Here's Where It Gets Interesting - New York: The Schuyler Family Connection with Sharon McMahon

Episode Date: December 17, 2021

In this solo episode, Sharon dives into the history of one of New York’s most prominent families during the birth of the nation: the Schuylers. Certainly, Hamilton has made famous the Schuyler sisters, but did you know that Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy were just three of the fifteen children born to Philip and Catherine Schuyler? Follow along as Sharon unfurls the Schuyler family tree and shares stories of a foiled kidnapping and the family's surprising connection to the Statue of Liberty and one of our nation’s most recognized poems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, my friends. I am absolutely giddy to share this story with you today. It has so many twists and turns. I have so many mind blown brain tingle moments for you. You are going to have to buckle up. Okay, just click it or tick it right now. Let's dive into the Schuyler family. I'm Sharon McMahon, and welcome to the Sharon Says So podcast. I mean, can you start anything without saying, take Philip Schuyler, the man was loaded, right? Like, no, any time the word Schuyler come out of your mouth, you have to say, take Philip Schuyler, the man was loaded. It just falls out of your mouth, you have to say, take Philip Skyler. The man was loaded.

It just falls out of the mouth, trips off the tongue. So Philip Skyler, Eliza Hamilton's father. Philip Skyler was born in the United States. In fact, Philip Skyler was part of a small handful of families who were so elite. They were like the landed patrician families that you see maybe like on Downton Abbey. They certainly didn't have like castles, but they were that well known, that wealthy, like intermarried all the time, and had come largely from the Netherlands to the United States in the 1600s. By the time Philip Schuyler was born in the 1730s, he was already a third generation American. So Philip Schuyler, guess what? He dies. Okay. No, no spoilers. That's not shocking. He was

born in the 1730s. He's already dead. I'm not ruining the story by telling you that. One of the things, though, that was very tragic for Eliza Hamilton is that her husband, Alexander, was shot by Aaron Burr. But a few months later, her father died. Philip Schuyler died. And actually, the year before, her mother had died. And of course, Philip, her son, had died a number of years prior as well. So Philip Schuyler, Eliza's father, marries a woman named Catherine Van Rensselaer. They get married. And this is something that is not depicted in the musical Hamilton.

They make it sound in Hamilton like there are three children in the Skylers family, right? The Skyler sisters, that there's Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy, right? The Skyler sisters. And in reality, the Skylers had 15 children, 15 children. Eight of them lived to adulthood. So let's just talk for a moment about the children of Philip and Catherine. They did have Angelica. Angelica was the oldest. She married Thomas Church, who later became a member of British Parliament. They had Elizabeth, who went by Eliza. She obviously married Alexander Hamilton. They had Margarita, who went by Peggy. She married her cousin, Stephen Van Rensselaer. Then they had twins, John and Cornelia. And the twins died as babies. Then the Schuylers had another baby. They named him John, after the twin who just died.

after the twin who just died. That baby, John, also died. Then they had a third son named John. And that son named John went on to marry somebody named Elizabeth Van Rensselaer. That was actually Peggy's husband's sister. Again, very, very tight intermingling amongst these families. They then went on to have a son named Philip Jeremiah, who most historians refer to him as Philip J. in an effort to distinguish him from his father. So you have sort of Philip Schuyler, and then we have Philip J. Schuyler. He was married twice. We're going to come back to him in a moment. Then the Schuyllers had triplets. Triplets. And all three of their triplets died. Then they had a son named Rensselaer Skyler.

And he lived to adulthood. He got married. Then they had another daughter named Cornelia, who was named after the twin who died. Then they had a son named Cornelia, who was named after the twin who died. Then they had a son named Cortland Schuyler, and Cortland died when he was a baby. And then their youngest child was a daughter named Catherine Schuyler. And I found this fascinating. So Catherine Schuyler is Philip and Catherine's 15th child. She was 25 years younger than her sister, Angelica. And her mother was 47 when she gave birth to her. Catherine Schuyler, 15 children, a set of twins, a set of triplets,

seven of your 15 children passed away before adulthood. And you gave birth at age 47 for the last time. Like hats off to you, friend. I want to go back to the Schuyler's son, Philip J. Philip J was married to a woman named Sarah, and they had five children. And then Sarah died. He married another woman named Mariana. And Mariana and him had three children. Their youngest child together was a son named George Lee. George Lee Schuyler, when he got to be an adult, married a woman named Eliza Hamilton. married a woman named Eliza Hamilton. We're going to call her Eliza II just for ease of conversation. They certainly did not call her Eliza II in the granddaughter of Alexander and Eliza. Alexander and Eliza had a number of children. They had a son named James. James was about 16 when Alexander was shot and killed. And he actually was at his father's side in the bedroom where he ended up passing away.

