Elizabeth Schuyler was born in August 1757. She was the second daughter in the large family of Albany leader Philip Schuyler, and his wife Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. She grew up mostly at her father's grand new mansion and at their summer home at Old Saratoga.

She was introduced to Alexander Hamilton when he visited her father at Schuyler Mansion in October 1777. Following an ardent courtship, they married in the front parlor there in December 1780. By 1802, the marriage had produced eight children.

Over the next quarter-century, these Hamiltons lived in Philadelphia and in New York where Hamilton had developed an estate in Harlem called "The Grange." However, Elizabeth often brought her family home to Albany in the summer to be with the Schuylers.

Tragedy struck when Hamilton was killed by Aaron Burr in a duel in July 1804. Philip Schuyler died a few months later. Widowed at forty-seven, Elizabeth inherited a substantial part of her father's large estate including land near Schuyler Mansion which then was sold to newcomers and other first-time property owners. Several lots along South Pearl Street were purchased by Afro Albanians.

After living many years as a widow in New York, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton spent the final years of her life in Washington, DC in the household of her daughter. She died in November 1854 at the age of ninety-seven.

Sources: The life of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton is CAP biography number 1276. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. For more sources, see her biography online as printed in American National Biography.