Angelica who “…never failed to enchant the famous, intelligent men she met…” befriended Benjamin Franklin who at the time was America’s Minister to France, and developed lasting friendships with Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette.
In 1783, the couple, along with their two children, Phillip born in 1778 and Catherine, born in 1779 left America for Paris, where John became the U.S. Despite her father’s distrust, the two eloped and married in 1777. The cause of Phillip’s distrust is debated some sources suggest he had fled England and travelled to America to escape his creditors after his business failed, other sources suggest he fled England after killing a man during a duel. Despite her father’s distrust of John, Angelica was quickly taken with him. John was a British born merchant who made his fortune supplying the American and French armies during the war. Angelica was described as “…a flirt and obsessed with the social graces and accomplishments that would make her a fine lady.” Owing to their father’s position, the Schuyler family home was often used for war councils and meetings, and in 1776 she met John Barker Church, who was there on the orders of the Continental Congress to audit army supplies. FromĪngelica was the oldest of Phillip and Catherine’s children, born on the 20th of February, 1756. Print after a painting of Angelica Schuyler Church by Richard Cosway, circa 1790.
No wonder their daughters were such strong women. They attended the Reformed Dutch Church and other members would mutter about Phillip and Catherine arriving late to make a “…splashy entrance in their finery.” When Phillip was away fighting, Catherine would run the house, care for her children, and having turned their barn into a makeshift field hospital, she along with other local women would nurse injured soldiers, even when she was heavily pregnant. The America they were born into was a tense one with the country heading towards the American Revolution, but their family’s wealth meant they grew up in comfort, with their time being spent between Albany and at the family summer home at Old Saratoga. The couple were married in 1755 and had fifteen children, eight of which survived into adulthood. The sisters were born to General Phillip Schyler (1732-1804) and his wife Catherine Van Renssalaer (1734-1803). Warning: I will not be throwing away my shot to make MANY Hamilton references.
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