune, The two of them, he reasoned, 242 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: had plenty of both. Theodosia finally agreed with him, and 243 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 1: they got married in Albany on February second of eighteen 244 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: o one. In spite of her youth, Theodosia was probably 245 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: the most educated woman in the United States at the time. 246 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: Just over two weeks later, the House of Representatives, having 247 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: voted on the matter thirty six times, finally elected Thomas 248 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: Jefferson to be the third President of the United States, 249 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: making Burr his vice president. Almost immediately, Burr nominated joe 250 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: to Alston as charged Affair to the U S Minister 251 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: to France, imagining that Theodosia might continue her education there, 252 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: but Joseph decided to stick with his plantation. We will 253 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: get to Theodosia's married life and her eventual disappearance. After 254 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: another quick sponsor break in one, Theodosia and Joseph departed 255 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: on a bridal tour, simultaneously starting a trend by being 256 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: the first prominent couple to visit Niagara Falls on their honeymoon. 257 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: By the time they got home again, Theodosia was pregnant 258 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: and a son, Aaron Burr Alston, was born around May 259 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: of eighteen o two. His grandfather wanted so badly to 260 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: be present for the birth of his grandson that he 261 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,800 Speaker 1: actually left the capital while Congress was still in sessions 262 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: so he could get there in time. The young Arid's 263 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 1: birth was long and difficult, and the delivery caused a 264 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: uterine pro lapse. A minor pro lapse often doesn't require 265 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 1: much medical treatment, but Theodosia's case was severe. It caused 266 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: her extreme pain for the rest of her life, along 267 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: with irregular and very painful periods, and it also made 268 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: her unable to have any more children and lead to 269 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: recurring infections. Since there was no reliable way to treat 270 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: these infections, they threatened her life on more than one occasion. 271 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: The field of gynecology really didn't exist yet, and no 272 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: one fully understood what was going on or how to 273 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: treat it. Plus, the symptoms that she was experiencing were 274 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: so taboo and they caused her so much embarrassment that 275 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: when she wrote to a doctor to describe what was 276 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: happening to her, she did it all in third person. 277 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: About three weeks after her son's birth, Theodosia and the 278 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: baby boarded a ship to go to New York to 279 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: stay with her father for several months, which became an 280 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: annual event. This was as much about trying to recover 281 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: from the birth of her son as it was about 282 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: trying to recover from culture shock. The South was as 283 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: a whole deeply religious, and Theodosia was not. She was 284 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: also just not what an one expected of a planter's wife. 285 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: Although Charleston's society might have been more welcoming of an 286 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: exceptionally educated woman, a swampy rice plantation on the Wakama 287 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: River was far far from there. Plus, although Aaron Burr 288 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,199 Speaker 1: enslaved people at his New York estates, and Theodosia had 289 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,120 Speaker 1: been responsible in some to some extent, and their management 290 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: while she was running the household, he had also allowed 291 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:26,199 Speaker 1: them all to learn to read and write, and he 292 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: had argued in favor of New York's Gradual Emancipation Act, 293 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,640 Speaker 1: which went into effect in seventeen So people who owned 294 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: lots of slaves not necessarily the biggest fan of Aaron 295 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: Burr and his politics. But as Joseph's wife, it was 296 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: Theodosia's responsibility to manage and monitor the domestic life and 297 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 1: health of the whole enslaved workforce, and essentially to act 298 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:51,159 Speaker 1: as its quartermaster in accordance with Southern expectations. This was 299 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: a world away from New York, where running her father's 300 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: household had meant arranging dinners and soirees for presidents and 301 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: diplomats that had not meant things like distribut eating annual 302 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:05,119 Speaker 1: cloth and allotments to hundreds of enslaved people. Theodosia and 303 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 1: her husband definitely missed each other and these annual stretches 304 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: of months and months when she was away, but South 305 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: Carolina just did not feel like home to her. In 306 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: New York did. Then, on July eleven, eighteen o four, 307 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 1: when she was twenty woman, Theodosia's father shot Alexander Hamilton's 308 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: in a duel in Hamilton's of course, later died of 309 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: that wound. Aaron Burr was charged with murder, but he 310 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: was never tried. There is a whole podcast about this 311 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: in the archives, so we're not going to go into 312 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,440 Speaker 1: deep detail on that as a note, only because people 313 