#allan mclane hamilton

[yr-obedt-cicero]

I was reading some of Allan McLane's work, for those that don't know, he was a grandson of Alexander Hamilton, being the second son of Philip Hamilton II and Rebecca McLane. I noticed something intriguing about one of his books. In the second volume of A System of legal medicine, by McLane and Lawrence Godkin published in 1894, there is an article titled; ‘Sexual Crimes’. The section is written by one of the many collaborates, Charles Gilbert Chaddock. Chaddock was a Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System, and neurologist to Rebekah Hospital. An additional fun fact, the first known use of the term homosexual was in Chaddock's 1892 translation of Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis, a study of sexual practices.

Chaddock discusses a lot of sexual topics but one is “sexual inversion”, which was a theory of homosexuality popular primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa.

The most common sexological theory of same-sex desire was that it was the result of physical, emotional, or psychological “inversion.” In other words, the gender of persons who desired their own sex was somehow reversed. When a man desired a man, it was actually a woman—presumably existing within the man's body—who was desiring a man. When a woman desired a woman, it was actually a male essence within the woman's body who felt that desire. This metaphysical explanation, accepted as scientific (at this point of the emergence of psychology as a science), had a substantial effect on the public imagination for the next fifty years. It became how many people understood the phenomenon of same-sex desire. Theories of Inversing were published widely, and sexologists were understood by the average person to be the experts on a “new science.” The idea of the “invert,” or “third sex,” also quickly and profoundly informed two popular and lasting stereotypes: the mannish lesbian and the effeminate homosexual man. (Although there were preexisting stereotypes of the effeminate male, sexological taxonomy invented him as a homosexual man.)

Source — A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski · 2011

Chaddock wrote that;

Since in any case sexual inversion is but a phenomenon arising from a neuropsychopathic condition, as previously indicated, it is seldom an isolated manifestation, but is most frequently observed in combination with other sexual perversions. In accordance with this, the medico-legal questions arising in sexual inversion may be identical with those raised in the sexual perversions previously considered. The further possibilities of a criminal character are related to the crimes of pederasty. The individual affected with contrary sexuality satisfies himself with men by means of passive or mutual onanism, or by coitus-like acts (coitus inter femora); if active pederasty is performed, it is only as a result of intense sexual desire, or out of wish to please another. Passive pederasty may be performed by contrary sexual individuals to please the active party, or out of lust where they feel themselves entirely in the feminine role. To distinguish such cases from pederasty not dependent upon a pathological condition, it is but necessary to exclude the existence of psychosexual inversion, and to remember that where this crime is performed apart from perversion it is as a means of sexual indulgence in the absence of opportunity for natural satisfaction, and as a new means. of sexual gratification where natural methods of sexual pleasure have been exhausted by excess. Non-pathological passive pederasty is practiced only for gain.

Source — A System of legal medicine, Volume 2, by Allan McLane Hamilton · 1900

[46ten]

Philip Schuyler Hamilton, 1832-33?

Inscription noted here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/225191670/philip-schuyler-hamilton

Philip Schuyler Hamilton, Son of Philip and Rebecca Hamilton, Died March 19, 1833, Aged 14 Months

This tombstone is in the same Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery lot as Philip II and Rebecca McLane Hamilton and their other two known kids, Louis (1844-1868) and Allan (1848-1919). It’s clearly older than the other gravestones. Hmm. Let’s call it 1853 instead of 1833! 

[icarusbetide]

Since you are a purveyor of odd Hamilton takes... Came across this in American Military Biography (1830) by Amos Blanchard:

I had assumed the "orphan Alex" narrative was there from the start (and maybe this is just a very badly researched book), but that made me wonder when that actually became the default version of the story.

(Also how can you be an orphan with a living parent anyway...?)

I love my curated collection of odd Hamilton takes...some of them are printed out on a dart board so I can skewer them to hell along with the corresponding historian's picture but the ones I agree with are 100% accurate and concrete facts.

And thank you so much for sharing, this is really interesting! My first thought was maybe Blanchard was aware of Ann Mitchell, Hamilton's cousin. She lived in America for several years, may have been his major benefactor, and he singled her out in his final letters, entreating Betsey to treat her well.

