Eliza Ridgely

[3] Her mother, who was born on December 6, 1783, was the daughter of Johann Martin Eichelberger and his wife Elizabeth Welsh,[4] and died a few hours after the birth of Eliza, aged only nineteen years and two months.

[6] 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.

John's great-uncle and Achsah's brother, Charles Ridgely III, was the builder of the Hampton plantation which was built in 1790 and had been the largest private residence in the United States.

The daughter of a merchant, she had married into a family which recorded the smallest transaction, and she kept careful accounts of all her expenditure, even noting the nine and a half cents she paid for a piece of ribbon.

As well as her personal spending, her accounts also show her expenses in ensuring that the Hampton slaves were clothed and shod, a major undertaking.

[14] In 1839, the landscape gardener Henry Winthrop Sargent found that Hampton's venerable appearance and foreign air "...quite disturb one's ideas of republican America".

Sully later commented on all his work "From long experience, I know that resemblance in a portrait is essential; but no fault will be found with the artist (at least by the sitter) if he improve the appearance.

He helped to arrange a deal under which the Ridgelys sold the house to Ailsa Mellon Bruce's Avalon Foundation, which in 1948 gave it to the National Park Service.