Cornelia van Cortlandt


Cornelia Van Cortlandt Schuyler, was the wife of Johannes Schuyler, Jr. She was the grandmother of Angelica Schuyler Church, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, who was married to Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and several influential people in colonial and post-colonial America.

Early life

Cornelia was born in 1698 to Stephanus van Cortlandt, the 17th and 10th Mayor of New York City, and Gertruj Schuyler, the daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler. Philip Pieterse was her grandfather and grandfather in law, making her and her husband first cousins. She was baptized on July 31, 1698
She had 12 siblings, Johannes Van Cortlandt, Margiete Van Cortlandt, Anna de Lancy, Maria Stephanusz Van Cortlandt, Gertrude Beekman, Col. Philip van Cortlandt, Stephanus van Cortlandt, Elizabeth van Cortlandt, Catherine Johnstone, Geertruyd Bayard, N.N. van Cortlandt, Olof van Cortlandt and Gysbert van Cortlandt.
In 1700, when she was nearly 2, her father passed away at the age of 57. Her paternal grandfather was the first van Cortlandt to come to New Netherland, and her maternal grandfather was the first Schuyler to arrive in New Netherland. She grew up in a very wealthy and influential family.

Life

On October 18, 1723, Cornelia van Cortlandt married Johannes Schuyler, Jr.. Her family offered a large dowry to Schuyler and a large inheritance. Together, they were the parents of ten children.
When Schuyler widowed Cornelia, he left her his entire estate and inheritance on the condition that she did not remarry. She never remarried. She died 21 years later at the age of 64.

Descendants

Through her son Philip, she was the grandmother of Angelica Schuyler, who married John Barker Church, a British MP, Elizabeth Schuyler, who married Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler, who married Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the 8th Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, John Bradstreet Schuyler, who married Elizabeth Van Rensselaer, Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, who served in the United States House of Representatives, Rensselaer Schuyler, who married Elizabeth Ten Broeck, daughter of General Abraham Ten Broeck, Cornelia Schuyler, who married Washington Morton, and Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler, who married first, Samuel Malcolm, and then James Cochran, another of her grandchildren.
Through her daughter Gertrude, she was the grandmother of James Cochran and the great-grandmother of U.S. General and Congressman John Cochran.