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: have written in to ask us about it. You will 314 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: sometimes hear that Aaron Burr's real motive for this duel 315 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 1: was that Alexander Hamilton's knew he was committing incest with 316 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 1: Theodosia and had been spreading that around. But this really 317 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: comes from Gorvidal's ninety three novel Burr and his logic 318 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,680 Speaker 1: as a writer was basically that it was the one 319 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 1: thing he could think of that would make Aaron Burr 320 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,360 Speaker 1: angry enough to kill Alexander Hamilton's. There's really no evidence 321 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: that there was physical ancest going on, but it is 322 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,399 Speaker 1: absolutely true that Burr's relationship with his daughter did not 323 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: have anything like what we would call healthy emotional boundaries 324 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,239 Speaker 1: today at all, Like she became a definitely became an 325 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: emotional surrogate for her mother after her mother's death, and 326 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: their relationship was intense in a way that would not 327 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: strike people as normal. The duel with Alexander Hamilton's was 328 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: not Ver's only crime. He also embarked on a weird 329 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: scheme to invade Mexico, separate off the western part of 330 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: the U S territory, and succeeed, setting all of that 331 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: up as his personal empire, with Theodosia succeeding him as 332 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: empress after his death. There's a whole episode about that 333 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: in the archive as well, and that is actually going 334 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: to be our Saturday Classic this week. Yeah, that seems 335 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: like a bizarre story to bring up and not really 336 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: get into it, but this episode is not about Airin Burr, 337 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: so we will leave that to past hosts to cover 338 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: on Saturday. Long story short, Aaron Burr was arrested for 339 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: treason on February oh seven, and he faced trial in Richmond, Virginia. 340 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:13,200 Speaker 1: In spite of her health, Theodosia and her husband traveled 341 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,400 Speaker 1: there to be with him throughout the proceedings. Even though 342 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 1: he was acquitted on September one, his reputation was ruined 343 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,640 Speaker 1: and he became the target of public outrage, even more 344 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: than he already had for killing Alexander Hamilton's. Theodosia's reputation 345 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:34,160 Speaker 1: was tarnished by association as well. Erin Burr fled to Europe, 346 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: hoping to make a brief escape while the outrage blew over, 347 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: but when he tried to return, he was refused a 348 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: passport and he was barred from re entering the country 349 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:47,239 Speaker 1: for more than four years. Theodosio went from supporting her 350 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: father while on trial to trying to convince his adversaries 351 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: to let him back into the country. He was finally 352 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: allowed to return in eighteen twelve, and he arrived on 353 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: May fourth. His homecoming was soon marred by tragedy. Aaron 354 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: Burr Alston died on June eighteen twelve of a summer 355 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: fever or possibly malaria, and Theodosia was absolutely distraught at 356 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,639 Speaker 1: the death of her son. The only thing that motivated 357 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: her to go on living with the idea of being 358 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: reunited with her father. Of course, this was during the 359 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,959 Speaker 1: War of eighteen twelve. Theodosia's husband had been elected governor 360 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: of South Carolina and was Brigadier General of the state militia, 361 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: so he could not accompany her on this trip. An 362 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 1: overland voyage would have been far too long and uncomfortable 363 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,120 Speaker 1: for someone with her physical condition, so the only way 364 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: she could get to her father was by sea. It 365 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,800 Speaker 1: would take less than a week, but it was an 366 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: already uncertain means of travel through an active war zone 367 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,719 Speaker 1: that was also infested with pirates. Theodosia's husband thought this 368 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: was an incredibly dangerous idea, but she was so devastated 369 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,199 Speaker 1: and so sick that he couldn't even consider trying to 370 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:01,639 Speaker 1: stop her from going. So she departed from Georgetown, South Carolina, 371 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 1: aboard a small pilot boat called the Patriot, on December twelve. 372 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: Some accounts less this is thet Dr. Timothy Ruggles Green 373 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: went with her because of her illness and her health, 374 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: and she probably had a maid and maybe a cook 375 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 1: with her as well. Joseph boarded the boat with them, 376 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: He kissed Theodosia goodbye, and then he rowed himself back 377 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: to shore alone. Once the Patriots slipped out of you, 378 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: it was never seen again. For weeks, both Aaron Burr 379 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: and Joseph Alston held out hope that Theodosia was still, 380 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 1: somehow alive. The two men wrote each other increasingly frantic letters, 381 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: especially after they heard that, in spite of the fine 382 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: weather in Georgetown when the ships set sail, a heavy 383 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: storm had struck the coast of North Carolina not long 384 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,679 Speaker 1: after she left. They clung to hope for weeks, but 385 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 1: when it eventually became clear that Theodosia was gone, they 386 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: were both broken men. Joseph Alston completed his term as 387 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: governor in eighteen fourteen, after weathering a number of scandals 388 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: and blackmail attempts related to that Mexico invasion plot, which 389 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: he had contributed money to. He died on September sixteen, 390 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,680 Speaker 1: at the age of thirty seven. Aarin Bird died twenty 391 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: years later, and in the years after Theodosia's disappearance, he 392 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: had put everything that reminded him of her out of sight. 