Name/Title
Letter from Molly Hamilton to Alexander Hamilton IIIEntry/Object ID
HHV 005.17Tags
Accessioned objectDescription
Letter from Molly Hamilton to Alexander Hamilton IIISubject
George Washington’s birthday, financially “reduced” this past winter, must “economize”, Julia sent bridesmaid dress, portrait of Alexander Hamilton III postponed, Animal Magnetism, supper party, Mary Jones’ marriage announced, mail packets, steamers, reception day, carriage, Corals, bouquets, recent death of Peter A. Jay, “Crape” (crepe), death of Mary McEvers (John R.) Livingston, Charles + Helen McEvers, death of Sidney Augustus Holly, “Dickens’ notes” (American Notes re: Samuel Gridley Howe), “The Bible in Spain” by George Borrow, court martial trial of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, piano maker, Life and Trust shareSubject Person/Organization
Mary Morris Hamilton Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton III, James Alexander Hamilton, George Schuyler, Mrs. Newton Oakey, Epes Sargent, Alexander Van Rensselaer, Frances De Peyster, P. Thomas Van Schaik, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton, Jr., Eliza Hamilton Holly, Sidney Augustus Holly, Julia Augusta Livingston, Julia Ward Howe, Dr. Samuel Gridley HoweSubject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Nevis, New York, Madrid, Spain, Dobbs Ferry, NY, Washington, DC, China, Berlin, GermanyCollection
Hamilton CollectionCataloged By
Tara R. IacobellisCategory
Documentary Artifact
Communication Artifacts
Acquisition
Source (if not Accessioned)
J.C. HamiltonNotes
J.C. Hamilton : Donor
Credit Line: Source: J. C. HamiltonLetter Details
Letter Date
Feb 22, 1843Sender
Name
MaryAddress
From My dear M.
Feby 27h 1843
____________
A Hamilton Esqr
U.S. despatch Agent
13 Hamilton Street
Covent Garden
LondonTranscription
Transcription
22nd February. Washington’s birthday 1843
Think of my having received a letter from you my dear / brother to day, bearing date 23rd Jan’y only a month / from Madrid, the other letters by the steamer were / rec’d yesterday, two from Pa, one for Geo. + if you could / have seen the great delight + pride those letters occa - / ssioned it would comfort + cheer you through many / troubles, Pa’s joy at the prompt sacrifices you determined / to make for all our sakes could scarcely be restrained. / I for one cannot bear to have you so cribbed + crimped / away from home, as you must be, to carry out the plan / you propose, it is so much easier to economize at home / we have so many things that you have no idea how little / we require + how abundantly we are supplied. You / would not imagine to have seen us flourishing about / this winter that we were reduced, for we have not felt / it. Julia sent me my dress for bridesmaid as her partic - / ular present to her friend. We arranged dresses for our ball / at home which were as pretty as any in the room, out of / last years old ones, Uncle Tom’s carriage [??s–s] all those / troublesome back hills, so that you have no idea how / magnificent we have appeared upon nothing. I am too / sorry that the portrait which was so near being done, or / rather being begun, should not be; I shall vote for a portion / of your previous savings being devoted to that purpose. [G/Y???y] / wrote to you since our party, + as we do not send by the / steamer our news must be old news, but as our little b[???] / is made up if such little particulars + details, as Uncle / Tom says, they will keep. We have sent twice a month [??] / since we have been in town by packets. I hope they are. Forwarded. Pa + George came back from Washington on / Monday both in glee but I have not seen enough of the / latter to know exactly what he has accomplished. You / will probably near directly from himself __ I must now /
[END OF PAGE 1]
Stop and dress for Mrs. Miller’s who made [Yecey?] & I appoint / an evening for her, the Van Rensselears, Miss [Thorndyke?] / +c. I hear are to meet us. [Yecey?] is asleep beside me. / Aunt & Uncle dozing down stairs. More to morrow.