From a quick search it seems unlikely she accompanied him (Allan McLane Hamilton thought they never met in America), but perhaps the knowledge of a maternal figure helping Ham was public at the time, and the author rolled with "mother"? I stumbled on a paper from 1952, "Alexander Hamilton: The Fact and Fiction of His Early Years" by Larson that addresses the popular myth that Hamilton received help from two friendly aunts; apparently there was an aunt Ann Lytton who died before all of this, separate from the actual helper: Ann Lytton Venton Mitchell, Hamilton's cousin. Not sure how far back that mixup goes, but maybe this author heard about this mother who was actually an aunt who was actually a cousin through the grapevine. Christ.

This did get me thinking about how I've never dug into Rachel's death because it seems like such a concrete incident. There is the 1768 probate court transaction available on founders online for anyone looking for easy access but now I'm having a second hand existential crisis. Maybe Hamilton was actually chilling with his very alive mother who is so confused rn.

I also assumed the orphan narrative thing was present from the start. From what I know, the "lacks good parentage, native land, and money" aspect was always subtly present (which is in itself honestly misleading, he was very privileged. but it makes sense since he's beefing with the elite who can use that relative disparity against him). but maybe the "all alone in the world with nobody to help him" aspect was not.

I'm considering the various examples of people being shady, like Jefferson writing that Ham is a man who "from the moment at which history can stoop to notice him, is a tissue of machinations against the liberty of the country which has not only recieved and given him bread, but heaped it’s honors on his head". This was a letter to Washington of all people, so maybe this indicates that there was some general understanding of Hamilton's background as lacking that allowed him to say all this even in consideration of his frustrations. Newspapers alluded to it. In 1800: "And you might find yourselves equally mistaken, in supposing, that the mode of your descent from a dubious father, in an English island would be no bar in this country to the pretensions to the Presidency."

So clearly there's some aspect of the lowborn narrative peeking through, but I think it would make sense for people to believe & say that he came from questionable, middling backgrounds, but still not see him as an orphan. His childhood wasn't happy or stable by any means, but he still had some support from family and benefactors going for him in America. And he never let go of his deadbeat dad for all the good that did him so he probably didn't refer to himself as an orphan. He didn't even like people thinking of him as lower-class, ("I have better pretensions than most of those who in this Country plume themselves on Ancestry") so I'm sure he didn't embrace the Charles Dickens characterization.

I dunno, maybe it's later historians who dug into Ham's insecurities, feelings of isolation expressed in certain letters, and his elusive background to complete the orphan narrative.

If anything, I suppose this further shows just how far back ambiguities about Hamilton's origins go. Blanchard also claims that Hamilton was born on St. Croix, and apparently there's some modern speculation that he wasn't even born on Nevis. 1830 isn't too far off from Hamilton's death; what book/person did Blanchard consult, if he even did, for this info? I also know that Adams referred to Hamilton as the "Scottish Creolian of Nevis", so Adams must've heard from a different source that Ham wasn't originally from St. Croix. So confusing.

But anyways, thank you so much for sharing this with me - I'm so bad at finding old resources, and I would've never learned that some doofus wrote about Hamilton with - gasp - a nondead parental figure.

Hope you're having a great day! :)

[therealadothamilton]

"I met again in New York M. Hamilton, one of the most interesting men in America. He united with dignity and feeling, and much force and decision, delightful manners, great sweetness, and was infinitely agreeable. As was generally known he exerted a positive influence, and at the same time had much to do with the administration of General Washington during the last year of the Presidency." And again: "Mr. Hamilton is one of the finest men in America, at least of those I have seen. He has breadth of mind, and even genuine clearness in his ideas, facility in their expression, information on all points, cheerfulness, excellence of character, and much amiability. I believe that even this eulogy is not adequate to his merit."

Duke de Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

Source: The Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton

[thesexiestselkie]

Post cancelled I just remembered that Philip 2 is Allan McLane Hamilton's father

[aswithasunbeam]

Do yoy have any info about what Eliza was like as a grandmother?

