[bvw]

The argument that Hamilton was not Jewish is weaker than that he was. That he attended a Jewish Day School in the islands and that his mom's name was Rachel are very potent evidences for his being Jewish. That his best friend as a young man in Manhattan was named Hercules adds some spice to that theory.

[Publius]

I recommend Young Hamilton by James Flexner. It goes into deep detail in these matters.

[twigs]

There is no evidence that Hamilton was Jewish, although I did not realize before that his mother's first husband was Jewish. It does make an interesting story. My daughter's name is Rachel, but we're not Jewish. My ancestors of this period were mostly named from the Old Testament, but they were not Jewish, either. There was a lot of interest in and identification with the OT, so Christians many times named their children from it. He went to the Jewish school because he was considered illegitimate and was not accepted in the Christian School. We have to give the Jewish school credit for that one! And Hercules is hardly a Jewish or Christian name. He was one of the ancient pagan gods. Jackson was Irish and another interesting man.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Rachel was not an uncommon name for a gentile and most names were from the Bible. Hamilton's mother was Rachel Faucett or Fawcett apparently from the Huguenot strain. She was of French extraction and there is no question that she was NOT Jewish, her mother's name was Uppington. Not much is known of her background but she was married in an Episcopal church.

He did attend a school when four or five where the teacher was Jewish but that does not mean much. There is some dispute over whether Rachel's husband was Jewish and it seems as though he might have been but he was not Alexander's father per court ruling.

His appearance is that of a Scotsman/Frenchman blond hair, blue eyes, sharp features. Whereas Lavien was Jewish in appearance.

His friend in New York was Hercules MULLIGAN not Mulliganstein. What does Hercules have to do with Jewishness away?