Unsolved North Carolina Mysteries: The Case of Theodosia Burr Alston
The Eyrie and other Southern Stories by Bettie Freshwater Pool
The actual fate of Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Aaron Burr and wife of South Carolina governor, Joseph Alston, will for the most part remain one of North Carolina’s iconic mysteries. Undoubtedly, the varied stories surrounding pirate capture, looting and murder by a resident class of ship scavengers and eventually the discovery of a portrait on the Outer Banks more than fifty years after the incident, continue to intrigue public speculation to this day.
On an ocean voyage from South Carolina to visit her father in New York in December 1812, Alston, and the other passengers, were never heard from again. In succeeding years, tales of misdeeds by local ship scavengers, also known as “bankers”, pirate capture, and murder and associated confessions made the popular news stream of the day. Nonetheless, Aaron Burr never subscribed to these explanations, always believing the ship and his daughter were lost in the severity of a storm.
Then in 1869, a Dr. William Pool of Elizabeth City, while on a visit to Nags Head, was bestowed a portrait of an unknown woman from a local resident. It was reported as having survived a shipwreck in the area more than fifty years before. A relative of Pool photographed and distributed the portrait to Burr family members for comparison with a surviving engraving of Alston. A general consensus identified the portrait as being of Alston, although definitive authentication and the identity of the artist remain unanswered. The portrait eventually ended up in the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University. In 2017, it was brought back to North Carolina for an exhibit at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, which marked its first time being in an exhibit.
Could the portrait have possibly been a gift from daughter to father enroute with Theodosia from South Carolina to New York? The two had been physically separated since 1807, owing to Burr’s exile to Europe. Alston worked diligently during the period to secure her father’s return, so perhaps the portrait served as a celebratory or Christmas gift connected to their reunion. The mystery continues.
From wide-ranging digital newspaper collections available in Joyner Library, patrons have access to innumerable primary resources that aid in research and lend to fascinating discovery. Shown below are related selections from the Langford North Carolina Collection: Bettie Freshwater Pool’s article from the “North Carolina Booklet”, vol. 9, Oct. 1909, no.2, searchable in the North Carolina Periodicals Index and reprinted in the “Booklet” from Pool’s 1905 volume “The Eyrie and Other Southern Stories”; news story from the “Carolina Watchman” of Jan. 28, 1875, resurrecting an earlier tale of Alston’s capture and removal to a ship that ended up in Galveston, Texas , where said she soon died and was buried; and a mention in the “Farmer and Mechanic” newspaper of Raleigh from June 13, 1878, regarding the disposition of the portrait.
The Nag’s Head Picture of Theodosia Burr by Betty Freshwater Pool
