Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/553

* HAMILTON. 499 HAMILTON. (Baptist). Luniberyurils and a canning-factory it'incsont tile leading industries. Tlic water- wiirks and electric-light plant are owned and operated by the nninicipality. I'opnlation, in IS'.IO, 1744; in 1900, 1027. HAMILTON. A city and the county-seat of Butler County, Ohio, 25 miles north of Cincin- nati; on the Great Jliami River, the Jlianii and Erie Canal, and the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, and other railroads (Map: Ohio, B 7 ). The splendid water-power derived from both the river and canal has materially aided the city's development as a manufacturing centre; its industrial establishments include breweries, paper, flour, and woolen mills, iron-foundries, machine-shops, and safe, agricultural iuiplcment, and tool works. The first settlement here was made in 1701, when Gen. Arthur Saint Clair built a fort and called it Fort Hamilton in honor of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was first in- corporated in 1810. The city is governed under a charter of 1S98, by a mayor, chosen every three years, and a board of control, consisting of five members, elected at large. This board, super- seding the old city council, has been subdivided, each member being the head of a department. The members in the first instance were appointed by the Common Pleas Judge for terms ranging from one to five years; subsequently they were elected for a period of five years. The water- works, gas plant, and electric-light plant are all owned and operated by the citv. Population, in 1890, 17,505; in 1900" 23,914.' HAMILTON. A famous noble Scotch family of English origin. The name, obviously terri- torial, was doubtless taken from some one of the many English manors called Hamilton, scattered through Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Lancashire, Rutlandshire, Yorkshire, and Leices- tershire. The pedigree of the familv is traced to 'Walter Fitz-Gilbert (or Gilbertsoii) of Hamil- ton,' who. in 1290, held lands in Lanarkshire, and swore fealty to King Edward I, of England as overlord of Scotland, and iu 1314 kept the Castle of Bothwell, on the Clyde, for the English. His early surrender of this strong fm'tress, and of the English knights .and nobles who had fled to it from the field of Bannoekburn, was rewarded by King Robert Bruce by grants of the lands and baronies of Cadzow and Maehanshire in Clydes- dale, Kinneil and Larbert in Yest Lothian, Kirk- inner and ICirkowen in Galloway, and other lands forfeited by the Comyns and other adherents of England. He attained the rank of knighthood, and married ilary, daughter of Sir Adam of Gordon of Huntly,. by whom he left two sons. To a long list of illustrious descendants accrued the titles, emoluments, and territories comprised in the lordships of Abercorn, Bargeny, Bclhaven and Stentoun, Hamilton, Pisley, and Strabane; in the visconntships of Boyne, Clanboy, Hamil- ton, and Strabane; in the earldoms of Arran, .bercorn, Clanlnassil. Haddington, Orkney, Rug- len, and Selkirk: in the marquisates of Abercorn and Hamilton: and in the dukedoms of Aliercorn, Brandon, Chatelherault, and Hannltcm. The present leading representatives are .lfrcd, thir- teenth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, surname Douglas-Hamilton, premier peer of Scotland and hereditary keeper of Holyrood Palace, and James, second Duke of Abercorn, surname Hamil- ton, Groom of the Stole, Consult: Anderson, Historical and (Jciiculoyicul Memoirs of llie Mouse of Ilaiiiillon (London, 1823) ; Eraser, Uislory of the Earls of lladdiiiylon (Edinburgh, 1889). HAMILTON, ALE.KANDER (17.57-1804). An eminent American statesman. He was born at Charles Town, in the island of Kevis, West In- dies, on January 11, 1757, and appears to have been the natural son of a Scotch trader named .James Hamilton, who died on the island of Saint Vincent about 1799, and Rachel Lcvine, original- ly named Faucctte, and of French-Huguenot de- scent, who some time previously had .separated from her husband. After a brief period of school- ing, the future statesman at the age of twelve — his mother having died in the previovis year — ■ was placed in a counting-house at Christiansted, on the island of Saint-Croix; but having sho^vIl signs of literary ability, especially in a pam- phlet describing a West Indian hurricane, he was sent to the English colonies on the conti- nent when sixteen years of age, for the purpose of continuing his education. Arriving in Boston in October, 1772, he proceeded at once to Xew York, studied for a year in a grammar school at Elizabethtown, X. J., and then entered King's College (now Columbia l^niversity). He soon became intensely interested in the controversy then raging between the Colonies and the Brit- ish Government, and partly as a result of a visit to Boston during the tension consequent upon the passage of the Boston Port Bill (q.v.), be- came firmly attached to the patriot cause. On .July 0, 1774. he attended in Xew York a great meeting in the 'fields' (now City Hall Park) assembled to take action on the calling of a general congi-ess, and made, extemporaneously, an impassioned but well-reasoned speech, which brought him to the notice of men of prominenc-e and of the people generally. Soon afterwards he published anon^Tiiously two remarkable pam- phlets — .4 Full Vindication of the Measures of Confircss from the Calumnies of Their Enemies (1774) and The Farmer Refuted (1775) — in answer to those of a 'Westehester Farmer,' then much read, and in them endeavored to prove that the Colonies owed allegiance directly to the Brit- ish Crown, were therefore not amenable to Par- liament, and were justified in resorting to ex- treme measures to vindicate their rights. The pamphlets were at first varioxisly attributed to such men as .Jay and Livingston, and, their authorship finally becoming known, they added greatly to Hamilton's growing reputation. In 1775 ho twice took a stand, as an advocate of order, against mobs bent on chastising Loyalists. Meanwhile, perceiving that an outbreak of hos- tilities was imminent, he had devoted himself to the study of military science, ana, after serv- ing for a time in a volunteer corps, he was ap- pointed on JIarch 14, 177G, to the command of an artillery company, which soon becnmc so conspicuous for the excellence of its drill that Xnthanael Greene, under whose notice it fell, introduced Hamilton to General Washington with a recommendation for advancement. Dur- ing the retreat after the battle of Long Isl- and. Hamilton distinguished himself by the cool- ness and courage with which he brought up the rear. He also attracted attention by the skill- ful manner in which he served his battery at White Plains; participated in the retreat through