Eliza Hamilton

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Ralph Earl, 1787
Born	Elizabeth Schuyler (1757-08-09)August 9, 1757 Albany, Province of New York, British America
Died	November 9, 1854(1854-11-09) (aged 97) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Trinity Church Cemetery
Other names	Eliza Betsey
Spouse(s)	Alexander Hamilton (m. 1780; d. 1804)
Children	Philip Hamilton Angelica Hamilton Alexander Hamilton Jr. James Alexander Hamilton John Church Hamilton William S. Hamilton Eliza Hamilton Holly Philip Hamilton II
Parent(s)	Philip Schuyler Catherine Van Rensselaer
Relatives	See Schuyler family

Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler /ˈskaɪlər/; August 9, 1757 – November 9, 1854), sometimes called "Eliza" or "Betsey", was co-founder and deputy director of the first private orphanage in New York City. She was the wife of American founding father Alexander Hamilton.

Elizabeth was born in Albany, New York, the second daughter of Philip Schuyler, a Revolutionary War general, and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. The Van Rensselaers of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck were one of the richest and most politically influential families in the state of New York. She had seven siblings who lived to adulthood, including Angelica Schuyler Church and Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler Van Rensselaer, and 14 siblings in total.

Her family was among the wealthy Dutch landowners who had settled around Albany in the mid-1600s, and both her mother and father came from wealthy and well-regarded families. Like many landowners of the time, Philip Schuyler owned slaves, 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 very near her childhood home, Eliza's childhood was spent comfortably, learning to read and sew from her mother.

Like most Dutch families of the area, her family belonged to the Reformed Dutch Church of Albany, which still survives, though the original 1715 building where Elizabeth was baptized and attended services was demolished in 1806. Her upbringing instilled in her a strong and unwavering faith she would retain throughout her life.