393 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: Speculation about what happened started immediately after the disappearance of 394 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,719 Speaker 1: the Patriot, and it continued to for decades. To Quote 395 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: a New York Times piece written for the hundredth anniversary 396 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:39,120 Speaker 1: of the disappearance, summing up what all that speculation had 397 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: been for all those decades, quote what happened to Theodosia 398 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: Burr Austin, the beautiful daughter of Aaron Burr, Vice President 399 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 1: of the United States and the reigning bell of diplomatic society? 400 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,159 Speaker 1: Was she shipwrecked in a storm at sea? Was she 401 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: kidnapped by pirates? Was she forced to walk the plank 402 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,879 Speaker 1: into the ocean? Was she held a prisoner? Was she 403 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,879 Speaker 1: abandoned on an island? Was she the ill fated victim 404 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: of her father's political enemies? Was her life the absolution 405 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: which washed the stain of Alexander Hamilton's blood from her 406 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: father's hands. The only thing that we know for sure 407 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: is that they were not stopped by the British Navy. 408 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: In James L. Mitchie scoured the logs of all British 409 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 1: ships that had been patrolling off the Carolina coast, and 410 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: none of them had any record of an encounter with 411 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: the Patriot. There are naturally a slew of erie and 412 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: sometimes Macab's stories about what happened to the Patriot and 413 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:36,440 Speaker 1: everyone aboard, and some of them emerged while Theodosia's husband 414 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,920 Speaker 1: and father were still alive. Theodosia's best friend, Natalie, had 415 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: a series of premonitions that made her fear for Theodosia's 416 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: life in October of eighteen thirteen, so this was well 417 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: after the Patriots set sail, but before she had heard 418 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: anything about what had happened. She ended a letter to 419 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: a friend quote, I think she must be dead. A 420 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: series of pirates all so gave multiple contradictory deathbed confessions 421 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 1: about having captured the Patriot and killed everyone aboard, including Theodosia. 422 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:14,200 Speaker 1: A June article and the Mercantile Adviser reported that Jean 423 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,400 Speaker 1: Defarge and Robert Johnson, privateers aboard the Patriot, had confessed 424 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: to taking over the ship two or three days into 425 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: the journey, trapping everyone in the hold, stealing all of 426 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,479 Speaker 1: the valuables, and sinking the boat on their way out. 427 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: Although they were tried, convicted, and executed for this crime. 428 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: They also said the Patriot left from Charleston when it 429 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: really left from Georgetown, and they also said that the 430 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: weather had been good the whole time, so there were 431 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: a lot of contradictions in their account. It seems maybe 432 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 1: weird that somebody would make up a confession to a 433 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,120 Speaker 1: crime that would get them executed, but like they were 434 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:52,919 Speaker 1: on trial for other stuff as well, So if this 435 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: is a whole made up story, it was made up 436 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: to bring them personal infamy, because they already knew that 437 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: regardless of of what all they testified to, they were 438 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: they were going to be executed. Another confession made by 439 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: James Burdick, who was known as Old Frank, was reported 440 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: from Michigan in eighteen fifty. He had made an agreement 441 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,920 Speaker 1: with some neighbors that they could have his house after 442 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: he died if they looked after him in his old age. 443 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,920 Speaker 1: So in his final years, as they were taking care 444 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: of him, he told them all kinds of stories about 445 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,920 Speaker 1: his time as a pirate, including that he had captured 446 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,919 Speaker 1: the Patriot and given Theodosia a choice of becoming his 447 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: concubine or walking the plank. According to Burdick, she chose 448 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,919 Speaker 1: the latter, saying, quote vengeance's mind saith the Lord, I 449 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: will repay on her way down. There's no substantiation on 450 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 1: This story and walking the plank is also way more 451 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: associated with sensational fiction than with anything actual pirates did. Plus, 452 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: as we've said before, Theodosia was not really a religious woman. 