Cump, he's my 1st cousin, 6x removed even though he or his brother are not quite listed as legitimate, he existed, we know that. Later in life, he took care of his Father or at least financed his care but Hamilton didn't seem to have the forgiving quality his brother did.
Sooo, while his younguns younguns etc. aren't at our family reunions, we still claim them. I know it may sound a bit odd, but I do believe my Daddy may have been an example of the genetic link, but he would never have fought a duel. He was a genius, not brag, just fact. He was also a walking calculator. He never used one in all of the years he worked ordering parts n stuff for the Blues and other Naval aircraft. Sadly, he passed away before I could show him the link to Hamilton and back to Robert the Bruce, one of Daddy's old world hero's. If that picture on the $10 bill is really a likeness, Daddy had his nose. Hamilton is an interesting study in human nature to me. He learned as he lived, well except for one slip up and he learned no more. We owe much to his ability to see the big picture and get the things done to take care of problems. Like the Revenue Service and the Treasury. That's quite an undertaking. I wouldn't want the job.

Stan, It still causes me some confusion, that duel thing. Every Southern city has 'Dueling Oaks'. My family owned the land where ours was. I know, that wasn't just a Southern 'thang'. I understand getting angry, but they carried it to extremes. Odd sort of trivia---hubby's ancestors were some of the bunch who rounded Burr up and sent him back for trial. That was a very bad way for a partnership and/or friendship to end.

On Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin and the gang; had they all been of like mind, we may well have turned into a nation that could not sustain itself for long. I believe it was because of the differences in their idea's and the cussions and discussions about them we came out of the deal with a very solid basis for government. Sure, things happened not too many years later in the grand scheme of time, but even the Confederate government understood the balance in the original Constitution. In spite of my current gripes and worries on the state of the union, it is still the best on planet earth.

Pam