#rachel faucette

[rain-on-wax-feathers]

rachel faucette and her two sons

[pub-lius]

RACHEL HAMILTON FACTS

Help I have a wax museum project for school and I’m doing her I cannot find anything about her

OKOKOK This ask is the reason I opened my inbox and discovered all my unanswered asks FSHSJKHFSKH mb. My source for this is Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton (because when isn't it) because exactly as you said, there is very little information about Rachel, and Ron walked so the rest of us could run. Here we go

Rachel was one of seven children

Five of Rachel's siblings died in childhood, leaving only our girl and her sister Ann. Ann went on to marry James Lytton after she fled Nevis (where they lived) due to an agricultural plague. Ann Lytton could not take in young Hamilton when he needed it, but she was the only blood relative on Rachel's side that he maintained contact with, and helped her out financially later on.

She was a child of divorce (basically)

Her parents had a very rocky relationship, and this possibly impacted her later relationships with men. Eventually, her parents separated, and she lived with her mother. She seems to have been very close with her mother, as they moved often together, or at least stayed close to one another.

She was previously married, and divorced

Before she met James Hamilton, she was married to man named Johann Lavien. Lavien was really horrible to her and financially and mentally abused her. When she ran away, Lavien sued for divorce, but long story short, Rachel didn't show up for court, and ended up being imprisoned for several years for adultery. The way divorce worked at the time was that a man could win a divorce case with just one accusation of adultery (especially if the woman didn't show up for court) but a woman needed several different, confirmed charges against the man to win. So, it would have been very hard for her to have won in the first place. Also, because of her no-show, she was forbidden from ever remarrying, hence why Hamilton was a bastard.

It is not incorrect to call her Rachel Hamilton and/or Rachel Faucette

While it is probably more respectful to use her maiden name, Faucette, there was a time where she lived as Rachel Hamilton, even though her marriage to James could not have been legally valid. While they lived in Nevis, James and Rachel lived with their two children as a married couple. However, it was when they moved to St. Croix that people recognized her as the former Mrs. Lavien, and tormented her and the boys with their illegitimacy.

She was a very independent woman

If Hamilton inherited anything from his mother, it was his quick thinking and independent mind. Rachel had her own income, and was able to provide for her two sons and tutor them after James left them. She was described by one of Hamilton's sons as "a woman of superior intellect, elevated sentiment, and unusual grace of person and manner. For her he was indebted for his genius." These are all words used to describe Hamilton later in life.

She supported other local women

In teaching her son in his earliest education, she chose a local Jewish woman to do so. Hamilton recalled being taught by her when he was small enough to sit on the table to read next to her. Towards her death, she was tended to by a woman named Ann McDonnell. In a society that was incredibly hostile to women, this was very important.

She died of an unknown illness next to her son, Alexander

She caught a fever in 1768, and was tended to by the aforementioned Ms. McDonnell and a man named Dr. Herring. She was given valerian, and bloodletting was used on Alexander (medicine of the 18th century is a whole other can of worms). Unfortunately, she did not recover, and died at nine o'clock on February 19, 1768.

Those are some of the most important and interesting facts, I believe, about Rachel Faucette. She is really one of my favorite historical figures, and I could talk about her and Maria Reynolds all day. I just love women who overcome the disadvantages they were given in life, I respect them so much. Hope this helps with your project!!!

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Do you think that Hamilton’s children were aware of his illegitimacy? I highly doubt Hamilton talked about his childhood much, but do you think at least one or two of the children suspected something while he was alive? I know J.C. Hamilton skimmed over it in the biography he wrote of his father, so he at least was somewhat aware of it in adulthood.

It's not clear, but my best assumption is that he likely told them if they were curious (Which I'm sure they were, after all they were quite close with their maternal relatives and knew no one from their dad's side) the same story he told William Jackson, which was;

A Dane a fortune-hunter of the name of Lavine came to Nevis bedizzened with gold, and paid his addresses to my mother then a handsome young woman having a snug fortune. In compliance with the wishes of her mother who was captivated by the glitter of the [blank] but against her own inclination she married Lavine. The marriage was unhappy and ended in a separation by divorce. My mother afterwards went to St Kitts, became acquainted with my father and a marriage between them ensued, followed by many years cohabitation and several children. But unluckily it turned out that the divorce was not absolute but qualified, and thence the second marriage was not lawful. Hence when my mother died the small property which she left went to my half brother Mr Lavine who lived in South Carolina and was for a time partner with Mr Kane.

