What Two Pelham Residents are the Subject of Songs in the Broadway Musical Mega-Hit Hamilton?

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Those who follow the Historic Pelham Blog know that "Pelham Trivia" provides fun and fascinating insights into the history of our little Town.  Indeed, Historic Pelham has assembled a number of Pelham Trivia tests in the past few years.  See:

Thu., Nov. 06, 2014:  Historic Pelham Trivia Test -- One of the World's Most Difficult Exams! 

Wed., Jul. 22, 2015:  More Pelham Trivia.

Tue., May 30, 2017:  More Pelham Trivia!

Today's Pelham Trivia question seems to deserve an entire article!  The question:  what two Pelham residents are the subject of songs in the Broadway Musical mega-hit Hamilton An American Musical?  The answer:  Aaron Burr, featured in songs including "Aaron Burr, Sir" and Theodosia Burr, featured in the song "Dear Theodosia."  

Aaron Burr, who served as third Vice President of the United States during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and fought the infamous duel with, and mortally wounded, Alexander Hamilton on July 11, 1804, spent time in Pelham.  He bought a farm there (including a home known as "The Shrubbery").  He promptly sold the farm and home to his step-son Augustine J. F. Prevost.  He married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, a widow born in the Manor of Pelham who was ten years his senior.  In fact, I have written extensively of Aaron Burr and his many ties to Pelham.  (See the extensive list of such articles at the end of today's posting.) 

Portrait of Aaron Burr, 1802, by John Vanderlyn.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons.

Hamilton An American Musical is a mega-hit Broadway musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The musical was inspired by the biography Alexander Hamilton by noted historian Ron Chernow published in 2004.  The musical received a record 16 Tony nominations in 2016 and won 11 including Best Musical.  The same year it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Its music incorporates elements of rap, hip hop, rhythm and blues, pop, soul, and even traditional-style Broadway show tunes.  Two lovely songs from the musical are "Dear Theodosia" and "Aaron Burr, Sir" both about Pelham residents.

While one is tempted to assume merely from the title of the song "Dear Theodosia" that the subject of the song is Burr's beloved wife, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, it is not.  The song is about Burr's beautiful and enigmatic daughter who was named after her mother.

In this song, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton sing about children they and their wives each had shortly after the Revolutionary War ended.  Burr sings of his beloved infant daughter, Theodosia, while Hamilton sings of his baby son, Philip.  The two men focus in the song on their realization that the new nation they just have formed holds endless promise for their offspring and all others like them if the founders continue to lay a strong enough foundation for the future of the infant nation.  The song also reaffirms uncanny similarities between the two men whose lives would intersect so tragically on July 11, 1804, noting that both were orphans, nation builders, Revolutionary War figures, new parents with all the fears and worries that entails, and men who promised to lay a "strong enough foundation" to ensure the success of the infant nation.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SUNG BY BURR] 

Dear Theodosia, what to say to you? 
You have my eyes. You have your mother’s name 

When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart 

I’m dedicating every day to you 
Domestic life was never quite my style 
When you smile, you knock me out, 
I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 

You will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, 
we’ll make it right for you 
If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

Oh Philip, when you smile I am undone 
My son 
Look at my son. 
Pride is not the word I’m looking for 

There is so much more inside me now 
Oh Philip, you outshine the morning sun 
My son 
When you smile, I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 
My father wasn’t around

[SUNG BY BURR] 

My father wasn’t around 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON AND BURR] 

I swear that I’ll be around for you (I’ll be around for you) 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

I’ll do whatever it takes 

[SUNG BY BURR] 

I’ll make a million mistakes 

[SUNG BY BURR AND HAMILTON] 

I’ll make the world safe and sound for you . . . 
. . . Will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you 

If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, 
we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday

Cover Art from Original Broadway Cast Recording of

"Hamilton An American Musical".  NOTE:  Image is

Embedded from Another Location and May Not Display

if Original is Removed or Relocated by Copyright Owner.

Aaron Burr married the widow Theodosia Bartow Prevost on July 2, 1782.  About a year later the couple had a daughter whom they named Theodosia after her mother.  According to a number of authorities and evidence from the correspondence of Theodosia Bartow Prevost, Aaron Burr and his wife bought a farm on Split Rock Road, promptly sold it to a stepson, then spent many summers on the Pelham property with Burr's stepson and family.  Little Theodosia and her father cavorted and enjoyed the Pelham countryside.  As one brief biography states:

"His Estate 

On February 6, 1790, Aaron Burr bought an estate in Westchester. 

