Theodosia Bartow Prevost
| Theodosia Bartow Prevost | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Theodosia Bartow November 1746 Shrewsbury, New Jersey |
| Died | May 28, 1794 (aged 47) New York City |
| Other names | Theodosia Bartow Burr |
| Known for | American Revolution patriot |
| Spouse(s) | |
Theodosia Bartow Prevost (November 1746 – May 28, 1794), also known as Theodosia Bartow Burr, was an American patriot. Raised by a single mother, she married a British Army officer at seventeen. After the American Revolution began, her own Patriot leanings led her to offer the use of her house, the Hermitage, as a meeting- and resting-place for revolutionaries, including Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Aaron Burr: it was briefly used as the headquarters of George Washington, who counted her amongst his friends. Burr's visit to the Hermitage began a secret romance that, following the death of Prevost's first husband, led to marriage.
The couple moved to New York City due to Burr's legal practice, and she acted as a crucial ally and confidante as he began his political career. She was known for her wit, unusually deep education and intellectual acuity; her partnership with Aaron Burr, her second husband, was responsible for much of his success due to her keen observational skills and adept handling of people, and her death in 1794 left him without "his best ally in the political wars to come".
Theodosia was born in November 1746 to Ann Sands Stillwell and Theodosius Bartow, an attorney, in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Her mother's family was noted for their beauty and had lived in America since 1638; her father's family had arrived in 1702 when John Bartow was sent to establish a Church of England ministry in Westchester County, New York. Theodosius died on 5 October 1746, several weeks before Theodosia was born. Instead she was raised for five years by a single mother, before Ann married Philip de Visme, a Captain in the British Army. By the time de Visme died in 1762, the marriage had resulted in five children.
De Visme ensured that Theodosia was tutored, with a "cosmopolitan education", and she learnt fluent French, later writing letters to Burr and translating French political treatises. At the age of seventeen, Theodosia married Jacques Marcus Prevost, a Swiss native and the brother of Augustine Prévost, who was then serving as commander of the British Army forces in New Jersey. They had five children: Sally, Anna Louisa, Mary Louisa, Augustine, and John. When Prevost was dispatched to the West Indies in the early 1770s, Theodosia and the children remained in New Jersey.
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