The Hamilton Children: Part One

On Twitter we’ve been highlighting one of Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton’s children each week. The couple had eight children, and so far we’ve discussed their eldest four: Philip, Angelica, Alexander Jr., and James Alexander. We’ve rounded-up a few facts about each of them here. Enjoy!

(Links to more about each individual are included at the end of each section.)

Philip Hamilton

January 22, 1782––November 24, 1801

The Albany Dutch Reformed Church.

Philip was the only Hamilton child to be baptized at Albany in the Dutch Church the Schuylers attended. From the time he was an infant, his father believed Philip held future greatness. This belief in his eldest son never faltered.

When Philip was nine, he went to school in Trenton, NJ, while his family lived in Philadelphia. Eventually, his younger brother Alexander Jr. joined him there.

At the age of fifteen, Philip contracted a serious fever. Dr. David Hosack saved the boy from the brink of death. Sadly, Dr. Hosack could do nothing but watch as Philip died after his fatal duel with George Eacker just a few years later.

Learn more about the life and legacy of Philip Hamilton here.


Angelica Hamilton

September 25, 1784––February 6, 1857

Angelica Hamilton's piano
at The Grange.

Angelica was born in New York City and named after her aunt, Angelica Schuyler Church. Her aunt, even though she was abroad in England for most of her niece’s childhood, managed to dote on Angelica from across the Atlantic. She sent her young namesake a piano similar to her own children’s––the best that could be made in London, she claimed.

Based on letters, Angelica seems to have spent more time at Albany with her grandparents than her siblings. In 1803, when her grandmother Catharine van Rensselaer Schuyler died, her grandfather wrote Eliza Schuyler Hamilton that her daughter helped him through his grief.


Unlike the popular story, Angelica did not have a permanent breakdown upon the death of her brother in 1801. Instead, she seemed to have times when she was healthy and times when she was ill. By the 1830s, she was placed in an institution under the care of Dr. MacDonald in Flushings, Queens.

Read on and dispel some more myths about her here.

Alexander Hamilton Jr. 

May 16, 1786––August 2, 1875

Gertrude Schuyler Cochran
by the Baroness Hyde de
Neuville.

Born in New York City in 1786, Alexander Jr. was named for his father. He was baptized at the age of two with four baptismal sponsors, including his great aunt, Gertrude Schuyler Cochran.

After the education he received alongside his older brother, Alexander Jr. attended Columbia College, too. Weeks before his graduation, he had to bury his father.

His father wanted Alexander Jr. to become a merchant, but he became a lawyer instead. Before settling into his law practice, he fought with the Duke of Wellington’s troops against Napoleon in Portugal and served during the War of 1812.

In a weird twist of fate, he was Eliza Jumel’s lawyer, and is believed to have been her lawyer when she divorced Aaron Burr.

Keep reading about Alexander Jr. here!

James Alexander Hamilton

April 14, 1788––September 24, 1878

The Second Bank in Philadelphia.

Born in New York City in 1788, James Alexander was named for his paternal grandfather. Just like his father and older brothers, James attended Columbia College. His father wrote him a “thesis on discretion” while James was a college student. Hamilton penned this for his son days before his fatal duel.

James eventually became a lawyer. While he was practicing the law in Hudson, NY, he met Mary Morris. They wed on October 17, 1810, and had five children together. In 1835, the family moved into “Nevis,” the mansion James had built in Irvington, NY, and named after his father’s birthplace.

James served during the War of 1812 and he was the Acting Secretary of State during Jackson’s administration. Like Jackson, James opposed the Second Bank––the reincarnation of the bank his father built.

He left his letters, thoughts, and legacy behind for all to read in his memoir, Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: Or, Men and Events, at Home and Abroad During Three Quarters of a Century.

Click here to read more about James.


Check back in a few weeks to learn about the other four Hamilton children: John Church, William Stephen, Elizabeth, and “Little” Philip.

Interested in further reading? Check out the biography on the doctor who saved Philip Hamilton from his fever: American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic

“…More scarce and nearly as dear:” The Schuyler-Hamilton Family, Illness, and Food Shortages

Alexander Hamilton painted
by James Sharples; 1796.