It comprised 155 acres of land lying near the Eastchester Creek and bound by property owned by the Pells. This, too, had been Pell property, for though Burr paid 800 pounds for it to Nicholas Wright of Pelham Manor and William Wright of Oyster Bay, it had been the estate of Joshua Pell and from him had descended to his son, Joshua, Jr. The first Joshua was the son of Thomas, third lord of the manor, and of his Indian wife, Anna, daughter of Wampage.) 

A month after Burr bought the property he turned it over to his step-son, Augustine James Frederick Prevost, 'in consideration of the love and affection which he (Burr) bears Augustine. . . ' And for the sum of ten shillings. This was on March 1, 1790. The property remained in the Prevost family until 1898, when on October 6, Adelaide S. Prevost, widow of George A., deeded it over to the Pelham Summer home for Children. 

Apples 

At the time of Burr's purchase a fine mansion, called 'The Shrubbery,' stood on the property. It was only about thirty years old then, having been built around 1760; its entrance stood just north of Split Rock. This was one of the best farms in the county, especially renowned for its apple orchard. During the Revolution, a few years previous, Colonel Leommi Baldwin, commanding one of the regiments which took part in the Battle of Pelham, noted the orchard. When the war was over, he obtained some of the trees, took them to his home at Woburn, Mass., where he was a noted horticulturist, and proceeded to develop the Baldwin apple. 

Colonel Burr's stepson -- of whom he was as fond as of his own children -- lived in 'The Shrubbery,' and here the Colonel, no longer a military figure but one of America's most famous lawyers, came with his wife for the Summers. He had become Attorney General; he was to become, in 1791, a United States Senator, after a bitter campaign, in which he defeated General Philip Schuyler, and added fuel to the fierce hatred smouldering between him and Alexander Hamilton, for Schuyler was Hamilton's father-in-law. Burr sat also in the New York Assembly. 

Church Has His Paper 

It is quite possible that it was during his visits to Augustine Prevost's home he appeared in legal cases in the old Eastchester church where there is still cherished a legal document signed with Burr's name. Burr lived at this time in Richmond Hill, the Greenwich Village estate then far out in the country but on property now bounded by King, Varick, Charleston and McDougal Streets. Little Theodosia Burr must have played, those Summers of long ago, on the lawns near Split Rock Road. (She was the only one of her father's four legitimate children to survive. Two boys were stillborn and a little sister, Sally, died in babyhood. Theodosia herself, the wife of John Alston, Governor of South Carolina, was lost at sea.)"

Source:  Cushman, Elizabeth, Aaron Burr, The Great Lover, Used Barge To Reach Only Woman He Ever Cared For, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 31, 1931, p. 12, cols. 1-3.

As one would expect, another important song in the musical is about Aaron Burr.  Entitled "Aaron Burr, Sir," it is sung, once again, principally by the actors portraying Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr although portions include other members of the company as well.  

The song depicts the first meeting between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and their subsequent encounter with John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan and the Marquis de Lafayette at a local tavern in New York City.  These latter three, of course, became important players in the American Revolutionary War and grew close to Alexander Hamilton.  The song serves to introduce two young men raised as orphans with different backgrounds but similar aspirations.  It further establishes that although each is intensely competitive and ambitious, they have very different philosophies regarding how they will reach their own potential.  Moreover, the encounter with Laurens, Mulligan, and the Marquis de Lafayette seems to reinforce the notion that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were competitors rather than friends from the outset and that Alexander Hamilton grew a circle of friends whom he liked better -- a circle that never included Burr.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SETTING:  1776 IN NEW YORK CITY]
[HAMILTON SINGS]

Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir? 

[BURR SINGS]

That depends, who’s asking? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Oh, well sure, sir 
I’m Alexander Hamilton, 
I’m at your service, sir 
I have been looking for you 

[BURR SINGS]

I’m getting nervous 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Sir, I heard your name at Princeton 
I was seeking an accelerated course of study 
When I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours 
I may have punched him it’s a blur, sir 
He handles the financials? 

[BURR SINGS] 

You punched the bursar? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes, I wanted to do what you did 
Graduate in two, then join the revolution.
He looked at me like I was stupid 
I’m not stupid 
So how’d you do it, 
how’d you graduate so fast? 

[BURR SINGS]

It was my parent's dying wish before they passed 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You're an orphan?  Of course I’m an orphan 
God, I wish there was a war 
Then we could prove that we’re worth more 
than anyone bargained for 

[BURR SINGS]

Can I buy you a drink? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

That would be nice 

[BURR SINGS] 

While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice 
Talk less 

[HAMILTON SINGS] 

What? 

