ELIZA SCHUYLER HAMILTON
Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler; 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. (More from Wikipedia)
At least as bold as this move was the decision by Lin-Manuel Miranda to tell the stories in Hamilton of the Founding Mothers who are usually relegated to set pieces on the gowns that they were wearing. Four of the 14 principal roles listed in the Wikipedia article are women, all tied closely to Alexander Hamilton: Hamilton’s wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton; her sisters Angelica Schuyler Church and Peggy Schuyler Van Rensselaer; and Maria Reynolds, with whom Hamilton had a two-year affair in the 1790’s in one of the nation’s first sex scandals.
Those unusual names Schuyler and Van Rensselaer are Dutch, by the way; the Dutch heritage of our nation in general and of New York in particular – New York City was originally named New Amsterdam – is, shall we say, under-appreciated today. It was hard for me to miss when we moved to New York in 1990, however, because Gansevoort Street was right around the corner from where we lived in Greenwich Village.
(September 2016)