By Jessie Serfilippi

Today we’re facing so many challenges at once: fear and worry for the health of loved ones and ourselves, shortages of food and supplies, and an uncertain economic future. Our fears today were once the fears of the Schuylers, Hamiltons, and everyone else in their 18th century world. This letter from Alexander Hamilton to his wife, Elizabeth, serves as a glimpse into some of their fears and worries in 1796.

On October 26, 1796, Hamilton wrote a letter to Elizabeth from her father’s home in Albany. He wrote: “I was consoled to hear that you & our darling little ones were well—though I shall be anxious till I rejoin you lest there should be a relapse or some new attack.”

Hamilton may have been referring to an unspecified illness Eliza and their children had recovered from, or to the dreaded Yellow Fever, which hit New York City once again in 1796. In either case, the resurgence of this deadly illness must have weighed heavily upon the family’s minds since the Hamiltons had so narrowly survived the 1793 epidemic in Philadelphia. 

While Hamilton worried for his family’s health, his father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, was dealing with his own chronic health issues. Schuyler seems to have suffered another round of ulcers and sores on his legs, but Hamilton informed Eliza her father was “really better and as I hope in no present danger.” He continued with more good news. Schuyler’s “breaking out” did not appear to be “mortification,” which in the 18th century referred to gangrene. 

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
painted by James Sharples; 1796.

Following the good news of her father’s health, Hamilton broke a bit of bad news to Eliza. While her sister Peggy had beef ready to go down the Hudson to her, Hamilton stated “Eggs are more scarce & nearly as dear as at New York. I shall see what can be done as to butter.” 

This shortage does not appear to have been related to Yellow Fever, but rather to what is now known as the Panic of 1796-1797, during which the United States and Great Britain took economic hits. The ramifications of the downward economic spiral really hurt shop owners and artisans, and caused widespread shortages, likely including the shortage on eggs Hamilton mentioned.

It is unknown if Hamilton was able to find the eggs and butter Eliza needed to make many basic and necessary foods. They, like so many other New Yorkers, may have had to do completely without such foods or with a depleted supply for some time. 

1796 was a tense and turbulent year for the Hamiltons and Schuylers. While they were separated during this time of uncertainty, they relied on the one form of long-distance social communication available to them: letters. Just like phone calls and video chats allow us to connect with loved ones right now, letters offered the Schuylers and Hamiltons the same comfort and reassurance when they couldn’t physically be together.  

For more on the Schuylers, Hamiltons, and Yellow Fever click here.

“Devoid of any facet of interest or spectacle”: Rensselaer Schuyler’s Unrealized Masquerade Emporium

***The article that follows was written as Schuyler Mansion's annual April Fools post. Unfortunately, Rensselaer Schuyler never planned to open a store called "Fancy Masks" (that we know of!). Thank you to everyone who played along!***

In August of 1792, Angelica Schuyler Church sent her brother Rensselaer a letter from London, where she was living at the time with her husband and children. She included the usual news of friends and family abroad, updates on conflict with France, and inquiries as to the health of her loved ones in America. However, despite being separated by an entire ocean and an age-gap of 17 years, the primary content of the letter indicates a deep familiarity on Angelica’s part with young Rensselaer’s most pressing concerns at that time- business and romance:

Though I am certain that Papa has been applying you heed the Advise [sic] of our brother Hamilton in matters of Finance, my heart beats maloncholy [sic] that he has not told you who it is who Advises him[.] For if he had, she expects she should have had a Letter from you some time ago, entreating her (that is, myself), to relate unto you all that she (that is, I) have to tell of the State of Finance in London, a matter on which I am very much Informed and Most Happy to share with my dear Brother…

As to that Other Matter, touching the Heart and all the Exhortions [sic] of Venus, you should not think it Amiss to say Amas*, nor to apply to your loving sister for Advise [sic] on this matter either. To this I will say only that you must take to a Ball the object of your Affections, the effection [sic] of which will be made most agreeable should you escort her to a Masquerade. It is a gathering of the most fashionable and amusing sort[;] at it all the couples wear Mascks [sic] and all of the most fantastical sort, with feathers and silks and all manner of Bazaar [sic] creatures, tigresses and Devils and other such phantasms. Such a gathering was had at the Prince [of Wales]’s apartments Several nights past, and tho [sic] I spent the whole night in good company there, several couples spent less time with the ensemble...