453 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: This I captured the patriot and made Theodosia walk the plank. 454 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: Story became a common see, appearing not only in the 455 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: deathbed confessions of other purported pirates, but also the plot 456 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: of several sensational novels. Not every novel ended with a 457 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: plank walk, though. In Blenner Hasset or The Decrease of Fate, 458 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,760 Speaker 1: a romance founded upon events in American History, which was 459 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: a book published in ninet one, the pirate captain falls 460 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,360 Speaker 1: in love with Theodosia and she is accidentally shot by 461 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 1: someone in the navy who was aiming for him. Yeah, 462 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: the the guy who wrote this book wrote another book 463 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:33,119 Speaker 1: that was also a fictionalization of her life, and he 464 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: used all his research for this to make one of 465 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,800 Speaker 1: the to write one of the first biographies of her, 466 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: which you can find on the UH on the internet 467 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: at like archive dot org. It will be linked in 468 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: the shares. But in a way it's it's frustrating to 469 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,159 Speaker 1: read because it has chapters and chapters and chapters that 470 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: are about her, her ancestors before it actually gets to her. 471 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: And then it's it's very clear that there is some 472 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,439 Speaker 1: bias involved in how he tells the story of her life. Anyway, 473 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: outside the world of piracy, we're leaving pirates behind. There 474 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: is a grave at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Alexandria, 475 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: Virginia that is known as the Grave of the Female Stranger. 476 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,159 Speaker 1: So according to the Lord, a man and a woman 477 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,239 Speaker 1: arrived in Alexandria in eighteen sixteen, and the woman was 478 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: very sick. When a doctor was summoned, the couple would 479 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: permit no questions about who they were. The woman died 480 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: on October fourteenth of eighteen sixteen and was buried in 481 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: a grave under an an inscription that begins quote to 482 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: the memory of a female stranger whose mortal sufferings terminated 483 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: on the fourteenth day of October eighteen sixteen, aged twenty 484 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: three years and eight months. One theory, even though this 485 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: was a couple of years after she disappeared and she 486 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 1: would have been older than twenty three, is that the 487 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 1: identity of the woman buried in this grave as Theodosja 488 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: Burr Austin fifty seven years after the disappearance of the Patriot, 489 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,200 Speaker 1: a doctor named W. G. Pool was submarine at Bang's Head, 490 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: North Carolina, when he was called on to see an 491 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: elderly woman known as Mrs Mann. As a gesture of 492 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: thanks and in lieu of cash payment, she gave him 493 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: an oil portrait of a lady which he had admired 494 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: while he was attending to her in her home. Dr 495 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,480 Speaker 1: Pool tried to get Mrs Man to tell him where 496 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: this picture had come from, and she finally told him 497 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: that her husband had been a wrecker, basically somebody who 498 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: made a living by salvaging wrecked ships off of the 499 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,080 Speaker 1: outer banks, and sometimes these outer banks wreckers are known 500 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: as bankers. He and some others had found a ship 501 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: completely abandoned, and in some versions of the story nothing 502 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: seemed to miss and a meal was even laid out 503 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,560 Speaker 1: on the table, and other accounts everything was in disarray. 504 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: But regardless, this painting was purportedly from one of the 505 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: cabins on the boat, which clearly belonged to a woman. 506 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: Somebody eventually suggested that this painting was of theodo Ja 507 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: Burrow Alston. It's hard to determine whether this painting. Notice 508 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: the nag's head portrait really is the Adosia. The two 509 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,840 Speaker 1: authenticated portraits of her don't look anything alike, and the 510 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 1: nag's head portrait doesn't look like either of them either. 511 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: Members of the Burr family insisted that it was her, 512 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: but several of the Alston's disagreed. At this point, it's 513 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: not really possible to determine if this is really a 514 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: painting of the Photoship Burr Alston, but it's it's one 515 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: of the most talked about theories for not not even 516 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: really a theory for her disappearance, like if she did 517 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: if if she was on the boat and that was 518 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: a picture of her, that part makes sense because maybe 519 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: she was carrying this painting of herself to her father, 520 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: who was she was going to visit, But it raises 521 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: lots of questions about when she would have sat for 522 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: the painting, and then of course, what happened to everyone 523 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: on the boat when they either abandoned it or were 524 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: taken off of it, leaving the painting behind. We're going 525 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: