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