A Masquerade of the type described by Angelica Schuyler

Whether or not Rensselaer took his big-sister’s advice on romance to heart, he apparently saw in her letter a chance for a business venture.  While we do not have Rensselaer’s letter to his father, a letter written by Philip Schuyler to his son several weeks after Rensselaer received Angelica’s message sheds light on Rensselaer’s latest inspiration.

My Dear Son, 

Pleased tho [sic] I am to hear that you intend to take an interest in entering the World of Business at last[,] your letter of the 3^rd instnt [sic] has given me cause to offer Trepeditious [sic] counsel. I fear you may have misread your dear sister Angelica’s intent in her advisement, for while she tells me she offered you advice on Both business and matrimony, I fear you have Conflated the Two into One. Your proposed course, that of establishing a Store for the selling of Maskerade fashions and other such frivolities, seems to me ill-advised and a poor use of the education in Maths, science, History, and all other Useful Arts which I have ever endevored [sic] to provide you with and Furthermore can only result in your unhappiness and mine, and the squandering of the fortune you request of me to secure the enterprise. Further, the illustrations of your Intentions, though artistically adept in their accuracy, are poor things, devoid of any facet of interest or spectacle capable of capturing the interest of those who attend such parties. Lastly, the name of the establishment, Fancy Masks, as you propose it, is a ridiculous thing, and beneath you in all ways I advise instead you apply yourself to Farming or Commerce, both of which in perfect harmony suffice to make a man wealthy and respected.

I remain, ever and adieu,

Yr Fthr

Ph: Schuyler

From this letter, it appears that Rensselaer’s plan was to open a store (whether in New York or Albany is not specified), for selling masks and fancy clothing for Masquerade Balls, as described by his sister, Angelica. For years, the only reference to Rensselaer’s designs for his masks was Philip’s description in this letter. However, a recently discovered ledger book from within the Schuyler family contains a loose leaf of paper depicting what appears to be one of Rensselaer’s illustrations of the sorts of masks he intended to sell in his establishment. If this is the case, then it seems that his father’s description is unfortunately accurate.

Rensselaer never got to open Fancy Masks. Instead he set out on a life plagued by debt for many years before finally settling in to the life his father intended for him as a land-lord and developer. Still, one cannot help but wonder what his life would have been like had his creative impulses been better nurtured. Alas, we will never know.


* Latin for, "You love..."- wordplay off of "Amiss".




****************************************************************************

Happy April Fools! So as many have guessed, this article was, as they say, complete hogwash. However, while the overall premise was written as a prank, there is plenty of real historical inspiration. Masquerades were an extremely popular form of high-society entertainment, with an industry of purveyors of masquerade costumes and masks on hand to outfit the spectacular events. The mask depicted, however, was not a masquerade disguise, but actually a depiction of an 18th century fencing mask from Diderot's Encyclopédie.

The family dynamics in the (fabricated) letters are also rooted in historical reality. Angelica's reference to advising Alexander Hamilton on financial matters was inspired by correspondence with her brother-in-law in which she recommended and sent financial treatises to him from Europe. Similarly, Philip Schuyler's tone of disproval in the letter to Rensselaer matches his actual tone in discussing his youngest son's financial difficulties and education recalcitrance. We talk about these topics and more elsewhere on the blog and during tours and programming at Schuyler Mansion, so keep your eyes open for upcoming events and new articles!

