on the banks of the Genesee River. In 1806, Angelica and John Barker Church began construction on a thirty-room mansion nearby, called Belvidere, which still stands as a privately owned home on the banks of the Genesee in Belmont, New York, near the town of Angelica. Although they had intended to make it their summer home, it instead became the residence of Philip and Anna Church when it was partially completed in 1810. Correspondence and personal life Many examples of Angelica Church's personal correspondence with eminent figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette are preserved in the Library of Congress and other archives. In 1996, the University of Virginia purchased a series of 77 letters, including 13 from Jefferson, that had previously been kept in her family's possession. Thomas Jefferson In a letter to Angelica, Jefferson ardently wrote, "Think of it, my friend, and let us begin a negotiation on the subject. You shall find in me all the spirit of accommodation with which Yorick began his with the fair Piedmontese." Jefferson alludes to a sexually charged scene in Laurence Sterne's then-popular novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, in which a parson named Yorick has to negotiate sleeping arrangements when obliged to share a room with an attractive Italian woman and her maid. Alexander Hamilton In view of a flirtatious attitude that fueled contemporary gossip, there has long been speculation that Angelica may have had a romantic relationship with Hamilton. Correspondence between the two, now preserved in the Library of Congress, demonstrates the strong friendship and affection between them. Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow wrote that "the attraction between Hamilton and Angelica was so potent and obvious that many people assumed they were lovers. At the very least, theirs was a friendship of unusual ardor." Hamilton biographer Willard Sterne Randall and Albany historian Warren Roberts state that Hamilton and Angelica did have an affair. In a 1794 letter to her sister Eliza, sent from London, Angelica wrote effusively of her affection for "your Husband, for I love him very much and if you were as generous as the old Romans, you would lend him to me for a little while." Angelica's extended absence from America, as well as the Schuyler family's continued devotion to Hamilton, lend support to the view that Angelica's banter was a joke between sisters rather than evidence of