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Notes and Queries 275 Notes and Queries 275 NOTES AND QUEEIES WHO WAS ANDREW HAMILTON? By Joseph Jackson Every writer who has given us a sketch of the life of Andrew Hamil- ton, the greatest lawyer of his time, has told us that his early life was clouded by mystery, and almost every one of these biographers has been equally uncertain as to his true name. It is admitted that he was highly educated, yet we have not been told where he received that training, nor have we been told where he was born. Usually, it might be said invariably, we have been informed that he was born in Scotland. There was a clue upon which the missing links might be reconstructed, but no one ever has had the temerity to supply them. This clue is to be found in the arms used by his son, James Hamilton, twice Governor of Pennsylvania. The arms used by James correspond exactly with that of the Hamil- ton family of Ireland and Scotland. One of the reasons the search has not revealed more has been the neglect of the Irish field of inquiry. There seems to be no reasonable doubt that Andrew Hamilton was a native of that island, although descended from the Hamiltons of Scotland. In the seal used by James Hamilton, but which is not known to have been used by his father, the anus correspond with the description of the Hamilton arms in O'Hart's "Irish Pedigrees," which is as follows: Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th gu, three cinquefoils pierced erm. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or, an oak fructed and penetrated transversely in the main stem by a frame-saw ppr. the blade inscribed with the word "Through," the frame gold. Supporters: Two antelopes ar. horned, dually gorged, chained and hoofed or. Motto: Through. While there is no evidence that Andrew Hamilton ever used these arms, it is unlikely his son would have dared to use them if not entitled to do so. Consequently Andrew Hamilton may be regarded as a member of the Hamiltons who were Earls of Abercorn, and later Marquises of Hamilton and Dukes of Abercorn. The Dukes of Hamilton were loyal to the Stuart cause, and one of them died of his wounds received at the Battle of Worcester, where Charles II. was defeated by Cromwell and had to flee to France. Sir George Hamilton was the fourth son of the Earl of Abercorn, and was created a baronet in 1C60. Anthony Hamilton, the Count Antoine Hamilton, author of the Memoirs of Count de Grammont and of French contes, was the third son of Sir George, and in 1685, was Governor of Limerick. The first Earl settled in Tyrone, Ireland, as early as 1619. An Andrew Hamilton, "pensioner" (which means that his tuition was paid), was admitted a student to Trinity College, Dublin University, June 18, 1682, aged sixteen years. He was described as son of Patrick Hamilton, and was born in the County Tyrone. Our Andrew Hamilton was sufiiciently educated to open a classical academy in Virginia when he came to America, about 1690, and it might be suggested that the two Andrews mentioned might be one and the same person. There is every reason to believe that our Andrew Hamilton was entitled to that name, despite the statement that he chose to call himself "Trent" when he first came to this country; for he married under that name, and signed the name as witness to the will of his wife's father. 276 Notes and Queries Why he came to this country so mysteriously, and why for some years he wag known as "Mr. Trent," if he actually did claim that name, may also be cleared up by examining Irish history, instead of Scotch history. After the Restoration, which put Charles II. on his throne, things began to move in Ireland, and there was an entire turn over in the religious aspect of that kingdom. When James II. came to the throne there was another turn over, and the Irish virtually seceded after he placed Tyrconnel as viceroy of that island. There followed the struggle which ended in William, Prince of Orange, defeating the secessionists. While the struggle, which lasted from 1687 to 1689 was at its height, William sent Richard Hamilton to Ireland as an envoy to the defected district, but he joined Tyrconnel and the secessionists, out of his loyalty to James, who was a Stuart, though he was a Protestant. The forces of William triumphed, and there were many Irish refugees from among the nobility and upper classes. It might be suggested that Andrew Hamil- ton, then a young man, may have joined his kinsman, and consequently been in disfavor, if not worse, when William and Mary became sovereigns of Great Britain and Ireland. It is significant that Andrew Hamilton did not return to England until after the death of King William. Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, was on the throne when he went over in 1712, and he was then admitted to Gray's Inn, January 27, 1712-13, and on February 10th was called to the Bar. This is additional proof that his name really was Andrew Hamilton, for so he was entered. The only American writer who has indicated Hamilton's Irish birth, was David Paul Brown, who, in his "Forum" mentions, as if it were not subject of doubt, that Hamilton was born in Ireland. Every other writer has said he was born in Scotland. However, none of them has been able to pick out a birthplace for him. In one of his addresses before the Pennsylvania Assembly he spoke of "Liberty, the love of which, as it first drew to, so it constantly pre- vailed on me to reside in this province though to the manifest prejudice of my fortune," and this might refer to a flight from Ireland. Where he landed when he came to this country is unknown, but he is first heard of at Accomac, on the Eastern shore of Virginia. There he is said to have opened a classical academy. Later he is said to have been em- ployed as steward to Joseph Preeston, the owner of a large plantation in Northampton County, Virginia. After his employer died, he mar- ried the widow, Ann (Brown) Preeston, March 0, 1706. He is believed to have studied law in Maryland, and is said to have practiced there before coming to Pennsylvania, and before journeying to England to be admitted to practice at the Bar there. As no one appears to have learned the exact date, or even year of his birth, there have been guesses at the year in which he was born. Lately this has been decided upon as about the year 1676. The reason it is now suggested that he may have been born ten years earlier is based upon several premises. First, that he may have been the lad from Tyrone who became a student in Trinity College in 1682; and second, from observations made in his lifetime, by himself or others. In 1735, at the Zenger trial he is described as having "chearfully undertaken under great indisposition of the body," the service of acting as counsel for the unfortunate printer, and we are told that he offered to go to New York "without fee or reward under the weight of many years and great infirmities of body." If he had been born in 1676, as some writers have suggested, he would have been fifty-nine years of age at the time. Was that age, even in 1735, regarded as so old as to be characterized as "the weight of many years"? In 1739, on taking leave of the Assembly, he referred to "My age and infirmities which daily increase." He was then either sixty-three or Notes and Queries 277 seventy-three years of age. And the expressions scarcely would apply to a man of sixty-three; even one of seventy-three we do not look upon as being weighted with years. All that has been brought together here, of course, is speculation; but speculation based upon reasonable grounds. If they are correct we find that Andrew Hamilton was born in Ireland in 1000; that his name was Hamilton; and that he left Ireland, owing to his or his family's connection with James II. and the latter's attempt to keep his throne. A NOTE ON "MISS KEYS, A FAMOUS NEW JERSEY BEAUTY" By George E. Hastings, Fayetteville, Arkansas Everyone who knows anything of Francis Hopkinson is familiar with the famous description of him given by John Adams. This description has been quoted so frequently that it is somewhat hackneyed, but be- cause of its connection with the main subject of my paper I am ventur- ing to quote it once more. In a letter written to Abigail, his wife, on August 21 1776, the grave New Englander told of a visit that he had recently paid to the shop of Charles Willson Peale, the artist. "At this shop," he continued, "I met Mr. Francis Hopkinson, late a Mandamus Counsellor of New Jersey, now a member of the Continental Congress, who, it seems, is a native of Philadelphia, a son of a pro- thonotary of this county, who was a person much respected. The son was liberally educated, and is a painter and a poet. I have a curiosity to penetrate a little deeper into the bosom of this curious gentleman, and may possibly give more particulars concerning him. He is one of your pretty, little, curious, ingenious men.
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