Anna Schuyler was born in April 1745. She was the daughter of Albany residents Jacobus and Geertruy Staats Schuyler. Her father died when she was fifteen leaving Elizabeth to help her mother raise several small children.

We believe that Anna was the wife of James Gourlay. Anna Schuyler had a son who grew up as "James Gourlay" but was was repudiated by the elder Gourlay in 1772 as "none of my begetting." James Gourlay died later in 1772!

We believe that Anna married James Vandervoort of New Jersey about 1780. That union produced nine children - all but the first (1780) baptized at the Albany Dutch church where Anna was a pewholder. A daughter, named Anna Gourlay, was baptized in Albany in 1798. One of the sponsors was James Gourlay.

The assessment roll for1788 identified the "Widow Gourlay" as a boarder in a third ward household.

Anna Schuyler Gourlay died in August 1798 at the age of fifty-four. James Gourlay buried "his mother" from the Albany Dutch church.

Sources: The life of Anna Schuyler Gourlay is CAP biography number 1084. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.