Allan McLane Hamilton
The Life of Alexander Hamilton
Based on Family Letters and Other Personal Documents (Illustrated Edition)
Published by
Books
- Advanced Digital Solutions & High-Quality eBook Formatting -
2018 OK Publishing
ISBN 978-80-272-4422-5
Table of Contents
Chapter I Origin and Parentage
Chapter II Personal Characteristics
Chapter III Hamilton as a Writer and Orator
Chapter V Courtship and Marriage
Chapter VI Hamilton, The Lawyer
Chapter VII Hamilton, The lawyer (Concluded)
Chapter IX Friends and Enemies
Chapter X The Years from 1790 to 1800
Preface
The purpose of the writer is to utilize a large number of original letters and documents, written by Alexander Hamilton and various members of his family as well as his contemporaries, and which in some measure throw light upon his private life and career as a soldier, lawyer, and states man. Most of these have never been published, and were left to me by my father, the late Philip Hamilton, who was his youngest son. I have no more ambitious purpose than to produce a simple narrative, for there are several important works that fully and formally describe his public services. The latest of these is Oliver's excellent book, which is a noble monument to the memory of Hamilton. If I have gone into detail very minutely it is because of the belief that the familiar side of his life will be of interest to a great many people who have hitherto been furnished only with unauthentic generalities.
A few of the letters already published by the late John C. Hamilton and Senator Lodge, or which appear in the Life of James McHenry, have been used, and some of these are little known.
It is a pleasure to express my obligation to Delos McCurdy, Esq., and H. D. Estabrook, Esq., of the New York Bar; to Worthington C. Ford, Esq., Librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society; Wilberforce Eames, Esq., Librarian of the Lenox Library; Edward S. Holden, Esq., Librarian of the United States Military Academy; William H. Winters, Esq., Librarian of the New York Law Institute; to Richard Church, Esq., of Rochester, New York, and R. K. Bixby, Esq., of St. Louis, Missouri, as well as others, for kindly and valuable help.
Allan McLane Hamilton.
New York, June 1, 1910.
Chapter I
Origin and Parentage
Alexander Hamilton came into the world on January 11, 1757, his birthplace being Nevis, a mountainous island of the picturesque Antilles, 17° 14´ latitude and 62° 33´ longitude. Nevis has an area of about sixty square miles, and was colonized by the British in 1728. It is quite near St. Christopher, or "St. Kitts," and both islands were in 1757, and are to-day, under the same local government. Within a comparatively short distance is St. Croix, which became a Danish possession early in the eighteenth century. These three islands are the centre of the greatest interest so far as the early history of Hamilton is concerned.
Much unnecessary speculation has arisen regarding Hamilton's antecedents, but why there should have been so much mystery is a matter of wonder, considering that many of his own letters, referring to his family, have for a long time been in existence and are easy of access, so that there is little doubt as to his paternity or early history.
Gouvemeur Morris, Bancroft, Lodge, and others, have from time to time hinted at vague stories regarding his illegitimacy, and he has been described as the son of various persons, among them a Danish governor of one of the islands; and as a half-brother of his friend and playmate, Edward Stevens, whom he is said to have closely resembled, and who was afterward sent to the United States, to be educated by the Rev. Mr. Knox, with Hamilton. This early friendship was continued through life, although there does not appear to be anything in their subsequent intercourse to show that they were more than friends. Timothy Pickering left among his memoirs a statement which has been resurrected by Cabot Lodge, and, although alluded to by him as "mere gossip," was brought forward and published in his volume of the "Statesmen's Series." In this Mr. Pickering relates an interview which he had with a Mr. James Yard in Philadelphia, who was a brother-in-law of Mr. Stevens, both