Born in All Saints Parish near Georgetown, South Carolina, Alston attended the College of New Jersey; but he left in 1796 without graduating.
He then went to study law at the office of Edward Rutledge and was admitted to the bar.
Alston decided against practicing law and instead engaged in planting, becoming one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina.

In 1801, he married the daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia Burr Alston, partly to ingratiate himself with Republican voters in an effort to downplay his aristocratic status.
The couple's honeymoon was spent in Niagara Falls, the first recorded couple to do so.
Their son Aaron Burr Alston, born 1802, died in 1812.
Born in All Saints Parish near Georgetown, South Carolina, Alston attended the College of New Jersey; but he left in 1796 without graduating. He then went to study law at the office of Edward Rutledge and was admitted to the bar. Alston decided against practicing law and instead engaged in planting, becoming one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina.
In 1801, he married the daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia Burr Alston, partly to ingratiate himself with Republican voters in an effort to downplay his aristocratic status. The couple's honeymoon was spent in Niagara Falls, the first recorded couple to do so. Their son Aaron Burr Alston, born 1802, died in 1812.
Joseph Alston