Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/95

ALLSTON.ALLSTON. 1860 he was chosen a delegate to the Chicago convention. When the civil war broke out he was appointed upon Governor Kirkwood's staff. In 1863 he was elected representative in the 38th Congress, and was returned to the 39th, 40th, and 41st congresses. In 1870 he declined a re-nomination, and contested with George G. Wright, of Des Moines, for a seat in the senate. He failed of an election, but in 1872 defeated James Harlan, and took his seat March 4, 1873. He was re-elected in 1878, '84, '90, and '96. In 1880 President Garfield tendered him the treasury portfolio, which he declined. The same position was urged upon him by President Harrison in 1888. While a representative in Congress he bore an active part in all the war legislation of the period, and as a member of the ways and means committee opposed the tariff act of 1870. As a member of the finance committee in the senate he was brought in contact with the great interests of both the east and the west, and while in no sense sectional in his political views, he became recognized beyond the Mississippi as the champion of western interests, mainly by his amendment to the Bland silver bill. In 1892 Mr. Allison was chairman of the American delegates who attended the international monetary conference in Brussels, where he acquitted himself with great ability, maintaining the American contention for the use of both metals, and winning the respect of the delegates. He was re-elected to the U.S. senate in 1902 for the term 1903-09. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Western Reserve University in 1879 and from Cornell in 1887. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidential nomination before the Republican national convention of 1888, and again in 1896. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on appropriations. ALLSTON, Joseph, governor of South Carolina, was born near Charleston in 1778, son of William and Rebecca (Motte) Allston. He was elected to the state legislature, where he served for several years, and was afterwards elected governor, serving from 1812 to 1814. His wife, Theodosia, was the daughter of Aaron Burr, and on that account he was suspected of being a party to Burr's disloyalty, and of aiding him in his scheme for founding an empire in Mexico. He died Sept. 10, 1816. ALLSTON, Robert Francis Withers, governor of South Carolina, was born in All Saints' Parish, S. C., April 21, 1801. He was graduated from West Point in 1821, standing high in his class, was appointed lieutenant of artillery, served one year, resigning his commission in 1822. Returning to South Carolina he practised the profession of civil engineering and also managed an extensive rice plantation. He was surveyor-general of the state from 1823 to 1827, and in 1828 was elected to the legislature as a member of the lower house. He was chosen state senator in 1832, and was from 1847 to 1856 presiding officer of the senate. He was elected governor of the state in 1856, serving two years. He was especially interested in rice culture, and wrote an interesting and useful book on the subject. From 1831 to 1838 he was trustee of South Carolina college, and in 1847 published "Report on Public Schools." In politics he was a "state's-rights" man. He died April 7, 1864. ALLSTON, Theodosia Burr, was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1783, daughter of Aaron and Theodosia (Provost) Burr. She was tenderly reared, her father directing his efforts to train her up to become something more than a "mere fashionable woman with all the attendant frivolity and vacuity of mind," and she is admitted to have been the "most charming and accomplished woman of her day." She was the mistress of her father's house in Washington when only eleven years old, at a time when he was at the zenith of his political popularity. She returned with him to their New York home, and on February 2, 1801, after he had been elected vice-president of the United States, she, in her eighteenth year, was married to Joseph Allston, a wealthy young planter of South Carolina, son of William Allston and relative of Washington Allston, the historical painter. He afterward became governor of the state of South Carolina, and their son, Aaron Burr Allston, was proclaimed by his proud grandfather as the intended heir to the throne of the empire of Mexico, which he dreamed of wresting from the Montezumas. Aaron Burr awoke from that dream to find himself a prisoner confronted with a charge of treason, while the lovely Theodosia, the petted and beloved leader of the social circles of two capitals, found herself an object of distrust and suspicion, shunned by her nearest friends and derided by those who before had not been so fortunate as to share her favor. Upon hearing of her father's imprisonment at Richmond she hastened to his side, and through the long trial clung to him with more than filial devotion, sharing in his disgrace, and by her beauty and heroism charming even the most bitter of his enemies. From her childhood she had been his friend and