1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Hey, history fans, here's a rerun for today, brought to 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: you by Tracy V. Wilson. Welcome to this Day in 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: History Class from how Stuff Works dot Com and from 4 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: the show where we explore the past one day at 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: a time with a quick look at what happened today 7 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: in history. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, 8 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 1: and it's December thirty one. Theodosia Burr Alston disappeared on 9 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: this day in eighteen twelve. Of course, she was the 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: daughter of Aaron Burr and Theodosja Bartow. When they met, 11 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: the elder Theodosia was already married. Theodosia and Aaron Burr 12 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,959 Speaker 1: got married in sight two after the death of her 13 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 1: first husband, and they had a daughter, the subject of 14 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: this episode on June. The young Theodosia had very ambitious parents. 15 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: Her parents focused their ambitions on her. This is especially 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: true of her father, he wanted to groom her to 17 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:06,320 Speaker 1: be an outstanding lady. Consequently, she was very highly educated, 18 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: possibly the most educated woman of her time, and she 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: was widely regarded as a child prodigy. When she was 20 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: only ten, though the young Theodosia's mother died was probably 21 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: of stomach cancer, and in spite of her very young age, 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: Theodosia sort of taking on more and more of the 23 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: work that had been her mother's. She was managing their 24 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: household and the enslaved staff. She was acting as hostess 25 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: for her father's gatherings. She really was the mistress of 26 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: their house by her early teens. In eighteen hundred, two 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: things happened that would really change her life. One was 28 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: that there was an incredibly convoluted presidential election and Theodosia's father, 29 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: Aaron Burr, ultimately became the vice president. The other big 30 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: change was that she met a man named Joseph Alston 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: of South Carolina. He was a wealthy educated planter and 32 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: he had practiced law before. During his attentions to agriculture, 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: he had a rice plantation that had more than six 34 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: thousand acres and a staff of more than two hundred 35 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: enslaved Africans. He had to work really hard to convince 36 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: her to marry him, though she was attracted to him, 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: but she thought they were way too young to get married. 38 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: Once they did get married, though, they went on a 39 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:21,799 Speaker 1: lengthy bridal tour, and then they had a son around 40 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: May eighteen o two. During the delivery, Theodosia experienced a 41 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: very severe uterine pro lapse and that negatively affected her 42 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: health for the rest of her life. She was exhausted 43 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: and traumatized after giving birth to her son, and in 44 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: a lot of ways, she felt incredibly isolated in South Carolina. 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: Being on a plantation with such a huge enslaved staff 46 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: was a very different experience for her than what she 47 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: had been used to in her father's houses. So just 48 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 1: three weeks after giving birth, even though she was definitely 49 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: still recovering, she went to visit her father, and these 50 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: visits back home became an annual tradition. But on July eleventh, 51 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: eighteen o four, when Theodosia was twenty one, her father 52 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: shot and killed Alexander Hamilton's in a duel. He was 53 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: arrested for treason, tried and acquitted, but he fled to 54 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: Europe to try to escape the scandal. Theodosia had kept 55 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,919 Speaker 1: trying to get permission for her father to come back 56 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: to the United States, but that didn't happen until eighteen twelve, 57 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: and then, unfortunately, they did not have a happy reunion. 58 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: Her son, who was also named Aaron, died just a 59 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: couple of months after arin Burg got back to the 60 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: United States. She was absolutely traumatized and devastated, and her 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: only consolation was getting home to her father. But the 62 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: war of eighteen twelve was going on. Theodosia's husband had 63 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: been elected governor of South Carolina and was Brigadier general 64 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: of the state militia, so there was no way that 65 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: he could leave his duties and accompany her on a 66 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: trip to go see her father. An overland voyage would 67 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: have been probably safer in some ways, but very long 68 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: and uncomfortable, especially for somebody with her medical history. The 69 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: only way that was reasonable for her to get to 70 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: her father was by sea. That was a trip that 71 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: would take less than a week, but it was an 72 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: already uncertain means of travel through an active war zone 73 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: that was also full of pirates. In spite of all 74 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: that she was set on going, her husband didn't have 75 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: the heart to try to keep her at home, and 76 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: she departed from Georgetown, South Carolina, aboard a small pilot 77 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,360 Speaker 1: boat called the Patriot on December thirty first, eighteen twelve. 78 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: She also had a lot of her father's papers with 79 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: her to return to him, and Dr Timothy Ruggles Green 80 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: on board with her to take care of her because 81 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: of her illness. She probably had a maid and maybe 82 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: a cook with her as well. Her husband boarded the 83 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: ship with her and then rode back to shore after 84 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,480 Speaker 1: kissing her goodbye, and then once the Patriots slipped out 85 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,559 Speaker 1: of view from the shore, it was never seen again. 86 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: Her father and her husband held out hope for weeks 87 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: that maybe she had just been delayed somehow, but they 88 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: were never reunited, and they eventually accepted she had died. 89 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: There are, though, theories that continue to persist about what 90 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: really happened. You can learn more about this, including more 91 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: about those theories, in the October eight episode of Stuffy 92 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: Miss in History Class. Thanks to Casey Pegram and Chandler 93 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: Maze for their audio work on this show. You can 94 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: subscribe to The Stand History Class on Apple podcast, Google podcast, 95 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, and wherever else you get your podcasts, 96 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: and you can tune in tomorrow for the birth of 97 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: one of history's most famous patrons.