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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: ourhamilton on Tuesday 29 March 11 19:51 BST (UK)
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There is some question as to the actual paternity of the great American founder Alexander Hamilton. Was it James Hamilton who left Kerelaw castle for the West Indies or was it Thomas Stevens, a West Indies merchant (see entry at www.vifamilies.org). Or possibly someone else. The Hamilton DNA project has so far come up with ambiguous results even though they apparently have samples from four known descendants of the "Great One". They have apparently little or no information on a Stevens connection.
Aside from the intense historical interest, this may be an interesting, albeit difficult, data analysis problem; particularly since there may be no surviving males deriving from either Kerelaw or the West Indies.
It seems to me the easiest shot at this would be to find some living male Hamilton who has traced his lineage back prior to the Kerelaw Hamiltons and then by chance bring things forward to make a connection. The Kerelaw Hamiltons apparently originated in Kilmarnock and have also been referred to as the Cambuskeiths.
I hope someone will take a shot at this. Subsidy for DNA testing of a credible subject is available.
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Lots of people want to be "descendants", but have little proof of complete direct parentage to the original Hamiltons. Too bad the Hamilton nobility graves are out of reach. Wish I could help, but I have been researching the Hamilton relatives who were connected to the Crusades.
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The previous comment from mikedhamilton12 confuses paternity with descendant. It is Alexander Hamilton's father in question, not his children.
The biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (2004) suggests (p734-735) that existing hair samples from Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) could be used to establish whether John Hamilton of the Scottish Hamilton line is the father, or another person, merchant Thomas Stevens was the father? The reason for this confusion is that Alexander's brother was a dull lad; Alexander was brilliant. Stevens had a son who had a striking resemblance to Alexander.
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Born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucette and likely John Hamilton.
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Last reply is common knowledge to anyone who has read any of a dozen biographies of Hamilton. Probably a response to a specific question on the web, quoting the history now in question. Author Ron Chernow wrote the most recent biography of Alexander Hamilton (2017) states on page 735:
"I consulted two of the world's top geneticist—Dr. Victor McKusick of the John Hopkins School of Medicine and Sir Alec J. Jeffreys of the University of Leicester—to determine whether a surviving lock of Hamilton's hair might yield up secrets about his racial ancestry. ... Then I discovered that a retired professor at Pennsylvania State University, Gordon Hamilton (no relation to Alexander), was coordinating a Hamilton DNA Project."
A lock of Hamilton's hair was preserved after his death in a duel with Aaron Burr.