![]() Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza are buried in Trinity Cemetery downtown.) She seems to prefer the eastern side of upper Manhattan overlooking the Harlem River and her old estate. (Aaron Burr was buried in New Jersey, the site of his birth, Princeton school days, dueling and trysting. Oppenheimer, the same cannot be said for Eliza’s reputation.Įliza was buried in Trinity Cemetery in upper Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River. It is Manhattan’s oldest home, and its furnishings have been restored to their former glory. Named the Morris-Jumel Mansion, commemorating Roger and Mary Morris, who built the original house, and Eliza Jumel, its most famous resident, it boasts man of the furnishings bought by Eliza and Stephen Jumel. In 1907, her former home became a museum. She was accused of being morally deranged and killing her first husband, and (our favorite story) identified as the mother of George Washington’s illegitimate son. This legal odyssey managed to revive and embellish many sordid stories about her rise up the social ladder. ![]() Her remarkably long life of 90 years was echoed by the long journey of her last will and testament through the courts. Scandal followed her to her death – and beyond.īorn two weeks prior to the start of the American Revolution, Eliza Jumel died two months after the conclusion of America’s Civil War. Likewise, Eliza Jumel’s attempts to repaint her early life in ladylike pastel colors was an abysmal failure. She failed, but hey, New York women have always known how to try and make the best of any opportunity. In an incredible display of prototypical New York chutzpah, Eliza even made a move to collect Burr’s military pension from the Revolutionary War. In Europe, Eliza’s favorite new identity was that of the grieving widow of the American vice president Aaron Burr, who had died after the divorce was finalized. She took herself off to Europe where she could again reinvent herself. He had the good grace to die shortly thereafter – on Staten Island.īut with the divorce, Eliza lost all possibility of social advancement she did what any social-climbing New York girl would do. The cleverist lawyer in New York City, Aaron Burr, had dueled with Eliza Jumel and lost. Eliza kept all of Stephen Jumel’s fortune and real estate holdings. ![]() New Yorkers were, naturally, taken aback by all these Jersey doings.īurr stalled the divorce with 15 adjournments and his own accusations of adultery against Eliza. Rubbing Burr’s reputation in even more New Jersey dirt, Eliza accused him of an adulterous affair in a New Jersey love nest, a short ferry ride across the Hudson River from the Jumel mansion. Divorce papers appear to have been filed by Eliza on the anniversary of Burr’s New Jersey duel with Alexander Hamilton. ![]() As a woman battling to keep her money and property, Eliza mounted an effective PR campaign that shifted any blame to Aaron Burr. Instead of a step up on the social ladder, the subsequent divorce proceedings the very next year in 1834, brought gossip and scandal, accusations and counter-accusations. Aaron Burr, his ambitions, his plans and his debts, did not add up to the social bargaining chip that Eliza had signed on for. But even New York women sometimes miscalculate. Eliza’s marriage to Aaron Burr in 1833 was designed to open social doors downtown and bring the creme de la creme of New York society up to her country estate. Oppenheimer’s meticulous research did reveal that they both checked out books from the New York Society Library (still operating on 79th Street), on the same day. Just where and how Eliza Jumel and Aaron Burr met is hard to know. For this, Eliza, now a wealthy widow, needed a powerful husband. In short, uptown living was good for Eliza.Īfter Stephen Jumel’s death, Eliza wished to make the transition from uptown rural contentment to downtown mover and shaker. These were served on ice taken from the river in the winter and stored in the estate’s deep ice collar. Cliffs on the Harlem River led down to rich oyster beds and fresh seafood. An elegant boxed garden was filled with flowers, vegetables and fruit. Cider was pressed from their apple trees. Eliza and Stephen planted one of New York’s earliest vineyards as well as orchards. ![]() In upper Manhattan, Eliza and Stephen lived an idyllic rural life overlooking the Harlem River. ![]()
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