The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Van Lu

Elizabeth Louise Van Lu was born on October 15, 1818 in Richmond, Virginia. She was the first of three children of John Van Lu and Eliza Baker Van Lu. Her father was part of that Dutch immigration to what we consider New York now in the 1600s. When she was just 10, her mother died, and Elizabeth was sent off to live with her brother in Richmond,. And it was there that Eliza and John met and married in 1818.