ColonelAlexander Hamilton Jr. (May 16, 1786 – August 2, 1875)^[1] was the third child and the second son ofElizabeth Schuyler andAlexander Hamilton, one of theFounding Fathers of the United States.^[2]

By the age of eight, Hamilton began attending aboarding school inTrenton, New Jersey, where he joined his older brotherPhilip studying with William Frazer, an Episcopal clergyman and rector ofSt. Michael's Church.^[3][4]

In 1795 when the family moved back to New York the boys enrolled in Bishop Moore’s school for boys on Staten Island, returning to New York Friday evenings to spend Sundays with the family.^[5]

Hamilton was then likely transferred to James Tod's school in New Utrecht with his younger brother James, during 1800.^[6]

He later attendedColumbia College in New York. Hamilton graduated on the 1st of August, 1804, at age eighteen just several weeks after his father's death.^[7] According to the St. Andrew's Society of New York, of which Hamilton was a member, Hamilton "did not graduate on account of an accident", but shortly afterward began the study of law.^[8]

After college, Hamilton was asked to be an apprentice attorney inStephen Higginson's Boston law firm, and was later admitted to practice law.^[9]

He sailed to Spain in 1811 or 1812,^[8][10] during a period ofpolitical conflict preceding the War of 1812, and joined theDuke of Wellington's forces, then fighting againstNapoleon's army in Portugal.^[11] After acquiring some military and strategic training with theBritish Army,^[11] Hamilton returned to America to serve in theWar of 1812, receiving a commission as Captain of the 41st Regiment of Infantry in theUnited States Army in August 1813.^[8] The 41st Regiment did not appear to have seen active service in the war,^[12] and Hamilton went on to act asaide-de-camp to his father's friend GeneralMorgan Lewis in 1814, serving until June 15, 1815.^[11][13]

Hamilton resumed the practice of law, and took office in July 1818 as a member of the42nd New York State Legislature for a one-year term, as one of eleven representatives to theNew York State Assembly from New York City.

In May 1822, PresidentJames Monroe appointed Hamilton as aUnited States Attorney forEast Florida.^[14] In 1823, he was appointed to be one of three Land Commissioners for East Florida,^[13] and while there, he received the honorary civilian rank ofcolonel.^[8] He ran unsuccessfully againstRichard K. Call to be theFlorida Territory's delegate in theUnited States House of Representatives.^[15]

Hamilton subsequently returned to New York, where he became successful inreal estate transactions, and for many years was one of the leading names inWall Street.^[8]

In the mid-1830s, as a lawyer in theNew York Court of Chancery, Hamilton representedEliza Jumel against her husbandAaron Burr during two years of divorce proceedings, which were finalized in 1836 on the day of Burr's death. She and Burr had separated after only four months of marriage.^[9]

Hamilton had a "large and varied correspondence" with other political contemporaries including his close friendHenry Clay,John C. Calhoun,Salmon P. Chase, and Presidents James Monroe andZachary Taylor.^[8]

Hamilton courted Eliza Putnam Knox,^[16] the daughter of Thomas Knox, a leading New York City merchant,^[8] and Mary Hester Knox, née Kortright, the sister ofElizabeth Monroe. Eliza's birth date is unknown,^[17][18] but Trinity Church, New York, has a record of her baptism which took place there on August 3, 1794.^[19] According to John Pintard, Eliza and Hamilton eloped and ran away from the Knoxes initially, before matters were resolved.^[20]

In 1833, Hamilton used funds from his mother's sale ofThe Grange to purchase a townhouse for her and his family in New York City, at 4 St. Mark's Place (now known as theHamilton-Holly House).^[21] Between 1833 and 1842, he and his wife lived there with his mother, his sisterEliza Hamilton Holly, and her husband Sidney Augustus Holly.^[21]

During a trip through the West with his wife in 1835, Hamilton metAbraham Lincoln, then an Illinois state legislator, in a grocery store where Lincoln was "lying upon the counter in midday telling stories."^[8]During the last ten years of his life, Hamilton resided inNew Brunswick, New Jersey and in New York City, where he moved after the death of his wife in 1871.^[8] Hamilton died, having had no children, on August 2, 1875, at his home, 83 Clinton Place, inGreenwich Village.^[8][2]Hamilton was said to have been 5 ft 6.5 in (169 cm) tall.^[22]

• 1786 births
• 1875 deaths
• Alexander Hamilton
• People using the U.S. civilian title colonel
• American people of Dutch descent
• American people of Scottish descent
• Columbia College, Columbia University alumni
• Lawyers from New York City
• Hamilton family
• Schuyler family
• Members of the New York State Assembly
• New York (state) Democratic-Republicans
• 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature

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