"I shall most cheerfully pay:" The Education of Caty Schuyler

By Jessie Serfilippi

Catharine "Caty" Schuyler at 15
(seated at pianoforte)

By November of 1793, seventeen-year-old Cornelia and twelve-year-old Catharine “Caty” Schuyler had completed six months of French lessons at Albany. Their father, Philip Schuyler, paid tutor Charles Rogers “three Dollars per Month Each.” Unlike their older sisters, who studied largely in Manhattan in the early 1770s, Cornelia and Caty seem to have completed a bit more of their higher education in Albany. This was likely a sign of better quality tutors in Albany.


But there was no delaying the inevitable. By 1795, Caty was enrolled in S. & N. Lilly’s, likely an academy in Manhattan. A surviving receipt of all the expenses her father paid the school for her education provides a window into the world of an upper class girl’s education in the 1790s United States.


Perhaps unlike other students, Caty didn’t live at the academy, as her father only paid “Day Board.” It’s likely that Caty lived with family and friends while in Manhattan. By 1795, her sister Eliza Schuyler Hamilton and her family had relocated to Manhattan from Philadelphia. By 1799, it’s evident that Caty lived with the Hamiltons, though her whereabouts before that are murky. Based on past evidence of the oldest three Schuyler girls living with family while receiving their education in New York City, it’s likely Caty stayed with her older sister.

Dwight's Geography 
Photo Credit: WorthPoint 

It seems as though Caty was immersed in nearly every subject possible. In the first quarter of her schooling in 1795, she took music and drawing lessons. She studied A Short But Comprehensive System of the Geography of the World: By way of question and answer, principally designed for children and common schools by Nathaniel Dwight. This was a newly published common book used to introduce children to the subject of geography, and was one of the first books to be uniquely American in style rather than a copy of British studies. It was the perfect educational tool for a young girl coming of age during the Federalist era, when the United States was distancing itself from British standards and creating its own.

Detail of tambour needlework
from Portrait of Catherine Lane Barker
by Gilbert Stuart; 1792.

Caty also heavily studied embroidery and “fancy needlework.” Three “Tambour Needles” appeared early in the list of expenses for her schooling. Tambour needles allowed the embroiderer to learn and work faster as only one stitch needed to be mastered. From other expenses, it seems Caty’s instructor drew scenes on fabric, creating a pattern for her to follow as she embroidered. These included “drawing a Landscape on Sattin” and “a Flower piece on Sattin.”

Caty studied subjects familiar to students today: writing and arithmetic. During her second quarter of schooling, her parents purchased her a cyphering book, or a book in which she copied her instructor’s multiplication problems, geometry questions, and even trigonometry lessons depending on the level to which she advanced. While this notebook turned textbook by the student was meant to impart mathematics knowledge, the problems were often framed as mercantile, or used to teach surveying, bartering, and interest. It’s impossible to know what level of mathematics Caty achieved or if she learned it with a slant toward something such as interest or bartering, but her father’s many business engagements and his seemingly liberal outlook on his daughters’ educations leaves open the possibility.

Caty’s education in the above subjects continued into 1797. In 1796, she was joined by her eight-year-old nephew, the son of her late brother Johnny, Philip Schuyler Jr. Her sister Cornelia joined her that same year for dancing lessons. Caty completed her own dance lessons in 1797. This could have been a sign that she was ready to enter society. Dancing was an important skill for both girls and boys of high society to possess, as they were expected to know the latest styles of dance for balls––opportunities for meeting a future spouse.

While receipts for Caty’s formal education ended in 1797, in 1799, eighteen-year-old Caty was still studying, though likely on her own. A letter from her father written on November 24, 1799, reveals the one of the only people aside from Caty and her parents with a hand in her education was her brother-in-law, Alexander Hamilton. Schuyler wrote to her that “It gratifies me that you will solicit your brother Hamilton to direct you in your studies, his mind is so correct that he will point out to you the best Authors.”

These authors may have been connected to the study of geography and history, for earlier in the letter Schuyler wrote “Any expenses of tuition or others I shall most cheerfully pay. The science of geography is so essential in order to read history with the best advantage that I am greatly pleased at your intention to study It -– and knowing your attention, I am persuaded you will make great progress in It.”

