Hamilton Family Bible
The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments: Together with the Apocrypha.
New York: Collins and Co, 1814.
Text in two columns. 9 engraved plates. 660 unnumbered leaves, collated as A1-4R2 [Old testament], A*1-U*4 [Apocrypha], A1-Dd3 [New Testament], Dd4-Hh4 [Index and Tables], A1-U2 [Practical Observations], A1-S2 [Concordance]. Plus four vellum leaves inserted between the OT and Apochrapha recording the marriages, births and deaths of members of the Hamilton family. Embroidered and silk bible marker laid in. 1 vols. 4to. Hamilton Family Bible. Period red morocco, spine gilt with raised bands, marbled endpapers. Provenance: Lydia C. M. Sims (signature on title); Rebecca Hamilton (signature on title and inscriptions on family register) Hills 256. Item #323250
Inserted vellum leaves between the Old Testament and the Apocrypha contain the family register of Philip Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton's son and youngest child, kept by his wife Rebecca. Rebecca McLane Hamilton (1813-1893) inherited the bible from her Aunt, Lydia Cantwell Milligan Sims (her mother's sister) and both have signed the title page. Rebecca likely began recording in the bible shortly after her marriage to Philip on December 29, 1842, which is the first entry under Marriages. Below her own marriage she records the marriage of her son Allan McLane Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton's grandson) to Florence Rutgers Craig on May 21, 1874.
Under the heading Births, Rebecca records the birth of her husband on June 1, 1802 "Philip Hamilton, son of Alexander & Elizabeth Hamilton" followed by her own birth on October 2, 1813. Below this, she records the births of her children (Alexander Hamilton's grandchildren): Louis McLane Hamilton (July 21, 1844), Allan McLane Hamilton (October 6, 1848), Philip Schuyler Hamilton (January 4, 1852), as well as two still born children.
The following vellum leaf records family deaths, beginning with the death of her son Louis McLane Hamilton: "Killed in the Battle of Washita Indian Terr. while gallantry leading his squadron in the first charge, our good and beloved first born son, Louis McLane Hamilton, Captain 7th U.S. Cavalry, on November 27, 1868. He was brevetted Major U.S. Army after his death for gallant service." Rebecca also records the death of her other son Philip Schuyler Hamilton from scarlet fever on March 19, 1853. Her final entry records the death of her husband Philip Hamilton on July 9, 1884 at the age of 82.
Price: $6,500.00 Free International Delivery
