So while doing research on the Schuyler-Hamilton family to procrastinate from writing up my own research (as you do), I came across this historical tidbit.
“IS GEN. HAMILTON INSANE”, a New York Times headline that cuts right to the chase, from August 11, 1893.
The article is about one of Hamilton’s grandsons (also named Alexander Hamilton, of course), and the whole thing is just…quite the kettle of fish. Apparently his second wife tried to file paperwork to have him declared legally insane, because he spent their money on “frivolous things”, was infatuated with a woman named Mrs Freeman, disappeared for long periods of time and threatened her life and his own life. The article also suggests he might be “held under duress” by Mrs Freeman.
Some key quotes:
“It is said that, awaking in the night, Gen. Hamilton once said to his wife: ‘If you die I could marry Mabel.’ which she did not consider the pleasantest salutation in the world.”
Mabel is their adopted daughter, so, wow. Yikes. Also, the end of that sentence…wow, New York Times.
“Dr J. Henry Furman in his affidavit says that Gen. Hamilton has told the doctor that Mrs Hamilton was insane and he was going to put her into an asylum. The doctor knew at the time she was not insane.”
Yikes.
“There are very few persons in Tarrytown who knew that these legal proceedings had been begun to declare Gen. Hamilton a lunatic, and the news will be a great surprise to the people.”
Yeah, I bet.
There’s a follow-up article where the church decides to expel him for “family desertion and non-support, excessive use of liquor and habitual use of profane language”.
Then there’s a follow-up article where he responds, and says he can’t be expelled from the church because joke’s on them, he wasn’t actually part of that church he just went there because his wife did. He doesn’t actually…address the rest of it.
A few weeks later, there’s an article about how Gen. Hamilton was “always erratic” but his neighbours were surprised to see his wife actually trying to declare him insane. It contains this ridiculous paragraph about a 77-year-old man:
“The General has always been regarded as a ladies’ man. He would even go out of his way to be attentive to the fair sex and, as Generals and descendants of Alexander Hamilton are not too numerous, his attentions were generally graciously received.”
Okay, John Church had at least 11 kids so I don’t think descendants of Alexander Hamilton were that scarce.
Finally, on August 29, there’s an article with the headline “THE HAMILTONS ARE REUNITED – Gen. Alexander and his wife reach an understanding”. A lawyer says that the wife never actually said he was insane, she just said he was not responsible for his acts. The article continues:
“The General was very penitent, and when the reconciliation was brought about, there was a touching scene. Both husband and wife agreed tearfully that there had been a misunderstanding which would never occur again.”
That’s….quite a misunderstanding.
So that’s a wild ride of a story. He was 77 years old at this point, and the neighbours make reference to thinking his eccentric behaviour was due to old age, so it sounds like maybe he was developing/had developed dementia? Who knows what the real story was, I hope his wife wasn’t bullied into taking him back if he was cruel to her.
Wait okay I’m adding on to my own post because if you search “Hamilton” in the New York Times archive for the surrounding years you realize that this family could not stay out of the scandal pages. (Also shout out to the NYT for making their archives public, thanks guys.)
January 17 1899: Alice Hamilton, John Church’s daughter and sister of the Alexander Hamilton in the story above, is declared legally insane. The article includes this quote from a doctor:
“He said that when leaving her after he had examined her at Pleasantville, she said to him: ‘I am very sorry, but you are dead too.’”
Uh, wow.
September 15, 1894: Schuyler Hamilton is sued for divorce after taking off on his wife (and three kids, way to be an asshole). He’s one of John Church’s grandsons. She gets her divorce, and he marries another woman the next year, Jane Byrd Mercer (who was the governess for one of the other Hamilton descendants). Then Jane dies four years later in 1899 of an accidental morphine overdose.
June 1, 1896: This is Charlotte Hamiton, another one of John Church’s daughters. This one might have been plain old-fashioned greed by some relatives left out of the will, but that’s three of John Church’s kids whose mental states were brought to court. It makes you wonder if something genetic was happening? I would wonder about it tying back to Angelica (Alexander & Eliza’s daughter), but these all occurred in old age, not in their 20s.
Mooncustafer 