I think the best source is from her grandson Allan McLane Hamilton, who described her visits to New York in his memoirs:

Previous to her death in 1856 [sic], my Grandmother Hamilton came sometimes to see us in Williamsburgh, and then I was entertained by stories of her early life, and she read letters from “Dolly” Madison, who wrote in a queer small hand. It was difficult to connect the little aged woman, dressed in quiet bombazine dress, wearing large iron-rimmed spectacles, and carrying the reticule that was universal in those days, with the sprightly, beautiful creature described eighty years before by Tench Tighlman and Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. (Recollections of an Alienist, pp.28-30)

[theelizapapers]

Angelica Church to Elizabeth Hamilton, 1787

Amongst all the distresses that distract my poor country I am happy to hear that celibacy is not one of the number.

source: The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton

[pub-lius]

Ajshsh aight here's all the books I could think of that would be informative about the Hamkids other than the basics and well known knowledge you'll hear from any basic Hamilton bio

John Church Hamilton's biography volumes, JCH wrote eight whole volumes about his dad and all of his correspondence — I haven't had the motivation or time to read them all completely (I honestly don't think I ever will), but they're fun to skim through.

James Alexander Hamilton's memoirs, despite the title they aren't really his memoirs. The book talks more about Hamilton than ever actually himself, but thankfully, James shares some details about his upbringing and life in politics.

And then there's Allan McLane Hamilton's biography about Alexander Hamilton, I find McLane to be a pretty good source for a lot of things about Hamilton, due to him being his grandson he must have been close with the family and had gotten the most firsthand experience we'll ever hear about the family.

There's also a modern biography about William Stephen Hamilton, I haven't gotten my hands on it yet but the sample I read already got me hooked, and the reviews are pretty good.

Hope these help if you're interested, they're majorly where I get my sources from!! :]

WOO!!! yes thank you, this is very helpful bestie <333 love you!!! /p

[handsome-enemy-you-despise]

It’s not difficult to believe that this was one of those cases when one man breeds in the other a species of fascination and affection — distinct as it were from another self that becomes so hateful and insupportable, that destruction is the only relief.

The Intimante Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Kentucky Meat Shower

The Kentucky meat shower was an incident occurring between the morning hours of eleven and twelve o'clock for a period of several minutes on March 3, 1876.

At the time, Mrs. Crouch, a farmer’s wife, was making soap on her porch when she reported seeing the meat pieces fall from the sky. She said she was 40 steps from her house when the meat started to slap the ground. The meat looked gristly, according to Mrs. Crouch. Mrs. Crouch and her husband believed the event signified a sign from God. A similar event was later reported in Europe. The phenomenon was reported by Scientific American, The New York Times, and several other publications at the time. Most of the pieces were approximately 2 by 2 inches (5 cm × 5 cm); at least one was 4 by 4 inches (10 cm × 10 cm).

The meat appeared to be beef, but according to the first report in Scientific American, two gentlemen who tasted it judged it to be lamb or deer. B. F. Ellington, a local hunter, identified it as bear meat. Writing in the Sanitarian, Leopold Brandeis identified the substance as Nostoc, a type of cyanobacteria. Brandeis gave the meat sample to the Newark Scientific Association for further analysis, leading to a letter from Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton appearing in the Medical Record and stating the meat had been identified as lung tissue from either a horse or a human infant, "the structure of the organ in these two cases being almost identical."  The composition of this sample was backed up by further analysis, with two samples of the meat being identified as lung tissue, three as muscle, and two as cartilage. Brandeis's Nostoc theory relied on the fact that Nostoc expands into a clear jelly-like mass when rain falls on it, often giving the sense that it was falling with the rain. Charles Fort noted in his first book, The Book of the Damned, that there had been no rain. Locals favored the explanation that the meat was vomited up by buzzards, "who, as is their custom, seeing one of their companions disgorge himself, immediately followed suit." 

Dr. L. D. Kastenbine presented this theory in the contemporaneous Louisville Medical News as the best explanation of the variety of meat. Vultures vomit as part of making a quick escape and also as a defensive method when threatened. Fort explained the flattened, dry appearance of the meat chunks as the result of pressure, and noted that nine days later, on March 12, 1876, red "corpuscles" with a "vegetable" appearance fell over London.

