The Confusing Cousins of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton

By Bob Ferris

My wife was playing Hamilton songs this morning and dancing around the kitchen.  She asked me about Philip Schuyler and his daughters as one of them married Alexander Hamilton (see above).  My response was something about the historic figure and the claim that we were somehow related.   And her response was: How?

Whew.  I guess the easy answer would be to say that we are distant cousins of a sort.  But that is inadequate, because it implies a single set of common ancestors, which is not what we have.  My family’s links come from both what I would call the Ferris (F) and Ramsay (R) side and there a many.  Those highlighted in the links below are direct ancestors we share with Elizabeth through five generation of Colonial America.  

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (1757-1854)

Parents 

Philip Schuyler (1733-1804)

Catherine Van Rensselaer (1734-1803)

Grandparents 

Col. Johannes Van Rensselaer (1708–1783) 

Engeltie "Angelica" Livingston (1698–1747)

Johannes ("John") Schuyler Jr. (1697–1741) 

Cornelia Van Cortlandt (1698–1762)

Great Grandparents 

Hendrick Van Rensselaer (1667-1740)

Catherine Annetje Van Brugh (1665-1730)

Robert Livingston "The Younger" (1663-1725)

Margarita Schuyler (1682-Unk.)

Johannes Schuyler (1668–1747) 

Elizabeth (née Staats) Wendell (1647–1737)

Stephanus van Cortlandt (1643-1700)

Geertruyd (Gertruj) Schuyler (1654-1719) 

Great-Great Grandparents 

Jeremias Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1632-1674)

Maria van Cortlandt (1645-1689)

Johannes Pieterszen Van Brugh, I (1624-1699)

Trijntgen Roeloffs (1629-1684) 

James Livingston (1646–1673)

UNK

Pieter Schuyler (1657-1724)

Engeltie Van Schaick (1659-1689)

Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628-1683)

Margarita Van Slichtenhorst (1628–1711)

Abraham Staats (1620-1694)

Trijntje "Catharina" Jochems (1621–1703)

Olof Stevense van Cortlandt (1617-1684)

Annetje Loockermans (1618-1684)

I guess the winners in the gene pool contest—if there was one—would be Philip and Margarita Schuyler who are the parents of Pieter, Johannes and Geertuyd Schuyler.  This makes them both great-great grandparents and great-great-great grandparents of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.  But what does this sharing of descent from seventy-five percent of Elizabeth's great-great grandparents make the relationship? Distant cousins?  Sure, but also part of the genetic confusion that was Early America, particularly in the former Dutch colony.

(Note: First cousins would normally expect to share 8 out of 16 great-great grandparents.)