Eliza Ridgely

Eliza Eichelberger Ridgely (February 10, 1803 – December 20, 1867) was an American heiress, traveler, arbiter of fashion, and mistress of Hampton, the Ridgely plantation north of Towson, Maryland. She is the Lady with a Harp of Thomas Sully's portrait, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Early life Eliza Ridgely was born on February 10, 1803, the only child of Nicholas Greenbury Ridgely (1770–1829), a rich wine merchant from Baltimore and Elisabeth (née Eichelberger) Ridgely, who married on July 30, 1801. Her mother, who was born on December 6, 1783, was the daughter of Johann Martin Eichelberger and his wife Elizabeth Welsh, and died a few hours after the birth of Eliza, aged only nineteen years and two months. Her father died in 1829 and was buried in the cemetery at Hampton. Life Eliza Ridgely was an heiress who became a foreign traveler and an arbiter of fashion. She met and befriended the Marquis de Lafayette during his United States tour of 1824–1825 and stayed in contact with him for the rest of his life. Ten of his letters to her have survived, including an invitation to visit La Grange, his country estate in France—a visit which took place in 1834—and his congratulations on her marriage. A number of Eliza's replies and related correspondence––including the news that she was, at long last, going to visit La Grange in 1833––were discovered and published in 2019.