FOUR MONTHS AFTER Alexander died, Philip Schuyler passed away as well. His estate did not leave Eliza and her family with much, and she and the children had to sell the Grange at auction. They were able to buy it back with help from Alexander’s friends.
She also petitioned the government for back military pay due to Alexander, as well as a land grant he’d never applied for. It took until 1837 for her to receive $30,000.
The remainder of her years she spent serving others. She helped found the first private orphanage in New York in 1806, and she continued to take orphaned children into her own home. Her beloved sister Angelica died in 1814.
Eliza remained fiercely devoted to her Hamilton, wearing for the rest of her days both the wedding ring he had given her and a leather bag around her neck containing the poem he’d written her. She organized his papers for future biographers, and she made sure he received credit for writing George Washington’s farewell address to the nation. She never forgave James Monroe for his betrayal in the Reynolds affair.
Often in Washington, D.C., to visit her daughter, Eliza joined forces with Dolley Madison, who’d married Alexander’s political enemy James Madison. Together, the two women raised funds to build the Washington Monument.
Eliza died in 1854, a half century after her husband. Eliza’s grave is right beside Alexander’s, in the cemetery at Trinity Church in New York City.