to end on what's probably the creepiest story and also 526 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: the most recent. J. A. Eliott of Norfolk, Virginia reported 527 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: a story in nineteen ten that he had heard earlier 528 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: from people living in the area a woman's body in 529 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: fine clothing had washed up on the coast in January 530 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: of eighteen thirteen, and then a gentleman who found the 531 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: body had buried it on his farm, but before doing so, 532 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: he had cut three of its fingers off so he 533 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 1: could remove rings that she was wearing. When he later 534 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: had a daughter, she was born with the same three 535 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: fingers missing. Elliott said that the reason that it was 536 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: almost a hundred years before anybody had suggested that maybe 537 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: this was Theodosia was that nobody had written the area 538 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: knew about Theodosia's disappearance, but as soon as he heard 539 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: about it, he made that connection. It's supposed to the 540 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,040 Speaker 1: weird theories about what maybe happened. The most logical theory 541 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 1: is probably that the boat sank in a storm like that, 542 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: it seems like the most straightforward one, but having so 543 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: many weird stories about other people's claiming that they captured 544 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: at aspirates or that they they saw her somewhere afterwards, 545 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: Like there's a bunch of other weird rumors that we 546 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: didn't really get it too of, Like, oh, I definitely 547 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: saw her where she was definitely alive. There's that way 548 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: that when any mystery exists in the public consciousness, people 549 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: step in to fill in the blanks, even when those 550 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: are not accurate at all. Yeah, well this was all 551 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: over newspapers, and I I read a whole bunch of 552 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: things from like a hundred year old copies of like 553 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: the New York Times, in the Boston Globe, obviously scanning 554 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,440 Speaker 1: on the internet. I didn't go dig them physically up, 555 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: but uh, they're kept being all these reports about her, 556 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: like she really was a famous person when she died, 557 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: although at that point, like her association with her father's 558 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: killing of Alexander Hamilton's and weird scheme to take over 559 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 1: his own personal empire like that had, people didn't have 560 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: maybe quite as much of a glowing perception of her. 561 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: But she and her husband were definitely famous figures when 562 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: you vanished, and the the story of her disappearance was 563 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: just this huge source for rumors and and gossip for 564 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: for decades after it happened. Do you have a little 565 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,480 Speaker 1: bit of uh, gossipy or no listener mail? While I 566 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: do have actual physical mail this time, I not not 567 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,120 Speaker 1: really gossipy. New but I was in our Atlanta office 568 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: not long ago, which gave me the rare opportunity to 569 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: be the person to open some of our mail. And 570 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: so I have a couple of people to thank for 571 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 1: things that they sent our way. The first is Rashaan. 572 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: Rashan wrote to us from Virginia and talked about Virginia 573 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: having a large tourism campaign with that slogan Virginia is 574 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 1: for lovers, and eventually they made sort of specialized stickers 575 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: to be handed out at particular places, So at King's Dominion, 576 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: which is a theme park, they had Virginia is for 577 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: thrill lovers. And as some of the local breweries there's, 578 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: Virginia is for beer lovers. So he sent us Virginia 579 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:03,600 Speaker 1: is for lovers stickers as well as Virginia is for 580 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: history lovers stickers. So thank you so much, Rashawn for 581 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: sending that our way. Um. I also have a really 582 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,719 Speaker 1: lovely letter from Meg, and Meg sent us a letter 583 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: where she apologizes for her penmanship, which is unnecessary because 584 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,280 Speaker 1: it's so much better than my penmanship. But she wrote 585 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:29,919 Speaker 1: about our are sewing machine episode, and she drew on 586 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,800 Speaker 1: the letter little spools of thread and a needle and stitches, 587 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: and it's just really lovely and charming. Um. And she 588 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: talks about being really tickled with the episode about sewing 589 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: machines because she found so many relatable tidbits in it. 590 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: Um And she also sent us some NASA bookmarks and 591 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: stickers from having volunteered with them at one of the 592 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:57,240 Speaker 1: official eclipse viewing sites in Charleston, South Carolina. So thank 593 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,879 Speaker 1: you so so much, too, Meg for sending that our way, 594 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 1: and too Rashawn for sending us stickers from Virginia. If 595 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us about this or 596 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,479 Speaker 1: any other podcast or a history podcasts at how stuff 597 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: Works dot com. 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