Source — Alexander Hamilton to William Jackson, [August 26, 1800]

Because interestingly, John C. Hamilton tells the exact same story in his biographies of his father;

Hamilton was the offspring of a second marriage. His mother's first husband was a Dane, named Lavine, who, attracted by her beauty, and recommended to her mother by his wealth, received her hand against her inclination. The marriage proving unhappy, she applied for and obtained a divorce, and removing to St. Christopher's, there married the father of the subject of these notices, and had by him several sons, of whom Alexander was the youngest.

Source — The Life of Alexander Hamilton, by John Church Hamilton

The falsehood here being that Rachel never acquired the proper divorce they make it seem. Additionally they had James Hamilton Jr. in 1753, and in 1757 or 1755 they had Hamilton (And whatever other possible siblings), before the divorce in 1759.

Nine years after Rachel left Lavien and was with James Sr., Lavien had found himself in a lot of debt, he had to sell most of his plantation, and rent out his few slaves to make enough. Additionally there was a woman living with him, and cleaning for him, so it is likely that he wished to marry her, which lead to him wishing to obtain a divorce summons on February 26, 1759. Lavien claimed Rachel had; “absented herself from [Lavien] for nine years and gone elsewhere, where she has begotten several illegitimate children, so that such action is believed to be more sufficient for him to obtain a divorce from her.” [x] Lavien also said he “had taken care of Rachel's legitimate child [Peter Lavien] from what little he has been able to earn,” while she had, “completely forgotten her duty and let husband and child alone and instead given herself up to whoring with everyone, which things the plantiff are so well known that her own family and friends must hate her for it.” [x] Lavien demanded that Rachel also be denied all legal rights to his property. He warned that if he died before her, Rachel as a widow would possibly seek to take “possession of the estate” and therefore, “not only acquire what she ought not to have but also take this away from his child and give it to her whore-children.” [x]

But the thing is, Rachel didn't even try to refute the allegations, or show up to court; which meant on the 25th of June, Lavien recieved a divorce that permitted him to remarry—but on the other hand, Rachel couldn't. So then, her children were deemed illegitimate, and she was barred from ever marrying again. There haven't been any discovered court or wedding records to show that Rachel may have tried to marry James before the divorce came up a few years later, so there is still the slight possibility Hamilton was right about his parents trying to marry and eventually when the divorce came up later it disallowed their marriage. But until that is actually proven, it seems like it was something Hamilton's parents told him, instead of the actual reality of the situation (Which definitely would have been a comprehensible lie, because Rachel knew full well she was not properly divorced, and even continued to go by “Lavien” on some of the records on the island). And he may have discovered the truth later on. After all, the records were on the island, and he would have found out about the 1759 divorce, or the 1769 probate record, especially since he was a smart kid and would have questioned their situation after his mother's death. He was pushed through several homes and lost everything, I think something would have noticably not been clicking together and he would have asked. But even so, it is likely Hamilton may have continued to repeat the story his parents told him to spare himself and his family roots. Granted, that is mostly all speculation.

John mentions that his father “rarely as he dwelt upon his personal history”, [x] so I don't think it was an open conversation topic with his kids. Although Hamilton did seem to fondly tell his kids about his mother and his time attending a Jewish school, so it wasn't as though he told his kids nothing. Just probably the sugarcoated truth. But I'm also sure the truth may have bypassed the older ones, especially when you consider how aware of politics Philip was at a young age, he was bound to hear at least a few times from his father's political rivals about Hamilton's illegitimacy. Wether he confronted his father about this, wether Hamilton probably tried to cover it up as mere slander, or wether Philip truly believed him, or may have had lingering suspicion; is all speculation. Perhaps that is why he was quite eager to fight for his father's honor when Eacker slandered the Federalist party. But I also think eventually all the kids would have had to have heard sometime in their adulthood about the illegitimacy rumors surrounding their father, but it's complete speculation what happened after. Did they ask their mother about it? Did Eliza also continue the myth that Hamilton used? Who knows. But it seems the family all followed the story that their father wasn't actually a bastard, but some legal mistakes got in the way.

