What is a legacy?
Feb. 5th, 2025 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceiswyn"How many children did Aaron Burr have?" is a surprisingly difficult question to answer.
Obviously there's Theodosia Jnr. That's one.
Then I really think we should include his illegitimate children with Mary Emmons. That's another two, so three.
He adopted two sons in later life. They were rumoured to be his natural children as well, but either way they should probably be counted. That makes five.
He also acknowledged two little girls a few years before his death and made them beneficiaries of his Will. He was in his late seventies at the time but men have fathered children into their nineties so who are we to say they definitely *weren't* his? That would be seven.
Then there are his stepchildren. Theodosia Snr bought five children to that marriage, aged between 11 and 15, and Burr definitely acted as a father to them, even the older boys. We're up to 12.
Is that all? Well. That depends how you view his wards and proteges. Nathalie de Lage lived in his house, with her governess, for seven years. His letters show that he was fond of her, and he mentioned her in his 1804 Will. He acted as guardian for Maria Reynolds's daughter Susan after Maria and her second husband fled notoriety after the publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet. Then there were the Eden sisters; Burr was keen to try their father's case to make a precedent, and after Eden died he took the family into his home and supervised the education of the two younger sisters in a manner similar to his tuition of Theodosia. So does that make 16?
And that's not counting any children he left littered around the world from his 'follies'...
Obviously there's Theodosia Jnr. That's one.
Then I really think we should include his illegitimate children with Mary Emmons. That's another two, so three.
He adopted two sons in later life. They were rumoured to be his natural children as well, but either way they should probably be counted. That makes five.
He also acknowledged two little girls a few years before his death and made them beneficiaries of his Will. He was in his late seventies at the time but men have fathered children into their nineties so who are we to say they definitely *weren't* his? That would be seven.
Then there are his stepchildren. Theodosia Snr bought five children to that marriage, aged between 11 and 15, and Burr definitely acted as a father to them, even the older boys. We're up to 12.
Is that all? Well. That depends how you view his wards and proteges. Nathalie de Lage lived in his house, with her governess, for seven years. His letters show that he was fond of her, and he mentioned her in his 1804 Will. He acted as guardian for Maria Reynolds's daughter Susan after Maria and her second husband fled notoriety after the publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet. Then there were the Eden sisters; Burr was keen to try their father's case to make a precedent, and after Eden died he took the family into his home and supervised the education of the two younger sisters in a manner similar to his tuition of Theodosia. So does that make 16?
And that's not counting any children he left littered around the world from his 'follies'...
