Mrs. William Alston (Mary Brewton Motte) (1769-1838) was the second wife of Colonel Alston (see Colonel William Alston), and bore him six children after their marriage in 1791. She and her mother, the Revolutionary War heroine Rebecca Motte, were held captive in their home by British officers during the Revolution. This portrait, painted at the request of the family by Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in 1846 after her death, was based on a portrait completed by Samuel F.B. Morse about 1820.
Courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association.
