page_title: Theodosia Burr Alston
section_title: Trial and expatriation of Aaron Burr
hierarchical_section_title: Theodosia Burr Alston / Trial and expatriation of Aaron Burr
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Aaron Burr (1756-1836)
context_page_description: Theodosia Burr Alston was an American socialite, and the daughter of the third U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr, and Theodosia Bartow Prevost. Her husband, Joseph Alston, was governor of South Carolina during the War of 1812. She was lost at sea at age 29.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1807, Burr was arrested for treason. During his trial in Richmond, Virginia, Alston was with him, providing comfort and support. Burr was acquitted of the charges against him but left for Europe, where he remained for a period of four years.
  While her father remained in exile, Alston acted as his agent in the U.S., raising money which she sent to him, and transmitting messages. Alston wrote letters to Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and to Dolley Madison in an effort to secure a smooth return for her father.
  Alston's son succumbed to malaria and died on June 30, 1812, at age ten. The resulting anguish affected her health, to the point of preventing her from traveling to New York upon her father's return from Europe in July 1812. Unable to join him, she had to wait until December before she could make the journey.
caption: Aaron Burr in an 1802 portrait
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