In the winter of 2017, a lock of George Washington’s hair was discovered in the stacks of the Special Collections Department at Union College, triggering an international media storm. The lock of hair was found in a small envelope that was tucked inside a rare book entitled Gaine’s Universal Register (1793). The book belonged to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, son of Major General Philip Schuyler, Sr., and the brother of Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
Although media coverage focused on Washington’s hair, the discovery— the hair, the book, and the handwritten note on the envelope—all helped tell the story of the Schuyler (pronounced: SKY-ler) family and their role in the founding of Union College.
Historians estimate that almost a fifth of colonial New York’s population was enslaved. Albany and Schenectady were no different. When Union College was founded in 1795, Schenectady had about 450 enslaved residents. These enslaved people toiled on small farms, worked in shops, and carried out work requested by their masters. New York merchants made fortunes trading crops such as tobacco, sugar, and indigo—all produced from enslaved labor. Early colonial New York Dutch merchants also lined their pockets from the slave trade.
Major General Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804) was born into a “prominent Dutch lineage…the prestige that can come from long established family roots… an arrogancy not without a touch of vanity, but also the wellspring of ambition”.
The Major General married Catherine “Kitty” Van Rensselaer in 1755. Kitty gave birth to 15 children in the course of their long marriage, eight of whom survived to adulthood: Angelica, Eliza (Hamilton), Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, Margarita “Peggy”, John Bradstreet, Rensselaer, Cornelia and Catherine or “Caty”.
In the winter of 2017, a lock of George Washington’s hair was discovered in the stacks of the Special Collections Department at Union College, triggering an international media storm. The lock of hair was found in a small envelope that was tucked inside a rare book entitled Gaine’s Universal Register (1793). The book belonged to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, son of Major General Philip Schuyler, Sr., and the brother of Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
Although media coverage focused on Washington’s hair, the discovery— the hair, the book, and the handwritten note on the envelope—all helped tell the story of the Schuyler (pronounced: SKY-ler) family and their role in the founding of Union College.