The Truth About Maria Reynolds

Life With James Reynolds

When Maria got married she was young and gullible. At the young age of 15 in that time period you are very moldable and easily decided because at that point she had no sense of right or wrong. She grew up poor and didn't really know what being wealthy was like. So when she married James she didn't know what to expect so she probably didn't know that the way James treated her was no way to treat a lady. Little known fact about Maria was that she was an extraordinary painter and could easily make enough money to provide for her and James if she sold her paintings in the right way to the right people. Though when they got married James took painting away from her and forced her to become his personal rag doll. Maria was with James for ten years. At the age of 17 she had her daughter Susan Reynolds on August 18th 1785. Throughout her marriage to James Reynolds had a gambling problem and would sell Maria out to pay for his debts. Maria had a life of abuse, gambling, and sex work with James. James would Maria and Susan on their own for days to weeks on end to go off to gamble and chest on Maria with sex workers. Once when James was gone it had been a month and Maria and Susan were running out of resources and Maria was sick of it so she looked for lawyers that could help her file for divorce. She came across  a successful lawyer by the name of Alexander Hamilton.