ANGELICA

A woman navigates revolution.

Making an engaging book debut, Beer recounts the eventful life of Angelica Schuyler Church (1756-1814), the eldest of eight children born into a wealthy and influential Dutch family. Her mother was a van Rensselaer; her family tree included Livingstons and van Cortlandts. Like other aristocratic colonial families, hers owned slaves, an unquestioned economic necessity even for those who cried out for liberty. Contradictions and roiling politics defined her life: She was 19 when the colonies petitioned for independence, and her father, Philip Schuyler, soon became a commander of the Continental Army. Their Albany home became a meeting place for leaders of the revolution. As Angelica witnessed upheaval around her, she boldly upended her life. Although her family hoped she would marry a man of her class and means, she became attracted to John Carter, an English émigré, a man with “languid blue eyes and passionate political opinions.” He had no family connections, no estate or hope of one, and no fortune, to all of which her parents objected. Faced with the choice of submitting to parental authority or rebelling, she made a fateful decision. She and Carter eloped. She learned that Carter had changed his name from Church to avoid paying creditors after he went bankrupt in England; his later financial success supplying American and French troops made it possible for him to repay his debts and reclaim his name. Angelica Carter became Mrs. Church. In Boston, Newport, Paris, and London, she moved in the same aristocratic circles into which she was born. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were close friends in Paris; her brother-in-law was Alexander Hamilton. She was godmother to his daughter. Beer draws on abundant archival sources to portray a shrewd, observant woman whose perspective affords a fresh look at her times.

A brisk and vivid history.