[an-american-experiment]

Who tells your story? Your story? Eliza. I put myself back in the narrative. Eliza. I stop wasting time on tears. I live another fifty years. It’s not enough.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Immediately following the death of Hamilton, Eliza “retreated into her family circle and turned to her sister” (Mazzeo 236). Aaron Burr fled New York, trying to escape the angry citizens. He would be indicted by a grand jury in the weeks following. Eventually, Eliza returned to the city and returned to the pattern of her life with her children - going to church on Sunday and visiting Hamilton’s grave. 

Hamilton had left a list of debts owed and what he had before his death. And as Eliza saw more of the finances in the months after his death, she came to realize that he had left them with financial problems on the scale of a large mortgage on the Grange (their family home) and very little in the way of money in savings. Nevertheless, she put herself to work raising her children. 

As a widow, the men around her tended to take the larger role in coming up with plans for her. In some cases, such as in their plans for her children, she resisted because “what she wanted more than anything else, in the end, was to have the children near her. She had never wanted to be apart from them or from Alexander. Now, that thought was unbearable” (Mazzeo 239). 

Not long after Hamilton died, her father, General Schuyler died of gout and organ failure. This made it so that Eliza’s financial situation was unstable at best. Prior to his death it was assumed that a man as wealthy as he was would take care of his widowed daughter and her children. Now they were left without that support - not only because of his death but the supposed large Schuyler fortune was much less than believed. It plunged Eliza and the family into chaos and arguments over money and inheritance. 

She did outlive Hamilton by fifty years. Eliza died November 9th, 1854. The United States, the country she and her husband had helped build, was almost seventy-five years old. 

Sources: the following sources were used - the collected letters/writings of Alexander Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton the Revolution, Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton, Hamilton by Richard Syllia, and Charles Cerami’s book called Young Patriots. In addition, War of Two by John Sedgwick and Washington and Hamilton by Tony Williams were used throughout. Tilar J. Mazzeo’s Eliza Hamilton was also used. 

Follow us at @an-american-experiment where we are historically analyzing the lyrics of Hamilton with a new post every day!

[46ten]

Hi! Happy to see you back. I don't know if you're still answering to asks because I know it takes a lot of work and time, but if you do, can you talk about the Manhattan Well Murder trial of 1800 and whatever is known about Alexander working on that case?

Hello! And thank you!

There's lots of material covering the Weeks case - whole books, podcasts, and another podcast, and another (that has a transcript here with citations, written by Hayward etc. - if you're looking for just some quick details of Hamilton's cross-examinations of witnesses during the trial, see that doc). There's also a full copy of the transcript of the trial, which is what distinguishes it - it is the first murder trial in the U.S. for which we have a full transcript, not the first murder trial. (I wrote a super short summary about the murder trial for Ann (Nancy) Cary Randolph's stillborn baby, a few decades before she married Gouverneur Morris.)

I also recommend parts 1, 2, and 3 from Statutesandstories.com (more stuff from this blog coming up - I've linked to it in the past for new work on the constitutional convention).

To focus only on AH, a few things stand out:

1. Levi was the brother of Ezra Weeks, a NY builder who built the Grange - AH pays Ezra around $8500. As a carpenter, Levi very likely participated in his brother's business. Ezra was also a chief defense witness providing an alibi for Levi (potential conflict of interest - though Burr's was worse).

2. Colleagues (and descendants - JCH and Allan McLane H) of AH maintained he would not have taken the case if he did not believe beforehand in Weeks' innocence - that he would not have argued for a case where he believed the defendant to be guilty (or the principle to be incorrect). He was such a moral man, and all that.

3. AH and Burr (and Brockholst Livingston, the other defense attorney) laid out their defense in an op-ed to the NY Post before the trial even started.

4. AH waived delivering closing arguments, as the facts/evidence were so clear on Weeks' innocence.

5. Part of the defense was to argue that Elma Sands was "promiscuous" and melancholy and depressed - therefore suicidal. Nice insight into AH's way of thinking - premarital sex as a very short slide to even worse behavior.