[BURR SINGS]

Smile more 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Ha 

[BURR SINGS]

Don’t let them know what you're against or what you're for 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You can't be serious 

[BURR SINGS]

You wanna get ahead? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes 

[BURR SINGS]

Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Yo yo yo yo yo 
What time is it? 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

Show time! 

[BURR SINGS]

Like I said . . .  

[LAURENS SINGS]

Show time, show time Yo! 
I’m John Lauren's in the place to be! 
Two pints o’ Sam Adams, but I’m workin' on three, uh! 
Those redcoats don’t want it with me 
'Cause I will pop chick-a pop these cops till I’m free 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Oui oui, mon ami, je m’appelle Lafayette!
The Lancelot of the revolutionary set! 
I came from afar just to say bonsoir!
Tell the king "casse-toi." 
Who’s the best? C’est moi 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Brrrah, brraaah!  I am Hercules Mulligan 
Up in it, lovin' it, yes I heard ya mother said 
Come again? 

[LAFAYETTE AND LAURENS SING]

Ay, lock up ya daughters and horses, of course 
It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets . . . 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Wow!

[LAURENS SINGS]

No more sex, pour me another brew, son! 
Let’s raise a couple more . . . 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

To the revolution! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Well, if it ain’t the prodigy of Princeton college! 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Aaron Burr! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Give us a verse, drop some knowledge! 

[BURR SINGS]

Good luck with that, you’re takin' a stand 
You spit, I’m 'a sit.  We’ll see where we land 

[LAFAYETTE AND MULLIGAN SING]

Boo! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Burr, the revolution’s imminent. 
What do you stall for? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

If you stand for nothing, Burr, what’ll you fall for? 

[MULLIGAN, LAFAYETTE, AND LAURENS SING]

Ooh!
Who you? 
Ooh, who you? 
Oh, who are you? 
Ooh, who is this kid, what’s he gonna do?

"Aaron Burr, Sir" and "Dear Theodosia" are two Broadway musical numbers that provide important insights into the lives of two Pelhamites who enjoyed days in the Manor of Pelham nearly 230 years ago:  Aaron Burr and his beloved daughter Theodosia Burr.

*          *          *          *          *

I have written about Aaron Burr, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, Augustine J. Frederick Prevost and the Burr home on Split Rock Road known as "The Shrubbery" on a number of occasions.  For examples of such earlier postings, see the following:

Wed., Feb. 10, 2016:  Slaves Likely Were Held, and Forced to Work, at the Shrubbery, Once Located Near Split Rock Road in Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 13, 2017:  The Prevost Mansion Known as The Shrubbery, Once Owned by Aaron Burr, Burned December 31, 1880.

Thu., May 21, 2015:  Pelham Manor Romance:  A Tale of Aaron Burr and His Love, Theodosia Bartow Prevost of the Manor of Pelham.  

Thu., Apr. 23, 2015:  Augustine James Frederick Prevost of The Shrubbery in Pelham Manor.

Tue., Sep. 30, 2014:  Pelham Resident Recorded His Impressions of Meeting Aaron Burr.

Fri., Feb. 7, 2014:  Early History of The Pelham Home for Children, an Early Pelham Charity (Notes that The Pelham Home for Children first occupied the Shrubbery before the building burned in the 1890s).

Wed., Aug. 1, 2007:  1805 Real Estate Advertisement Offering Prevost Estate in Pelham for Sale.

Mon., Jun. 4, 2007:  Abstract of 1797 Will of John Bartow, Sr. Who Owned Land in Pelham and Whose Family Became Early Pelham Residents.

Wed., Jan. 31, 2007:  A Large Distillery Once Stood on the Prevost Farm in Pelham During the 1790s.

Tue., Jul. 18, 2006: Aaron Burr Tries to Pull a Fast One in the 1790s and Must Sell His Farm in Pelham.

Wed., Jun. 14, 2006: Text of Deed by Which Aaron Burr Acquired Pelham Lands in 1790

Thu., Apr. 14, 2005: The Pelham Home for Children that Once Stood on Split Rock Road

Mon., Oct. 2, 2006: The Revolutionary War Diary of Loyalist Joshua Pell, Jr. of the Manor of Pelham.

"The Shrubbery," a Home That Once Belonged to Aaron Burr

and, Later, His Stepson, Augustine James Frederick Prevost

and Stood Along Today's Split Rock Road in Pelham Manor.

Source:  Courtesy of The Office of The Historian of the Town of Pelham.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
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