Hope this helps!

[diane-the-phoenix-awen]

My Hamilton story pt. 1

This is the "safe" version. I have an uncensored version available on Amazon which you can read for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. 18+ only, please. You can also buy it on kindle or print paperback on Amazon.

Passion: The Life and Loves of Alexander Hamilton - Book 1: The Islands (Unedited Edition) (Passion: The Life and Loves of Alexander Hamilton - Unedited Editions)

https://a.co/d/eWI5zmd

[stasiaorleanka]

A childhood memory- Alex his mother and his brother..

[lil-gae-disaster]

WE'RE ON THE LAST PANEL GUYS 🗣👻

[ohshit-its1776]

@pinklady6457 's Request

[hampye]

The earliest fact based article about Hamilton's parentage. If anyone can translate this into English...

[thereallvrb0y]

does anybody know what rachel faucette buck / james hamilton jr looked like?

[screechingsandwichhologram]

okay so i did some traditional art!!! going to post it tmrrw. just need to figure out how to get a good picture,,,,,,,,

[therealadothamilton]

Jfc 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣

and alex got better but his mother went quick

[pub-lius]

Hey, there! So who knew me watching a silly little 2 hour long musical would lead to me having a silly goofy little blog about it and being really invested in and researching the crap out of the Founding Fathers of a country which I'm not even a citizen of? Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you have any info on Ham's mom and dad, since I can't find much about them on Google and can't buy any books. If you've already been asked this before then sorry, I'll just go look for it

1) I KNOW RIGHT i have a little bit more of an excuse since im an American but this really is a rabbit hole

2) y’all have got to stop apologizing to me for shit i LOVE ALL OF YOU AND YOU HAVE NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR, especially not asking something ive already answered, chances are i haven’t, and there are even better chances that i’ll answer it again or just give you the link to where ive already answered it

and yes i do have information on them! i have information on a lot of people, which is why my dear and beloved son richie once asked me for a bunch of information that i made posts on and eventually assembled into a google doc! which is here! this has information on rachel faucette and james hamilton, as well as james hamilton jr., hamilton’s children, and his wife as well as a bunch of others! i figured id just give you the link in case you need anything else and also bc this has all the information i personally have about them, and i wouldn’t want to leave anything out

hope this helps! and thank you for the ask, they are ALWAYS APPRECIATED AND DONT FORGET THAT

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Was it true that Hamilton's mother was a whore?

If yes, how did he feel about it? Did his political enemies use it against him?

If not, who started the rumor?

Thank you and have a nice day!

The only informational and reliable source material I can find in regards to Rachel are; Ron Chernow's biography, and Micheal E. Newton's blog. If by whore, you mean she didn't let herself get restrained by bitch ass men; then yeah. The truthful rumors originated from Rachel's first husband, Johann Lavien. 

Lavien peddled household goods and was a slave holder. He owned at least sixteen slaves, including five to seven children. He was possibly a Jewish man, but if he was; he hid it greatly. The Carribean region was treated as a sideline international trade center, especially for the British and Americans. Lavien attempted to utilize the system to make himself wealthy, and spent all his fortune on a plantation and pompous attire.

According to Hamilton; despite Rachel's disinterest in Lavien, her mother, Mary Uppington Faucette, encouraged Lavien to marry her. Because she was captivated by his expensive clothes and rich appeal, and had to push Rachel into reluctantly agreeing to what became a hated marriage. And in 1745, they married — Rachel was sixteen at the time. The couple moved to a plantation called Contentment. The coming year, in 1746; they had their son, Peter Lavien. Although it appears the marriage quickly became an unhappy one. Hamilton claims that Lavien only married Rachel for the wealth that she inherited from her late father;

“A Dane a fortune-hunter of the name of Lavine came to Nevis bedizzened with gold, and paid his addresses to my mother then a handsome young woman having a snug fortune.”

