-
Eliza's Birth
Eliza Hamilton was born as Elizabeth Schuyler on August 9th, 1757, in Albany, New York. She was the second daughter of a wealthy landowner and a Revolutionary Wat general. (Philip Schuyler). -
Eliza as a child
Eliza and her older sister, Angelica, acted as Philip Schuyler's eyes and ears in the Hudson Valley. They also gathered "sensitive military intelligence". They weren't spies for their father, but they weren't not spies either. -
Eliza and Alexander
Eliza met Alexander Hamilton at a ball in Febuary of 1780. He asked her for a dance, and that is when they began to fall in love with each other. -
Eliza's Marriage
Eliza married Alexander Hamilton on December 14, 1780. She loved him very much, and she even said, "the happiest of women. My dear Hamilton is fonder of me everyday." -
Eliza as a friend
Marie-Charlotte, Eliza's friend, dies at the age of 35. She had 6 children, and Eliza takes in the youngest two as her own children. -
Eliza as a mother
Eliza always had very busy mornigs that year. She gathered her children around her while they ate breakfast. Their tiny hands got crumbs, on her dress, but she never minded. That was her favorite part of being a mother. -
Eliza's troubles
Elizabeth was forced to pay Hamilton's debts after his death. She had to sell her 35 acre estate in Upper Manhattan. -
Eliza's Accomplishments
Eliza founded the first private orphanage in New York. She was there in 1807 when the orphanage laid its first cornerstone, and she raised money for it. Eliza became the orphanages director in 1821. She was involved with the orphanage until she was in her 90's. -
Elizabeth and Henry
Elizabeth Hamilton met Henry McKavit at her orphanage. His parents died in a fire, so Eliza personally paid for his schooling, and she arranged a military commission for him at Westpoint. -
The 4th of July in 1848
Eliza helped First Lady Dolly Madison raise money for a monument to George Washington on the National Mall. At the cornerstone laying ceremony, she rode alongside President Polk, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson. -
Eliza defends Alexander
Eliza defended her late husband when James Monroe wanted a truce. (James Monroe leaked information about the Reynolds affair) She said to him, "No lapse of time, no nearness to the grave, makes any difference." -
Eliza's Death
Eliza died in Washington, D.C on November 9, 1854 at the age of 97. She was buried next to her husband in the Trinity Church graveyard in New York City.
