Elizabeth Schuyler was born in Albany on August 9, 1757, the second daughter of Philip Schuyler and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler. Both parents belonged to powerful Dutch-descended landholding families. She grew up among numerous siblings—fourteen children were born to the couple, though only about half survived to adulthood—including Angelica and Margarita, or Peggy. The family’s wealth, political influence, and comfort rested in part upon land and the labor of enslaved people.

Eliza’s earliest years coincided with the Seven Years’ War. Fighting and military movement reached the Albany and upper Hudson region, and Philip Schuyler served in the British provincial war effort. The household at Albany and the family estate near Saratoga received officers, political leaders, travelers, and Haudenosaunee diplomats. Eliza once accompanied her father to a meeting involving the Six Nations and encountered Benjamin Franklin during his travels.

Her education was domestic and social rather than collegiate. She learned reading, writing, household management, religion, sewing, music, and the manners expected of a woman who would supervise servants and entertain elite guests. Raised in the Dutch Reformed Church, she developed the durable Christian faith that later guided her charitable work. Family recollections also portray her as active outdoors, strong-willed, good-tempered, and less intellectually flamboyant than Angelica but exceptionally steady.

The Revolution transformed the Schuyler household into a military and political center. Philip became a Continental general, and officers circulated through the family’s homes. In early 1780 Eliza visited her aunt Gertrude Schuyler Cochran at Morristown, New Jersey, where Washington’s army was encamped. There she became closely acquainted with Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s aide-de-camp. Their courtship continued through letters during Hamilton’s absences, and Philip Schuyler approved the match.

Eliza married Hamilton at the Schuyler mansion in Albany on December 14, 1780. She was twenty-three. The marriage closed an early life formed by Hudson Valley privilege, wartime disruption, Dutch Reformed faith, enslaved household labor, and constant exposure to public affairs. She entered adulthood not as a detached observer but as the spouse of an ambitious officer whose military and political work would repeatedly depend upon her steadiness and assistance.