6. According to Allan McLane Hamilton (so who knows if it's true), Elma's cousin, Catherine Rings, famously cursed all the members of the trial who did not get her sister justice, stating they would not die natural deaths or something. Judge Lansing, who pretty much instructed the jury to acquit, disappeared in 1829. And we all know what happened to AH and Burr. Livingston killed a man in a duel in 1799.

[I don't think Levi Weeks murdered Elma Sands, if anyone is curious!]

As an aside, although I don't check the feed/suggestions consistently, I do check my activity/messages/inboxes fairly regularly. Their are some inquiries I have ignored - like a request to write a report about Theodosia Burr - but ask a question specific enough, and I'll usually try to find at least a reference/source.

[moonmeg]

what are the hamilwives like?

Oh! Good question! The answer here are my own headcanons so don't take it as historical accuracy. I doubt it is hahah

Long text ahead!!

Mary Morris Hamilton (25th December 1790-24th May 1869) is a very kind and generous person. Benevolent and charming. She has a good relationship with her parents and her seven siblings and she is quite close to her grandparents. Her two years older sister Julia and she also are very close. They can tell each other everything and act like best friends even after both married. When Mary met James, for example, Julia was the first one to find out. When James had asked her to marry him, Julia read Mary like a book and noticed there's something up with her little sister and was the first one in Mary's family to find out Mary said 'yes'.

She loves her husband and her five children, Elizabeth, Frances, Alexander, Mary and Angelica, with all her heart and is a very affectionate mother and wife. She thinks it's amusing to get attention from other men, just to mess with James and his jealousy a little, but she is absolutely devoted to James and could never be as intimate with someone else than with him. As a couple, they lay priority on honesty, loyalty (especially James, since he experienced the aftermath of affairs himself as a child) and communication. They talk to each other about everything and are both upset when the other one lied about something.

When they fight, she's the one to keep the fight rather calm, telling James to be quieter when she thinks he's too loud or telling him to calm down a little in general. She can't stay mad at people for long. Especially not people that she loves, so after every fight she has with her husband, she tries to solve things quietly again and it ends in "I love you"-s and either an embrace, a kiss or... well you can think your part here.

Mary is intelligent and humorous. She is social and supportive.

(TW// next section contains mentions of child death)

Maria Eliza van den Heuvel Hamilton (4th January 1795-13th September 1873) too, is a caring and devoted mother and wife. She's a joyous person for most of her life and her laughter is the most contagious and the loudest. She's proud of her Dutch heritage and is glad to have found a Dutch speaking "friend" in Betsey.

Her children are the dearest thing to her, she'd do anything for them and will never truly accept they're grown adults that go their own path of life. She's quite talented musically wise but would never admit it. She's fragile. The deaths of two of her children in childhood break her. Especially baby James' death about a year after his birth makes her blame herself that she wasn't a good enough and caring enough mother. The morning she notices he isn't alive anymore she wakes John in hectic and in panic and collapses in his arms, full of tears. Ever since she grew more and more caring and almost overprotective of her other children and especially of the newborns she'd have afterwards.

John and Maria have a v e r y intimate relationship and are always by the other's side. To comfort the other one an embrace is not necessary; holding hands tightly is enough. They get each other gifts whenever they can, especially John does and Maria always meets him with a genuine smile and gratitude. When they fight, and she believes she is in the right, she ruthlessly gives him the cold shoulder and won't give him attention anymore until he apologized. She stands for her beliefs and it's hard to break them from her. Sometimes, when neither wants to give in, they both give each other the cold shoulder and John purposely is even harder to soften because he doesn't like it that he always to make the move to forget the fight and apologize. He's basically making Maria take a taste of her own medicine.

She grows attached to people quickly and sees the wives of her brothers-in-law like sisters. When other men flirt with her, she accepts but complaints about it to John later how much she actually hates it.

Eliza P. Knox Hamilton (?? ?? ????-21st July 1873) is a literarl sunshine. She always wears a smile on her face and is sure to have found her one true love in Alexander Jr.. She doesn't mind the age gap at all. She loves him and that's enough for her. She's an astonishing dancer and very active. If she could, she would travel the world. She always drags Alex away from his study, desk and law cases just to take a walk with him or have a snowball fight in winter. She loves teasing her husband and messing around with him. Putting or shoving snow on his neck or into his coat, reorganize his desk and entire study so he just stands in front of his desk and groans her name in annoyance with a little smile on his lips. Her rather childish behavior is what he loves about her. It makes him feel like a child again and remember the carefree days. They balance each other out.