(source — Alexander Hamilton to William Jackson, [August 26, 1800])

Likely due to the disheartening conditions of their marriage, Rachael soughted out a romantic relationship with a man named Johan Jacob Cronenberg. According to Newton's records findings;

“Johan Michael Lawin [...] had been obliged to experience that his wedded wife, Rachel, who for a long time had absented herself from him, was residing with a bachelor Johan Cronenberg.”

“Johan Michael Lawin, whose wedded wife the aforesaid Cronenberg accuses of having resided with him for a long time in fornication.”

(source — Discovering Hamilton)

Apparently Lavien heard somehow of Rachel's residing with Cronenberg, and “found” her in Cronenberg's “lodging, well hidden behind locked doors, wherefrom her husband fetched her and drove her home.” Due to this being an act of infidelity since Rachel and Lavien were not divorced; Cronenberg was “not only…seriously warned to keep away from this woman of loose morals but also punished with some days’ incarceration.” Despite this, Rachel soon returned to live with Cronenberg. And Cronenberg “again had sexual relations with this woman and without feeling shame publicly kept her with him in his house and lived there with her.”

October 8, 1749, John Lavien; “requested the court’s assistance to repair with him to Cronenberg’s plantation house to seize and arrest Cronenberg and Rachel for further legal prosecution.” Which did eventually lead to the arrest of Rachel and Cronenberg;

“‘This the agent of the court complied with, and at night at about 12 o’clock had come to said plantation and […] the 2 accused persons were found in the bedroom taking their usual night’s rest.’

‘The agents of the court […] seized them both in their bedroom, undressed and with more debauched circumstances that sufficiently demonstrated their shameless intercourse and scandalous life’ and ‘declared them both to be under arrest and had them brought…to Fort Christiansvaern’ to be imprisoned.”

(source — Discovering Hamilton)

By the 10th, or 20th, the court case of Cronenberg and Rachel was brought before the municipal court. And both Rachael and Cronenberg were charged and found guilty, they were sentenced to be imprisoned at Fort Christiansvaern.

US National Park Service marker for the Christiansted National Historic Site

“Rachel spent several months in a dark, cramped cell that measured ten by thirteen feet, and she must have gone through infernal torments of fear and loneliness. Through a small, deeply inset window, she could stare across sharpened spikes that encircled the outer wall and gaze at the blue-green water that sparkled in the fierce tropical sunlight. She could also eavesdrop on the busy wharf, stacked with hogsheads of sugar [...] All the while, she had to choke down a nauseating diet of salted herring, codfish, and boiled yellow cornmeal mush.”

(source — Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow)

Nearly eight months after having his wife and her paramour imprisoned; Lavien requested to the municipal court to free Rachel, and expressed his belief that she had been sufficiently punished. On the 4th of May, 1750, the court agreed and decided that Rachel, “in consideration of her long incarceration,” was to be released so that she “might again betake herself to her husband and with him lead a better life.”

But instead of submitting to the disgusting patriarchal system, and her cruel husband; Rachel left in 1750, after five years of unhappy marriage. She moved to St. Kitts early of that year, where she met James Hamilton (There are a few theories they had met previously, but there are no official records to support such). They had both been struggling with the taints involving their names, and had likely been drawn together. Hamilton claims his parents married, but in any legal sense they had not;

“My mother afterwards went to St. Kitts, became acquainted with my father and a marriage between them ensued, followed by many years cohabitation and several children.” 

(source — Alexander Hamilton to William Jackson, [August 26, 1800])

In 1753, they had James Hamilton Jr., and on January 11, 1757 (Or 1755), they had Alexander Hamilton. Some sources claim (Including Hamilton himself) they had more children, but if they did; they are unknown, and there are no surviving records to prove such. Rachel inherited a property in the capital Charlestown, also three enslaved servants from her mother — who were; Rebecca, Flora, and Esther, one of them had a son named Ajax, and he was assigned to care for James Jr and Hamilton.

