Saturday, June 21st, 1794

My Dearest Theodosia,

                                                Either my mind is deceiving me, or as I pen this letter, you are celebrating your eleventh birthday! I so wish I could be there with you to celebrate, but Father is bound to be informed of my sudden disappearance from school and I cannot have him asking questions. Though I expect your Father will be doing all he can to make today as special as possible for you, so my lack of appearance will perhaps go unnoticed.

Inside this envelope, you shall find my gift, something I hope you shall use in the future. I know it is not much, but it is all I good do, I promise your next gift shall be even better! The only gift I could ever ask for from you would be to see your face, as ludicrous as that sounds. The time we have spent apart has been difficult, though we shall meet again, I am almost sure of it.

Yours,

Philip Hamilton.

~~~

My Dearest Philip,

                                      Your mind did not deceive you and I am, in fact, eleven years of age. Father says my studies must increase now that I am older, though I cannot for the life of me imagine how they correlate. It is as though he believes I am suddenly that much wiser now that I am a day older than I was previously. Though were that to be the case, then my studies should have been increasing since day one, seeing as I am older each day. But I know he means well. This is my first birthday without Mother and he is trying to make it as good as it could possibly be, though having her here would be even better.

Thank you so much for your gift! I did not expect you to buy me anything, so to find a small gift in the envelope of your previous letter was a joyous occasion. Father was curious as to where the quill had come from, but I informed him it came from a friend, he was unlikely to question that. I think he is suspicious of our letter writing, but he is not saying it to my face. It is my understanding that he believes these correspondence are good for me, especially after Mother's passing. I only wish your Father could be this understanding.

I do not mind that you could not be here to celebrate my birthday with me, having your letter was enough for me. There is no doubt in my mind that we will see each other soon enough, though I cannot say what circumstances that may be. Nevertheless, seeing you again is something we can wait for. For the time being, the letter writing is enough for me.

Yours,

Theodosia Burr.

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Notes;

The mention of the quill in these letters struck us as odd as there has never been a mention of a birthday gift to Burr from Hamilton. It is possible that the lie Burr fed to her Father was believed up until his eventual death and the official sender had never fully been acknowledge or released to the public. If a quill was, in, fact, sent to Burr, then it was either misplaced of lost with her after her death, none of which can be officially confirmed.

It has also never been revealed as to how many of these letters Mr Burr was aware of. Or if he was ever fully aware of the correspondence between his daughter and Hamilton. Whether this information has been lost over the years or simply misplaced, we do not know, though we wish we did. There is much that has been lost that may aid us in our quest to piece together the lives of Philip Hamilton and Theodosia Burr.