While not said in Caty’s own words, her father’s response to her now missing letter suggests geography and history were subjects she took an interest in on her own. His praise of her intellect speaks to her intelligence and dedication to her studies… At least to the subjects she was fascinated by. In the same letter, Schuyler reminded her “drawing is also a valuable accomplishment” and encouraged her to continue that line of study; perhaps suggesting it was a subject she did not take much interest in.

Caty’s education marked her as the child of a wealthy family. From music and embroidery, to arithmetic and geography, Philip and Catharine Schuyler provided Caty with a sound education and encouraged her academic interests. At times, the Schuylers’ choice of subjects for Caty held to the conventions of the time period, but at other times their choices ignored popular suggestions for a young lady’s education.

Education philosopher Benjamin Rush’s Thoughts upon female education, published in 1787, could have provided the Schuylers with a guide for Caty’s education. Rush touted writing and reading the English language and arithmetic as essential for a young lady to learn so she could impart that knowledge to her own children, and so she could bookkeep and run a household should her husband die. He believed that the study of geography and history made a woman an “agreeable companion for a sensible man” and qualified her for a “general intercourse” with the wider world. While her parents educated Caty in subjects Rush emphasized as essential, they also deviated from Rush’s philosophy.

Portrait of Caty Schuyler above pianoforte in Best Parlor
of Schuyler Mansion; 2020.

Rush believed American women had no use for the French language; Frenchmen should learn English if they wished to converse with American ladies, and the best of French literature was translated into English. Rush insisted that women should not learn to play any instruments, as mastering them required too much time better devoted to other subjects and the instruments took up too much space in the house. He even stated women shouldn’t learn drawing, as he believed there was no use for it in her future as a wife and mother.

Despite Rush’s philosophies, Caty learned French, the pianoforte, and drawing––subjects seen as unnecessary for future Republican Mothers, but essential for the upper class, accomplished woman her parents wanted her to be. Her parents also knew the better Caty’s education, the better her choices of a husband would be, too. With each subject she studied, Caty was prepared to take part in the changing nation around her.

To see tambour needlework embroidery in action, click here.

To see a video about dancing a minuet, click here.

The receipts referenced are part of the NYPL’s Philip Schuyler Papers.

"You must not Insist upon depriving us of them...": Philip and Catharine Schuyler as Protective Grandparents

by Ian Mumpton and Jessie Serfilippi

My Dear Sir, 

…It is very natural that you and my Dear Eliza Should be anxious to have your children with you, but in this instance I apprehend your prudence has given way to your feelings[.] The fatal disorder [i.e. Yellow Fever] which has so severely been experienced at Philadelphia, may have abated, or even for the present apparently subsided, but many months must elapsed before it can be determined that the dreadful Scene will not be renewed… I have concluded that It would be improper to Acceed to your wish, If however after some farther experience you shall Judge that all danger is past, I will either carry down the little one and his nurse, or send them in charge of my son Rensselaer, but the others we all agree must remain until Spring…
The children are all in perfect health, so happy and docile and afford us so much pleasure and real satisfaction that we should part with them with infinite reluctance, you must not therefore Insist upon depriving us of them. They all Join us in love, to you & Eliza. 

I am my Dear Sir   Most affectionately Yours 

Ph: Schuyler 17 November 1793

John Church Hamilton was less than two years old when his
grandfather wrote the above letter to his parents, arguing that
it was too dangerous to send the children back to Philadelphia
after the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793.

Today is Grandparents day in the US. Had they celebrated the day in the 18th century, Philip and Catharine Schuyler would have been inundated with cards. Their eight children that Philip and Catharine saw live to adulthood brought a total of thirty-nine grandchildren into their lives! Philip and Catharine proved to be doting grandparents, and took an active interest in their grandchildren’s  happiness, educations, and safety.

The letter above was written on the 17th of November, 1793. The previous summer’s outbreak of Yellow Fever had been particularly deadly, especially in the city of Philadelphia. In order to protect their children from the illness, Alexander and Elizabeth Schuyler had sent their six children to their grandparents’ home in Albany. Despite the return of cooler weather that Autumn and the abatement of the epidemic, Philip and Catharine still feared for their grandchildren’s safety… refusing to send them to Philadelphia until the following Spring.