Fast forward to 1759 - nine years after Rachel fled - Lavien has found himself in a lot of debt. He had to sell most of his plantation, and rent out his few slaves to make enough. A dutiful woman was living with, and cleaning for Lavien. It is likely that he wished to marry her, which lead to him wishing to obtain a divorce summons on February 26, 1759.

Lavien claimed Rachel had;

“absented herself from [Lavien] for nine years and gone elsewhere, where she has begotten several illegitimate children, so that such action is believed to be more sufficient for him to obtain a divorce from her.”

(source — Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow)

Lavien also said he “had taken care of Rachel's legitimate child [Peter Lavien] from what little he has been able to earn,” while she had, “completely forgotten her duty and let husband and child alone and instead given herself up to whoring with everyone, which things the plantiff are so well known that her own family and friends must hate her for it.”

Even after this merciless allegation, Lavien demanded that Rachel be denied all legal rights to his property. He warned that if he died before her, Rachel, “as a widow would possibly seek to take possession of the estate and there- fore not only acquire what she ought not to have but also take this away from his child and give it to her whore-children.”

Mistakenly, Rachel didn't even try to refute the allegations, or show up to court; which meant on the 25th of June, Lavien recieved a divorce that permitted him to remarry — but on the other hand, Rachel couldn't. To make matters worse, in April 1765; James Sr. got a business assignment located in Christiansted. And brought his family with him to St. Croix, although Lavien was far from there he was still on the island. Even more unfortunately, Rachel was no longer allowed the liberty of calling herself “Mrs. Hamilton”, due to how close the Fort - that she was once imprisoned at - was in the area, Rachel would have had to renter her infamous identity as a notorious woman of misdeeds. As records from this time only title her as correct, or mispronunciated, forms of “Faucette” and “Lavien”.

James would then also adruptly leave and abandon his family, after a victory with the Moir case. His motives or intentions are unknown. Hamilton generously claims his father could no longer support his family, and others claim Rachel's smeared name was likely rubbing off on his own.

-

Anyway, that's the tale of Rachel's many marriages and love lives; I think it unfair judgement to call her such derogatory names when considering everything she was dealing with, and additionally from such a young age. It is clear she committed infidelity while married, and they are not only rumors — but I don't think it's a fair assessment to fault her for such, when she was trapped in an unhappy marriage.

As for people using it against Hamilton; they did. As mentioned previously, Lavien called James Jr and Hamilton “whore-children”, and according to Chernow; journalist nemeses called Hamilton “the son of a camp girl”.

Hope this helped!

[stasiaorleanka]

Alexander Hamilton's parents

[therealadothamilton]

Angelica and Peggy definitely owned slaves as did their parents. Source: various letters and Hamilton's cash book.

Hamilton's mother inherited a few (five?) female domestic servants from her mother who were auctioned off or sold after Rachel's death and the money given to Hamilton's half bother Peter Lavien. One of them had a little boy named Ajax who was kind of given to young Alex to play with...? I'm pretty sure Hamilton's maternal grandparents and great-grandparents owned a sugar plantation called Gingerland on the island of Nevis so they would have had enslaved laborers there. My main source is Broadus Mitchell.

Aaron Burr owned slaves and at least some of them he inherited from his late wife. He impregnated one of his enslaved female servants at least twice. There is a historical fiction book about this called The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr but it's mostly made up.

Answering a question on Quora; did the characters own slaves?

Decided to post this here for my own sake lol.

I haven't done any deep digging to find this information, and hopefully it is as accurate as possible. Please correct me + give me the source/evidence if you must!!

Lafayette owned slaves, but he only purchased plantations in order to free them later on. He was very against slavery, and even tried convincing Washington to free his slaves. Unfortunately, Lafayette never managed to really free the slaves. A shame. It's ironic how he became a slave owner in order to execute his plan to abolish slavery.

Washington owned slaves, but he freed the majority of them. He's the only president in America who has enslaved people and freed them. He was a gentleman and a stud, kind and authoritative. Probably had some anger issues, but generally he was quite the man. (doesn't excuse owning slaves tho.)

