Betsey Hartigan was born Ann Elizabeth Pollock in 1758. Married Dr. William Hartigan of Dublin. Through her brothers, George Pollock and Carlisle Pollock, Gilbert Stuart met the distinguished sitters that he painted after he returned to New York in 1793. Among these were John Jay, Stephen Van Rennsselaer, J. J. Astor, Matthew Clarkson, William Bayard, Colonel Giles, William Constable, Miss Cruger and the Yates and Pollock families.