Given the wide age-range amongst their own children (the oldest and youngest of whom shared a birthday, twenty-five years apart), Catharine was raising her last child at the same time that her oldest daughters were raising their first children. Her daughter Elizabeth gave birth to her first child at the Schuylers’ home in Albany not long after her youngest sister was born.

Because of this age gap, Philip and Catharine did not meet all of the grandchildren. Of the thirty-nine grand-kids, only twenty-seven had been born at the time of Catharine and Philip’s deaths (in 1803 and 1804 respectively). Sadly, of these twenty-seven, the Schuyler family would bury seven grandchildren, including six who died in infancy or childhood, and one, their grandson Philip Hamilton, who was killed in a duel at the age of nineteen. In total, thirty of the thirty-nine grandchildren survived to adulthood.

While it is heartbreaking to think that the family had to grieve the losses of nearly a quarter of that generation, these statistics were a marked improvement over those of the generation before- Catharine lost seven out of fifteen of her children before their first birthdays.  It is small wonder that the Schuylers’ were unwilling to send their grandchildren back to Philadelphia without the complete certainty that the epidemic which had claimed the lives of a full ten percent of the population of the city was truly over!

The Grasmaand Boze Geest: 17th Century Albany’s Springtime Demon

by Ian Mumpton

***The article that follows was written as Schuyler Mansion's annual April Fools post. Unfortunately, the Grasmaand Boze Geest is the product of the author's overactive imagination and experience as a story teller specializing in Adirondack Tall Tales. Thank you to everyone who played along!***

Albany has always been a community with rich cultural traditions and festivities. Often these are a time of celebration, from Pinkster and Twelfth Night in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, to Tulip Fest and the numerous cultural and musical festivals that bring color and fun to our community. But not all of Albany’s traditions are as light-hearted. For Dutch colonists of the 17^th century and their descendants, the night of April 1^st was a night of darkness and terror, for on that dark eve, even as the weather turned kind once again, the Grasmaand Boze Geest, the April Devil, stalked the forests, fields, and even the very streets of the community.

The earliest identified Dutch reference to the April Devil comes from 1631, when Evart Pachter reported an attack on his sheep as his court defense for disrupting the peace,

Evart Pachter of this place charged with disrupting the peace and the unlawful discharge of a fire arm on or about 3 April of, attests that on or about the night of 3 April he heard a wild noise from where his sheep grazed outside the walls of the Fort[-] that he went out with musket and sidearm there saw an unholy beast of great size[,] terrible to describe[,] devouring a ewe. He discharged his musket, which caused it no apparent harm but the noise of it so disrupted it that it grabbed up another ewe and a new lamb and leaping a great distance did go into the night and was seen no more. When the guard arrived they smelled a great stink of brimstone which all attested was so foul as to have come from Hell itself.

In Pachter’s case, the court found that he had acted wrongly in discharging his musket, asserting that the proper course of action was to have informed the guard and had them respond to the situation. This is the only legal document involving the creature, but it soon entered the folklore of the Dutch community. Over the next one two hundred years, tales of the “Grasmaand Boze Geest” were repeated and embellished by each generation.

By the early 18^th century, the legend had given rise to a tradition called Grasmaand Nacht. Abbe Julien Sainte-Jean Couperin described the observance during a visit to Albany in 1739.

The Dutch of Albany, who are very plentiful and still hold much of the land as they did before the English came, maintain that on the night between the first and second day of April, a fiend of Hell comes amongst them, taking sheep from their flocks or, should the Winter have been cruel and few lambs born, will carry off an unfaithful man, woman, or child from their home and sate its devilish appetite upon wayward Christian flesh. It is said to seek out lambs especially, just as the Devil seeks to undo the blessing of the Lamb of God to the faithful.

