The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-02-28
AARON BURR's TWO HIYES.

The revival Of the celebrated Junlel case,
which for years has been dragging its slow
length through the New York courts nat
Urally recalls the name and history of the
man who figured as the second husband Of
the woman whose property bids fair to be
swallowed up in the insatiate NAV of the
legal profession. We do not of course pro-
pose to attempt any biography or criticism
of one who has been so thoroughly cruel
fled by the pens of scribblers of high and
low degrees, as Aaron Burr; but the noto-
riety he has gained lends strong interest
to some details of his domestic life which
are entirely familiar to the majority of the
newspaper readers.
1t was while commanding his regiment
in New Jersey during the early years of
the Revolutionary war, that Colonel Burr
made the acquaintance of the lady who af-
forwards became his first wife, and the
mother of that Incompatible daughter
whose genius and fidelity have almost re-
deemed her fathers name. Mrs. Iheodo-
sia Provost was then the wife of Col. Pre-
VOSt of the British army, at that time in
the West Indies. She resided at Paramus,
with her mother and sister and two sons
the latter spri2htly little fellows whose
vivacity could not be other that attractive
to man so passionately fond Of bright
children as Burr was till the day of his
death. Mrs. Provost was ten years younger
than the officer whom she captiyated 10y
her rare grace and culture, but neither the
! difference IN age, nor absence OF beauty,
! leSSeGed her charms in his estimation.-
| Her family-the DE NlenneS-waS of French
/ or Swiss origin, and she herself was the
! first woman educated in accordance with
/ the European standard whom Burr had
| ever net. She was thoroughly Yersed III
! the best literature of the day, and undoubt-
| edly did much toward forming the taste
| and shaping the intellectual development
! OF an admirer, who, above all things IN the
/ world, appreciated brains-particulari
when lodged i'll female head. Her man
| nerS are represented to have been the per-
| fection of elegance and refinement, and
/ long after she had been mercifully taken
/ away from the evil to come, Burr was ac-
/ cuStomed to say that if his own manners
J were in any respect superior to those OF
{ men in general, it was mainly owing to the
! insensible influence of hers. Some unpub-
! ished letters from her hand which We
! have seen, abundantly confirm this esti-
! mate of her character-the penmanship is
/ eXQuisitely neat and clear, and the matter
! is no less remarkable for its vigorous COM
mon sense than for the admirable style in
| which it is set forth
! We have said that Burr was an admirer
! of Mrs. Provost, but there is not the slight
! est reason to suppose that his admiration
/ ever went beyond the bounds of strict pro-
! priety, or that her behavior was in any re-
| spect unworthy the position she occupied.
| If she was conscious of the impression she
! had made, that consciousness never re-
vealed itself III word or act-and it is the
| most wretched injustice to fasten upon her
reputation even the shadow of the stain
which rests upon him whose brighter for
| tunes she had shared. But when, not long
after their first meeting, Col. Provost died,
| it is probable that this mutual self-restraint
! gradually began to disappear; for we know
! that when Burr resigned from the army in
! 1710, they were engaged to be married.
| the ceremony being delayed only by those
! peeuniary considerations which cannot be
| overlooked even in the delirium of passion
| ate love. Both were poor, and let it be
remembered as slight atonement for his
many subsequent transgressions, that Burr
! deliberately married foT affection and not
! for money. He was young, handsome and
| brilliant he had come out of the war with
| a splendid record for bravery and military
! skill he had begun the practice of the law
| under the most favorable auspices he was
universally regarded as a rising man whose
! future could not fail to be glorious, and
with these recommendations lie might have
! wooed and won younger and loselier