JAMES HAMILTON

A Drifting Trader; He was the father of a bastard son named Alexander Hamilton, who became Secretary to the Treasury of the United States of America, and took a leading part in the Convention which drew up the Constitution of the United States of America in 1787

The Question of Identity

James Hamilton, here treated is reported to be the fourth son of Alexander Hamilton of Grange, and his wife, Elizabeth Pollock. Heraldry of the Hamiltons: 120-1

Biographical Summary for his son Alexander

Alexander Hamilton was born in Charlestown, the capital of Nevis in the British West Indies. He was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucett Lavien, of partial French Huguenot descent, and James A. Hamilton, the fourth son of Scottish laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange, Ayrshire. Hamilton's mother had been separated previously from Johann Michael Lavien of St. Croix, a much older German Jewish merchant-planter. To escape an unhappy marriage, Rachel left her husband and first son for St. Kitts in 1750, where she met James. They moved together to Rachel's birthplace of Nevis, where she had inherited property from her father. Their two sons were James, Jr., and Alexander. Because Hamilton's parents were not legally married, the Church of England denied him membership or education in the church school. Instead, he received "individual tutoring" and classes in a private Jewish school. Hamilton supplemented his education with a family library of thirty-four books, including Greek and Roman classics. James then abandoned Rachel and their two sons, allegedly to "spar[e] [Rachel] a charge of bigamy . . . [after finding out that her first husband] intend[ed] to divorce her under Danish law on grounds of adultery and desertion." Wikipedia: Alexander Hamilton

Genealogy and Biography

1. PDF Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian Founding Father. By William F. Cissel Historian, Christiansted National Historic Site, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. July, 2004.
2. Wikipedia: Alexander Hamilton
3. Heraldry of the Hamiltons: 120-1
4. Stirnet: Hamilton 25