actually was at his father's side in the bedroom where he ended up passing away. And so James married later in life, and James had a daughter that he named after his mother, Eliza. So George Lee and Eliza II get married, and together they have three children. And just to make it easier to understand, Eliza II and George Lee were first cousins once removed. They had the same ancestors, right? Because who was Eliza I's father? It was Philip Schuyler. And who is George Lee, a direct descendant of Philip Schuyler? They're very, very much related. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We are best friends. And together we have the podcast Office Ladies, where we rewatched every single episode of The Office with insane behind the scenes stories, hilarious guests, and lots of laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve!

Ah! It's my girl in the studio! Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the office and our friendship with brand new guests, and we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments. So join us for brand new Office Ladies 6.0 episodes every Wednesday. Plus, on Mondays, we are taking a second drink. So George Lee and Eliza II have three children. I promise this has a point to it. This is not just a genealogy lesson. George Lee and Eliza II have three children together. One of them is named Philip. Got to get that in there at every opportunity. The number of Philip Skylers

is staggering. They had a son named Philip. We're not going to talk about him anymore. They had a daughter named Louisa Lee and a daughter named Georgina. Louisa Lee, just fun little side note, she started the first nursing school in the entire United States. And she never married. She died when she was 89 years old, and she lived with her sister, Georgina, her entire life. Georgina is a direct descendant of both Philip Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton. Okay, I want to backtrack just a little bit. We're going to come back to Georgina, but I want to backtrack just a little bit and tell you about the plot to kidnap Philip Schuyler. tell you about the plot to kidnap Philip Schuyler. In 1781, the American Revolution was still underway. I already told you about how wealthy the Schuylers were. And so some of the British

who were operating in Canada got this idea, what if we get some insider intel and we plot to kidnap wealthy citizens, particularly those with military connections like Philip Schuyler, and then we're able to leverage them against our demands. Word on the street got out and a man wrote to Philip Schuyler and was like, heads up, to Philip Schuyler and was like, heads up. There is a group of people here that are like hiding in a barn. And I overheard them and they are planning to kidnap you. Philip Schuyler, I'm sure wasn't pleased about being given the information that he was about to be kidnapped. And they have this grand manor, this amazing home. He was having dinner with his family one night. His servants and the people he enslaved were having dinner on the lower level when this group

of kidnappers burst through the door of the lower level where all of the help was eating dinner. The servants and the enslaved had been briefed that there was this plot to kidnap Philip Schuyler. And so they were kind of ready and waiting. They had their weapons nearby in case anything happened. So then when people burst through the door, of course, they quickly ran, grabbed their weapons, a firefight ensued. ran, grabbed their weapons, a firefight ensued. Philip Schuyler hears the commotion. Again, he's having dinner with his family. He hears the commotion. He sends his entire family out the front door and he runs up to the second floor of the house and begins shouting as though the house is full of people and throws open the window and begins firing shots from a bunch of different windows while shouting as though he is speaking to various people. What his goal was to make it

seem like there were a large number of armed men on the second floor who were going to kill all of the kidnappers, when in reality, it was just him. The kidnappers here, like, oh my goodness, who knows how many people are up there, and they get scared. And they grab a couple of the servants that worked in the Schuyler home, and they ran away. Philip Schuyler was never kidnapped. The rest of his family was fine. That is fascinating. Isn't that fascinating that they were going to kidnap Philip Schuyler. He sent his family out the front door, pretended to be a bunch of people on the second floor. And in reality, it was just him. All right, let's go back to Georgina. Georgina and all the Schlers, frankly, were always part of the New York elite society.

Wealthy, well-connected, well-respected during a time in America when classism was extremely prevalent. Georgina had a friend. She had many friends, but she had a friend named Emma Lazarus. You know that name? You know the name Emma Lazarus? She and Georgina were good friends. And Lazarus was a Jewish poet and had become relatively well known in that sort of tier of New Yorkers. Her family was also very wealthy. And she was asked by a group of, again, well-connected people in New York to contribute to an auction, a fundraising auction. And they said, Ms. Lazarus, would you contribute an original poem? And we will auction off the poem and we will raise money. And what were they raising money for? They were raising money to build a pedestal. And the pedestal is where a large statue would be

