Angelica Schuyler Church

Angelica Schuyler Church had eight children with her husband John Barker Church. Their eldest child, Philip Schuyler Church, was instrumental in selecting the specific landmass offered to the family along the Genesee River for their estate, where he established the village 'Angelica' after his mother's name. The family mansion, 'Belvidere', built in 1804, is now part of the town Angelica in New York.

Alexander Hamilton married her sister Elizabeth Schuyler in 1780 and the two in-laws shared a strong affinity towards each other. Angelica is a major character of the Tony-winning Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Her character is based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, as well as her letters to him, and shows her as an extraordinarily witty and intelligent woman.

She met Thomas Jefferson through mutual friend Maria Cosway in 1787, during her stay in Paris. She had developed lifelong friendships with both Jefferson and Cosway and their correspondence is preserved in the letters of the Church Archive. One of Jefferson's letters is particularly notable for his allusion to a sexually charged scene from a popular novel.

Angelica Schuyler Church was born on February 20, 1756, in Albany, New York, to Philip John Schuyler and Catharine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. Her father was a Major General in the Continental Army and an aide to General Rochambeau.

Both her parents were descendants of influential third generation American Dutch families. Her paternal great grandfather was a landlord and the Mayor of Albany, while her mother was a descendant of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, one of the founders of New Netherlands.

She was the eldest of her parents' fifteen children, of which eight survived till adulthood. She grew up in her father's estate at Saratoga, but became exposed to the progressive culture of New York City where she spent considerable amount of time during her childhood.

As the daughter of a general during the American Revolution, she witnessed the political turmoil during her early years. She also had the opportunity to meet prominent leaders of the revolution at the Schuyler house, where many of the war councils took place.

In 1777, Angelica Schuyler met John Barker Church, an English born businessman and supplier of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, at a war council held at her father's estate. While some believed that he fled to America to escape his creditors after his business went bankrupt in August 1774, other sources indicate that he had killed somebody in a duel prior to leaving Europe.

The two became romantically involved despite knowing that her father would not approve of the union due to Barker's dubious past. They eloped and got married at her grandfather's house and moved to Boston following their marriage.

Her husband invested in banks and shipping companies and became successful as one of the three commissioners appointed by the Continental Congress. In 1783, after the war was over, along with her husband and two children, she left America and moved to Paris where her husband became a U.S. envoy to the French government.

Known for her energetic disposition, she charmed everyone wherever she stayed for a considerable amount of time. During the couple of years she spent in France, she befriended visionaries like Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Ambassador to France, his successor Thomas Jefferson, and the French aristocrat Marquis de Lafayette.

Along with her family, Angelica Schuyler Church briefly visited New York in 1785 and settled in Sackville Street, London, following her return to Europe. Her husband's business affairs required her to interact with diplomats as well as artists, which helped her develop friendships with luminaries like William Pitt the Younger, Edmund Burke, John Trumbull, Richard and Maria Cosway.