page_title: Theodosia Burr Alston
section_title: Marriage to Joseph Alston
hierarchical_section_title: Theodosia Burr Alston / Marriage to Joseph Alston
caption_attribution_description: English: Title:Joseph Alston. Author/Artist:Anonymous, American School, 1801-1850. Creation Date:1801 Description:Graphic reproduction(s) with documentation of a miniature. 2 5/8 x 2 in. Provenance:Mr. Herbert Lee Pratt, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York; bequeathed by him to Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts; destroyed in 1948 in transit to a loan exhibition. Current Repository:Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, destroyed.
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 1801, Theodosia married Joseph Alston, a wealthy landowner from South Carolina who would become the 44th governor of that state. They honeymooned at Niagara Falls, the first recorded couple to do so. It has been conjectured that there was more than romance involved in this union. Burr agonized intensely and daily about money matters, particularly as to how he would hold on to the Richmond Hill estate. It is thought that his daughter's tie to a member of the Southern gentry might relieve him of some of his financial burdens. The marriage to Alston meant that Theo would become prominent. Her letters to her father indicated that she had formed an affectionate alliance with her husband. The couple's son, Aaron Burr Alston, was born in 1802.
  Following the baby's birth, Alston's health became fragile. She made trips to Saratoga Springs, and Ballston Spa, New York, in an effort to restore her health. She also visited her father and accompanied him to Ohio in the summer of 1806, along with her son. There, Aaron met with an Irishman, Harman Blennerhassett, who had an island estate in the Ohio River in what is now West Virginia. The two men made plans which were later joined by General James Wilkinson, however, what exactly those plans were is not definitively known due to lack of supporting evidence for any of the popular allegations.
caption: Joseph Alston
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