Reading Log #2

After Peter Lytton’s death during the years of 1765 and 1769, the Hamilton brothers knew that their father was gone, their mother died, Peter either committed suicide or was killed, and their uncle, aunt, and grandmother also died. ”Let us pause briefly to tally the grim catalog of disasters that had befallen these two boys between 1765 and 1769: their father had vanished, their mother had died, their cousin and supposed protector had committed bloody suicide, and their aunt, uncle, and grandmother had all died.”-Ron Chernow’s words on page 26 paragraph 62.  So James Hamilton, Alexander’s older brother, became an apprentice to a carpenter named James McNobeny and Alexander was sent to live with a merchant named Thomas Steven. “While James went off to train with the elderly carpenter, Hamilton, in a dreamlike transition worthy of Dickens novel, was whisked off to the King Street home of Thomas Stevens, a well-respected merchant, and his wife, Ann.”- Paragraph 64 of page 27. Edward Steven, who was a year older than Alexander, became his closest friend, as they matured the displayed parallel personalities. They were both quick and clever, disciplined and persevering, fluent in French, quoted/versed classical history, were outraged by slavery, and were fascinated by medicine.  I have yet to read about any conflict but I believe deeper in Alexander Hamilton’s life there will be many conflicts. Mostly during the American Revolution era. ​