placed. And the statue was called Liberty Enlightens the World. And we, of course, now know it as the Statue of Liberty. And we're not going to go into the entire history of the Statue of Liberty. That is fascinating, though. If you ever want to do a deep dive into something really interesting, Statue of Liberty history, go for it. But they needed to build a pedestal on which to rest the Statue of Liberty was being sent from France and it needed to be reassembled. And the United States needed to pay for this pedestal so it could be placed

in its location. So Emma Lazarus was asked to contribute a poem to this fundraising effort to build a platform for Liberty Enlightens the World, which was going to be sailing across the ocean when they had enough money to build the platform. So she wrote a poem called The New Colossus. And I'm sure you're familiar with the poem. By the way, The New Colossus is a reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, which was a Greek statue. I love it. I'm going to read it to you. It's short. It says, sunset gates shall stand, a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,

and her name, Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome. Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp, cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. So, Emma Lazarus wrote that poem.

Eventually, the Statue of Liberty was built, but the poem was nowhere to be found. The poem was not a part of the Statue of Liberty dedication. Grover Cleveland, in fact, wouldn't even allow women to attend the Statue of Liberty dedication. Grover Cleveland talked about, you know, the American ideals when he was at the ceremony dedicating it. He did say that the light from the statue's outstretched torch would pierce the darkness of ignorance and man's oppression until liberty shall enlighten the world. Emma Lazarus was very, very sick and died right around the time the Statue of Liberty was coming to the United States. She died in her 30s of what most people think now was cancer. And her poem didn't sell for much

money at the auction, sold for about $1,500, which was certainly a lot of money, but it didn't bring in the sums that they had hoped. And the poem was not associated with the Statue of Liberty. 17 years after she died, Georgina Schuyler found a book of poems written by her friend in a bookshop. And in the book of poems was Emma Lazarus's The New Colossus. And she knew that Emma had written that for the pedestal fundraiser for the Statue of Liberty. And Georgina Schuyler was like, this needs to be put on a plaque on the base of the Statue of Liberty. That's what she wrote it for. That's what this means. And so Georgina Schuyler began to undertake this effort to have the new Colossus added to the Statue of Liberty. In 1901, Schuyler began the campaign to get this poem added at a plaque to the Statue of Liberty,

and it eventually was added a number of years later. And I found the original article in the New York Times from when the plaque was placed on the Statue of Liberty. And it was published May 6, 1903. Here's what it says. The memory of Emma Lazarus, a writer of note in her day, has been revived by her friend, Miss Georgina Schuyler, by a graceful act. Yesterday, a memorial bronze tablet was unveiled on Bedlows, that's the island where the Statue of Liberty is, on Bedlows, or Liberty Island as it is now called, just inside the entrance to the pedestal of Bartholdi's gigantic Statue of Liberty enlightening the world. The choice of this place rests on the interest which Emma Lazarus took in the Liberty Statue as a symbol for a land where

the downtrodden and despised have found a chance to develop their own careers, an interest which found one expression in her verses on the new Colossus. They were written in 1883 and are inscribed on the tablet, which Miss Schuyler has dedicated to her. And then they go on to print the poem. And they end with, Emma Lazarus was the daughter of the late Moses Lazarus and came of one of the old Jewish families of New York, well known in the best society of the city. She died in 1887. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that? I just, I love it so much. I love that had Alexander Hamilton not sailed for the United States in New York where you could be a new man? Had he not met the Schuylers?

Had he and Eliza not had children? Had they not married? Had George Lee not married Eliza II? And they'd had Georgina? Chances are good that Emma Lazarus's poem would be lost to history. But instead, those incredible words that are so associated, so recognized with the Statue of Liberty, that give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be breathe free. Had it not been for all of those little puzzle pieces clicking into place, Georgina Schuyler would not have existed. She would not have found that poem in a bookshop, and it would now not rest as one of the great symbols of America, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. And so that's the Schuyler connection to the Statue of Liberty. And I love it. It gives me

all the brain tingles, just all of them. And if you're from New York, you absolutely know about all of the place names related to the Schuylers. about Skyler, New York, and Skylerville in Skyler County. There is Fort Skyler, which is a military fortification in the Bronx, which is now where the Maritime Industry Museum is. I could talk for another two hours about this topic. I hope you love this as much as I do, because I love it. I just like, it just lights up all the happy centers of my brain to learn all of this information. So that's it for today. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast. I am truly grateful for you. And I'm wondering if you could do me a quick favor. Would you be willing to follow or subscribe

to this podcast or maybe leave me a rating or a review? Or if you're feeling extra generous, would you share this episode on your Instagram stories or with a friend? All of those things help podcasters out so much. I cannot wait to have another mind blown moment with you next episode. Thanks again for listening to the Sharon Says So podcast.