Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler ; August 9, 1757 – November 9, 1854), also called Eliza or Betsey, was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was the wife of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and was a passionate champion and defender of Hamilton's work and efforts in the American Revolution and the founding of the United States. She was the co-founder and deputy director of Graham Windham, the first private orphanage in New York City. She is recognized as an early American philanthropist for her work with the Orphan Asylum Society. Childhood and family Elizabeth was born in Albany, New York, the second daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, and his wife, Catherine Van Rensselaer. The Van Rensselaers of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck were one of the wealthiest and most politically influential families in what was then the colonial-era Province of New York. She had seven siblings who lived to adulthood, including Angelica Schuyler Church and Peggy Schuyler, and 14 siblings in total. Her family was among the wealthy Dutch landowners who settled around present-day Albany, New York in the mid-1600s. Both her mother and father came from wealthy and well-regarded families. Like many landowners of the time, Philip Schuyler was a slave owner, and Eliza would have grown up around slavery. Despite the unrest of the French and Indian War, which her father served in and which was fought in part near her childhood home, Eliza's childhood was spent comfortably. From her mother, she learned how to read and sew.