Couperin described the creature as, “A beast larger in every way than a man, with the face and claws of a fierce tiger, long ears, the legs of an eagle, and covered all over with scales and fur. It is accompanied by a terrible stink of sulphur." A number of traditions grew up around the legend as well. According to Couperin, "To protect themselves, no Dutchman goes abroad on this night, but sends his servants, if he has them, to tend the sheep. Every family prepares a bowl of grain, fish, and entrails, soaked in milk, which they leave upon their stoop- a propitiation to blunt the creature’s appetite should it seek to enter. On the Sunday before, it is considered especially bad luck not to be seen in the church.”

"The Grasmaand Boze Geest", as depicted by Joseph Valsenaam, from The Complete and Honest History of the New York Colony under the Dutch, by Edward Thomas Nash, 1775

The description of the creature sounds bizarre, and contemporary illustrations are even more so. A 1775 publication included an image by Albany-based print-maker Joseph Valsenaam that closely matches the description given by Couperin. Historians and folklorists have speculated that the appearance of the creature reflected the colonists' fears of a world new and unknown to them, where strange, potentially dangerous beasts dwelt in the unending forests. It is likely that Native American and African traditions of supernatural beasts also contributed to the growth of the legend.

The question then, is did the Schuyler family observe Grasmaand Nacht with the rest of Dutch Albany? Philip Schuyler was both a faithful member of the Dutch Reformed Congregation, and a man of Science. This was not a contradictory position for him, as he merged both aspects of his life on a regular basis, developing a mathematical proof of God and demonstrating the necessity of human mortality by calculating how much space each person would have if no one had died since Adam and Eve. But what of matters of supernatural demons?

From what little evidence we have, it seems that Philip did take part, though whether this was out of belief in evil spirits or because he was simply participating in a community ritual is unclear. On March 31^st, 1780 he wrote to his friend, Abraham Ten Broeck, that, “Cuff and Tone I will send over the day after tomorrow, but Tom I cannot as Schermerhorn has hired him of me to keep watch on his lambs all night tomorrow until dawn as is the custom.” Here we see that the tradition of sending enslaved servants to watch over the sheep on the night of April 1^st continued well into the 18^th century. Even more solid is the evidence provided by a note in Philip’s account book from 1781 that details, “2 sh 6p to S[arah] Pemberton for milk, grain, and offal for Grozemaand, she is paid in full”.

Whether Philip truly believed, or was simply playing the part in a long-standing local tradition may be unclear, but we do know that not everyone in the Schuyler family put stock in the “holiday”. Washington Morton, who married Cornelia Schuyler (in what proved to be the third of four elopements in the family), wrote to his friend Elijah McMaster in New Jersey to say,

Washington Morton (depicted here in a portrait by
Thomas Sully), put no stock in legends of
the Grasmaand Boze Geest

Our stay with Mrs. Morton’s parent’s has, as usual, been a most tedious affair, with her father giving off at once both sullen looks for me and a pained façade of paternal anguish for his dear daughter, deluded by such a rogue as I- as if any force upon this earth could have made her mind other than it was to be my beloved and wife! Having had my fill of his glowering and sermonizing, I had resolved to take a stroll that evening rather than dine in such company, when he hobbled his way into the hall and bade me stop, for it was the night they call Grazmand, when a devil is supposed to haunt all of Albany taking the wicked (amongst whom he no doubt counts me). I laughed, and offered to absolve it with my cane should it appear before me, and took my ease that night with our friends in the town.

The legend of the April Devil seems to have died out by the middle of the 19^th century, but in the two hundred years that it lasted, it left quite the mark on the community, and can still chill us to this day. The last reference to the Grasmaand Boze Geest comes from an anonymous poem written sometime around 1830:

                                  When lambs are born, and Winter gives way
                                            Prepare your soul at least,
                                 For in the dark of Grasmaand Night
                                         Beware the Grasmaand beast!

Not Two Miles Apart: Brit, Will, and Love in the Face of Slavery

By Jessie Serfilippi and Ian Mumpton

The Schuyler family history is full of intriguing romances—from Philip and Catharine’s rushed marriage (with Angelica’s birth coming just five months later) to four of their eight children eloping, there has always been a lot to talk about when it comes to love. There is one couple, however, whose story we know just the most basic of facts about- but what a story it is, nonetheless. For Will and Brit, their love was was forged in the face of slavery and years of separation from each other.

