This series of articles on 18th century American finance is dedicated to the memory of
Sanford “Sandy” Mock. A long-time collector of historical financial documents, Sandy
contributed several articles to Financial History magazine and donated a large portion of
his 18th century collection to the Museum’s archives. Sandy’s spirit of the adventure of
collecting, his eager cooperation with many others in their research, and his generosity
on behalf of those who love the history of finance will always be with us.
Sanford J. Mock
T r ib u t e A r t icl e
Alexander Hamilton
Lineage and Legacy
By Becky Laughner
6
The New-York Historical Society
Young Alexander Hamilton
had anything but a promising future.
He was born out of wedlock on the
Caribbean island of Nevis to an independent-minded woman who fled marriage
with another man (and consequently served
jail time) and a ne’er-do-well father of the Scottish
aristocracy unsuccessfully seeking a fortune in the new world.
At the age of 10, Hamilton’s father left the family, forcing his mother
to provide for Alexander and his brother. A few years later, Hamilton’s mother
died, leaving the brothers to exist on the charity of family members. Fortunately,
Hamilton’s precociousness and ambition were recognized early on, and he blossomed as a clerk in the mercantile house owned by Beekman and Krugar.
In this role he learned skills that would later prove important in his life such as
foreign exchange, management, accounting and international shipping. At the age
of 18, friends and mentors on St. Croix who recognized his brilliance arranged for
Hamilton to receive a formal education in the American colonies. First landing in
New Jersey and expecting to attend an accelerated academic program at College of
New Jersey (later Princeton University), he was rejected and instead found himself
at Kings College (now Columbia University) in New York City.
24 Financial History | Spring/Summer 2011 | www.MoAF.org