Sunday 25th. Our little party went off remarkably well with / the assistance of one of Miller’s good suppers.. Pa flirted with / Mrs. Newton Oakey, who by the by mentioned, poor little / woman to Aunt Fan, that she found no society in her hus / =band’s famkliy for there was no sympathy, that she had no / social circle was not wanted sociably any where and wished / she was living near all of us. I hope “William” is able to amke / up for these deficiencies, or she must be triste. Epes Sargent / talked to me Animal Magnetism by the hour, Mary Jones’ marriage was announced with all the magnificent details /
Thursday Morning We “receive”, of course a great many people / called after the party Angelico whose reception day it like - / =wise is came over in a carriage looking very pretty, her hair / dressed with corals Ma + Pa were here just them, she / talked with Ma who thinks her a refined little lady + / was not presented to Pa who does not so much admire. / The last cavelier [sic] is Alexander Van Rensselaer with bouquets / and a handsome face. Aunt + Uncle dined at Mrs. / F. De Peyster’s and four sisters spent the evening there. / Of course we had all the family, little Miss Anthon’s, / P. Thomas Van Schaik’s etc. with a few stranger ladies / and gentlemen. John L. Stephens says his books will not / come out till spring. He has lost his spirits very much, + / talks of going to China. Rebecca all this time was / getting better until her impatience carried her on the / docks and all round walking and she is in bed again / with violent headaches. She expected a letter from you / with these last received. Uncle Phil does not get much / to do as business is dull for lawyers. So they have de- / =termined after a good deal of alternations in their / plans to stay with the Bowdoins for another year. The / Sullivans will probably join with them and all take / another house. The trouble and difficulty of course / has arisen from our brothers in law’s peculiar tem - /
[END OF PAGE 2]
=perment who is rather excitable but whose bark etc._ / Fanny’s children continue quite well, she is quite pleased / at this last determination. On Friday our engagement / came off at Mrs Minturns, we went en masse, + met / the Gibbs’, Mrs, Remsen Miss Rogers, some gentlemen, in / all 40 people. Conversation music supper. We enjoyed / ourselves very much as we always do, Pa made a laugh / with Mrs Pyne. Minturn told me an affecting story of a / Clerk of theirs who was dying for the death of his mistress, / Poor Minturn is quite sick a tendency to inflammation / of the wind pipe. He is much better now but shews it. /
Monday Morn’g. We are so near Lent that invitations are becom- / =ing scarce Yesterday Dr / Wainwright gave us an excellent / sermon concerning the use of our gifts + our exerting all the / good influence we are capable of in our sphere however small / it may be/ Those daughters and son of Re Peter A. Jay were / there enveloped in Crape. Wainwright brought in [^ a] proper eulo - / =gium of the old man of course without mentioning names / he died very suddenly about a week since. Another death / has occurred which shocked us much young John. R. LIving - / =ston lost his wife on Saturday back _ from [^ a] vessel breaking round / the Heart. She was sister to Charles + Helen McEvers. I dined / yesterday at Grandma Hamiltons she is well Uncle Alex was / polite and civil, but could not refrain from little disagreable / cuts. As it was the precise day 8 months since Mr. Holly [^ died] Aunt / Eliza could not appear. This morning to the new house and / changing the scene will of course do the poor little woman some / good, she never leaves the house now but on Sundays. I went / yesterday evening with E + George to hear [?Belloros?], he is a / greater favorite than ever, and with reason for his views of / life and religion are so reasonable and practical that one / is quite satisfied the best course is to join the two. I was so / surprised the other eve’g to find how dark and backward the / views of these young men in society are upon those subjects. They / talk out sometimes to us women + this one seemed to feel / that with a temper such as God had given him, nothing / could be expected. Aunt Julia’s family is working away / to try and keeo them in the homestead, + will probably suc - / =ceed. That Ludlow family seems to me to furnish the most /
[END OF PAGE 3]
Melancholy example of the evil effects of a totally neglected / Mental education + a most contracted moral one / I spent a few hours the other day with Julia Boggs Livingston / She is much happier than she used to be, but I am afraid / will not be very much improved by her in character by her / master. She in excellent health walk’s down twon with / him every morning and then comes home to work a pair / of slippers for his birth day but Mary (who we found at break - / =fast the other day at ½ past twelve) is in most wretched spirits. / Cannot become reconciled to have Julia leave, but can’t bear / Livingston. Julia + the mother will move in the spring / We heard a little piece of news last night. Miss Julia Ward / is engaged to that Philanthropist Dr. Howe of the blind / institution _ at Boston You remember the notice of him in / Dickens’ notes. There is a book spoken very much of which / you must read, called “The Bible in Spain” I believe the author’s / name is Barrow [sic Borrow] at any rate he is an English missionary to distribute / the Bible, and falls in with some tribes of Gypsies in Spain and / has a great many other interesting adventures in that country making /
[END OF PAGE 4]
A most entertaining book. To night we go to Mrs. / Gibbes concert, the last one of the season and tomorrow / Mrs. [unrecovered, illegible] comes. Mackenzie’s trial proceeds slowly. / people don’t care any longer for the same details / but only look for the result. __ Alex Hamilton / + his wife have just gone from here. Rammerer the / music man has been here with a friend, a piano / maker to inspect ours, + get the last improvements / from Berlin. Pas has started for Nevis to return / on Wednesday. We are all well, and I hope / are grateful for that blessing, and contented + / happy too, as we should be with so many around / to make us so _ Good bye my pride and comfort / take care of your health. Your Mary ____
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
27th Feby is my last date. Uncle Tom says there / were a few shares of Life + Trust sold at 55 % on / Saturday. But there is very little either wanted / or to be had
[ADDRESS]
From My dear M.
Feby 27h 1843
____________
A Hamilton Esqr
U.S. despatch Agent
13 Hamilton Street
Covent Garden
LondonTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
EnglishOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
H 350General Notes
Note Type
DepartmentNote
LibraryNote Type
Curatorial RemarksNote
Condition: GoodCreated By
CHannanCreate Date
March 4, 2024Updated By
cmonaco@hudsonvalley.orgUpdate Date
September 29, 2025
