Margarita Cuyler Low

Margarita Cuyler was born in December 1738. She was the daughter of Cornelis and Catharina Schuyler Cuyler. She grew up in the second ward home of a prominent merchant and civic leader. Her father and brother served as mayors of Albany. In 1765, she was identified along with her siblings in the will filed by their ailing father.

In March 1760, she married Manhattan merchant Isaac Low. They lived in New York where Isaac Low became a leading businessman. Their only son, Isaac, became a field officer in the British army. Their daughter married Albany resident Dirck Hansen. One source noted that Margaret Low was known "for her beauty of person and gentle manners."

In 1774, Isaac Low was elected to the First Continental Congress. Over the next two years, he fell away from the Patiot cause and was arrested by the Revolutionaries. He stayed in New York City when it fell to the British in July 1776. He remained there throughout the War.

Margarita came home to Albany and was identified as a first ward householder with substantial property in 1779. Initially, she had difficulty with her former neighbors - the revolutionaries, but managed to survive the war until she could join her husband in New York. With his property confiscated, Isaac Low removed to England in 1783 and died on the Isle of Wight in 1791.

In 1782, Margarita was named as an heir in the will of Madame Margarita Schuyler. After that, she probably lived in the Rensselaerswyck home of her son-in-law, ferryman Dirck Hansen.

"Mrs. Low" was buried from the Albany church in October 1802. The will of Margarita Cuyler Low will passed probate in Albany in May 1803.

Sources: The life of Margarita Cuyler Low is CAP biography number 592. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. A tradition exists that Margarita followed her husband into exile and died in England in 1820. Whether she accompanied him and how long she might have stayed in Europe is open to discussion.