She gets sick quickly and adores it when Alex nurses her, although she doesn't like to admit it. She has a wish for children but with a heavy heart gives up hope more and more with the years as it just doesn't work out for some reason. To compensate that she doesn't have her own children, she likes to spend extra time with her nephews and nieces. They are like her own children to her and she gladly watches them or takes care of them when the exhausted parents need a break and a little time for themselves again. She doesn't spoil them, however.

Alex and Eliza don't exactly "fight". They talk about it in a calm but mad tone and if it doesn't come to an agreement or they don't find a midway, they continue their days as if never having married each other, which upsets both but both also are too stubborn to make the first move.

(TW// next section contains mentions of death)

Rebecca McLane Hamilton (?? ?? 1813-1st April 1893) just seeks for an equal in her life. Someone who understands her, supports her and loves her for herself. In Little Phil she found her equal. They are both pretty much similar personality wise. They both have a heart of gold and only seek for the best. She's rather quiet and passive when around others. In a circle of ladies, she just stands or sits uninterested in the conversation, but if it's a topic she is passionate about, she gladly participates in the conversation. She cares about fashion and always wears and shines in what is currently in. When she noticed Phil took a liking in her, and she in him and she felt like there'll be more than just an acquaintance or a friendship, she amused herself with playing hard to get. Although she played hard to get, she also was the one to make the first advanced step with an affectionate kiss to the cheek.

She loves her two sons more than anything in the world and is indescribably proud of both and unbelievably heart broken when she gets the report of her firstborn Louis having fallen in the Civil War at only 24. After that she was extremely caring of her second son Allan, who was 20 at that time.

She doesn't like to cry and always tries to hold her tears back. The only place she feels comfortable with crying is in her husband's arms. Phil and her barely fight. And if they do, it's easily and almost immediately forgiven.

When Phil died, she grieved and mourned for the rest of her life. It felt to her like a part of her died.

She, like Mary, has a very good relationship with her parents and her siblings and is always a very adored person.

[therealadothamilton]

"At the end of the eighteenth century, itinerant portraits being in vogue, we find all kinds of daubs, and all grades of depicted ugliness in the canvases that have been preserved. Those of Peale are often decidedly unflattering, for he does not seem to have known how to paint the eyes of his subjects, and he has made sad work with Hamilton. ...

The sculptor's chisel has also been busy, but with little result in the way of serious artistic production, if we may except the Ceracci bust, the Ball statue which was destroyed by fire, and the excellent modem work of Ordway Partridge, one of whose striking statues stands in front of a Hamilton Qub in Brooklyn, and the other at the entrance of Hamilton Hall, a building of Columbia University. Ceracci's bust, which is very strong in its classical character, suggests a head of one of the Caesars...."

Source: The Life of Alexander Hamilton by Allan McLane Hamilton

[ultrahamilham]

I’m actually sure they had more than one dog over their lives, but Allan McLane Hamilton records Hamilton buying a fowling-piece and “old Peggy” on May 2, 1798 for $20 in his book “The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton” (p. 31). 

I love that

[aswithasunbeam]

Are Allan & John’s biographies of Hamilton any good? As in, since he was their father/grandfather are they too biased?

John Church Hamilton’s biography can be pretty biased in Hamilton’s favor, and surprising not that accurate in some places. To me, his biography is most interesting when he’s relating stories he knew from experience, like how Hamilton talked about his mother, or the games he used to play with his children. JCH was careful to leave himself out the book (until the very last line of volume seven) to give the appearance of credibility, but I think it would have benefited greatly from acknowledging the bias and leveraging that intimate knowledge of Hamilton.

Allan McLane Hamilton mastered that technique in his biography. He’s upfront about his familial connection, and explicitly states that he’s most interested in exploring Hamilton from the perspective of his family and friends. Of the two, I think Allan McLane Hamilton’s book is far more interesting in painting Hamilton as his family knew and loved him, though he never had the chance to meet his grandfather.