Now... Did the man himself, Alexander Hamilton, own slaves? There is not enough evidence to support Hamilton owning slaves HIMSELF. He did purchase slaves for his in-laws, however his children and wife did not mention him owning slaves, nor does it say anything in his will about it. So that proves Hamilton not owning slaves >>near his death<<, at least. He was an abolitionist, that's for sure. But we do not know if he actually owned slaves HIMSELF. He surely had SERVANTS, but slaves and servants are different. He did see a fair lot of slavery in the Caribbean where he grew up, I believe, and I do not know if his father owned slaves, but it is not documented that he personally did. And even though his descendent Douglas claims he didn't, it is possible! But as said, he did in fact purchase slaves for his in-laws. (a.k.a. Eliza's family)

Madison owned slaves, yes. I haven't done too much research on him as a person, but he did own slaves.

Jefferson had two sides; either he was kind, socially awkward, a gentleman, or he was a cruel slaveowner. I personally believe, that based on his actions throughout the years, and the fact that he seemed to become more cruel with age, that his wife's death probably caused him to break. However, this does not excuse anything he did. He f*cking r*ped one of his slaves, who is believed to have been around 14 years of age (Sally Hemings, mentioned in the musical). There have been records of slaves being beaten in Monticello, however, there is nothing documented that Jefferson himself hurt his slaves. But when it comes to slavery, it is safe to say that he was rather cruel. Disgusting. Despite originally writing in the Declaration of Independence about slavery, Jefferson wrote that he "suspected black people to be inferior to white people" several years later.

Burr did own some slaves, not many though, at least from what I've read.

King George III, however, is NOT that tyrant that people claim he was. He never owned slaves, and he wasn't as bad as a human as people believe.

Laurens was one of the strongest abolitionist of the time, despite growing up in an environment where slavery was normal. He did not own any slaves himself, nothing recorded (I believe) at least.

Mulligan did own slaves. Haven't done any real research on him, but fairly sure it is true that he owned some slaves.

The Schuyler sisters were members of a wealthy slaveowning family. I am not sure, but I think Angelica owned slaves? I dont know about Peggy, and I dont think there is anything recorded that Eliza HERSELF owned slaves. Her family definitely did tho.

Charles Lee owned slaves, like most military generals.

Samuel Seabury also owned slaves.

Philip Hamilton, obviously, did not own any slaves.

It is important to note that although slavery was wrong and a sin, many people owned slaves or engaged in slavery. Not all slaveowners were cruel, some even treated their slaves as equals. (Which was rare). It was almost like a norm amongst wealthy people, especially people in the south. I think many were influenced by the normalcy, however it is not an excuse. John Laurens grew up in SC, and slavery was very common. Despite that, he was very against it.

Slavery is wrong and disgusting, but in many cases it does NOT define someone as a human. Maybe in Jefferson's case, but people need to remember that not everyone was cruel to their slaves! I do not excuse slavery in any way, and I know I do not have as much as a say in that because I am white. It will always be wrong to degrade someone just because of their race. I mean, slaves were seen as PROPERTY. Which is so incredibly disgusting... Slavery still exists today in some parts of the world, with basically any race being enslaved. White people, black people, asians, etc... Only about 8% of the population is white. (I think?) S3x slaves too. From children to adults. Absolutely disgusting.

But to sum this up, most of the people in the 18th century owned slaves. Not everyone was cruel to them though.

People who have been 'proven' to not have owned slaves:

Philip Hamilton (which speaks for itself)

King George III

John Laurens

(I hope I didn't forget someone)

I am unsure about Maria and James Reynolds. It is possible that James owned some slaves, but I haven't read about it at all, literally have done no research on Reynolds and slaves lmao.

Side note: A slave, James Armistead, later James Armistead Lafayette, who served as a spy under Marquis de Lafayette in the war, supposedly came to own slaves himself. (I am rather unsure if this is actually true or not, so don't take my word for granted lol)

[ohshit-its1776]

Hey! Is it okay if you can draw Alex with his mom, Rachel Faucette (I personally imagine her looking like Salma Hayek for her body and face claim, but you can do whatever!)

Salma Hayek is hispanic, and they are very much not.