Will (sometimes called Bill) was enslaved by the Schuyler family at the Schuyler Mansion, their estate outside of Albany. Brit lived less than 2 miles away, on Market Street (roughly Broadway today), as an enslaved servant of the Ten Broeck family. Despite this geographic proximity, Brit and Will would have had little opportunity to see each other. They doubtless savored any moments that they could spend in each others' company.

From their later connections to the church, and the fact that both the Schuylers and Ten Broecks were part of the congregation, they probably attended church services together at the Dutch church on occasion. Their enslavers were also close friends, and it is possible that Brit and Will may have accompanied them during visits to the other's property. However, Will is not mentioned as one of Philip's regular attendants. Similarly, Brit is not mentioned as a personal attendant, and may have been assigned to cooking and housework, rather than accompanying the family on outings. 

The law also imposed severe limitations on their ability to be together. Strict, punitive legislation in place at various points in 18th century Albany, passed out of fear that social gatherings of slaves could lead to escape attempts or violent resistance, prevented enslaved people from gathering outside of their duties. The holiday of Pinkster was one of the only times of year when enslaved and free Black families were reliably able to come together for a time of celebration. This holiday may have been the only time when Will, Brit—and later their children and grandchildren—were able to spend any real amount of time together as a family. Even this holiday would have been taken from them in 1811, when the city of Albany outlawed the celebration of Pinkster (a law finally repealed in 2011)

A view of the Dutch Church in Albany, as seen from Market Street, circa 1805. This is largely the view that Brit would have seen as she walked from the Ten Broeck house on Market Street to the church for the baptism of her children, Susannah and Herry, and the path Susannah herself may have taken years later for the baptism of her own children.
By James Eights, painted from the artist's memory circa 1850. Albany Institute of History and Art, 1954.59.79.

Despite all of this, Will and Brit created a family together, and strove to maintain those bonds over the years through the spiritual community of the church. On March 4, 1772, they celebrated the baptism of their daughter, Susannah, at the Dutch Church in Albany. Just two years later, on June 26, 1774, they celebrated the baptism of a second child, named Herry.

This is where the record falls silent on the lives of Will and Brit. It is unknown if they remained enslaved by the Schuylers and Ten Broecks, respectively, or if one of them was eventually sold away—their family separated even further. Neither of them are mentioned in later Schuyler or Ten Broeck manumissions, making it likely that they either died in bondage or were sold to another enslaver at some point after the birth of their two children.

While we may never know what happened to Will or Brit, their eldest daughter, Susannah, married a man named Thomas Willinger at the Dutch Church in Albany on April 18, 1797. She was twenty five years old at this time, and continued the family association with the Dutch Reformed congregation. It appears that Thomas passed away at some point shortly after this, but five years later, on August 14, 1802, Susannah was married again, this time to Peter Roseboom, also at the Dutch Church. Over the next four years, Susannah and Peter had three children: Dinah, Susan, and Mary. At this time, enlsaved status followed the condition of the mother. As Susannah was still enslaved by Abraham and Elizabeth Ten Broeck at the time, her daughters were as well. 

Shortly after Abraham Ten Broeck’s death, on April 13, 1810, Susannah and her daughters were manumitted by Elizabeth Ten Broeck. The terms of the manumission were strict—demanding that Suannah return once a week to do Elizabeth Ten Broeck’s laundry and ironing. She was also required to assist the family at “killing season".

On March 13, 1811, only eleven months after Susannah, Dinah, Susan, and Mary were manumitted, Peter was manumitted upon Eve Roseboom’s death. When Elizabeth Ten Broeck died in 1813, Susannah herself was truly free. In their new freedom, the couple had one more child, a daughter named Jane, born to them on May 31, 1815. While the family disappears from the historical record as of 1820, we know that Susannah could live in freedom with her husband and children. Although Brit and Will never got to experience that life for themselves, their love and determination built a resilient relationship and family in the face of slavery. Through their daughter and granddaughters, their love and strength survived.