Person:James Hamilton (154)

James Hamilton was born on high seas while his parents were in transit from Manchester, England to this country^[2]. He was a young man, a carpenter in Philadelphia, during the Revolutionary war. After the capture of the city, in 1777 by the enemy, he was claimed as a British subject and taken forcibly to a man-of-war anchored in the river. One night he tied his clothes together and threw himself, with his bundle, into the water. The current was so swift that he lost his clothes and reached the shore naked, but he went into the town and climbed up by the window of his boarding house and reached his own room. in the morning, when the woman who had charge of the room entered, she was surprised to find the bed occupied. He asked her to bring him a suit if his clothes and to say nothing about him. He escaped, and came to Orange County to a Mrs. Hinchman's house. A troop of Tories and British came in pursuit of him. Mrs. Hinchman concealed him in a large barrel over which she spread flax, and then prepared a good dinner for the troopers, with plenty of cider, and they went away without discovering the fugitive prisoner. After the war, Hamilton worked at his trade, and going to Frankford, met and married Sarah Price, daughter of Francis Price, and granddaughter of Robert, who was captured by the Indians. After the birth of his son Benjamin, he engaged to build a grist mill near the Delaware River. He built a log house in a lonely place which he had selected, but had no materials for the window or door. Here he had to leave his wife and child for days while he went away to his work. She closed the entrance at night with her table and a bed quilt. She was frequently awakened in terror by the wolves which came prowling around the cabin, but they never broke the feeble barrier. James Hamilton built the Lawrence mansion, 1794^[1] and became prominent as a builder and erected some of the finest house and public buildings in East New Jersey^[2] .

James Hamilton died in Sussex, New Jersey on 12 April 1822. He is shown on a Hamilton monument erected in Hamburg Baptist Burying Ground and purchased by the estate of John B Hamilton, Jr, son of Francis Price Hamilton about 1888/89. He died intestate in Sussex, New Jersey in 1822. The exact location where he Is buried is unknown, but believed to be in the Hamburg Baptist Burying Ground cemetery where his wife and many Hamilton descendants are buried.

He died intestate. Sarah Price Hamilton and Joseph E Edsall were listed as administrators on his Inventory Appraisal proved 29 April 1822^[4]. Henry Price and Samuel Price Jr are the appraisers. Henry Price was the son of Zachariah Price, a cousin to Sarah Price Hamilton. Samuel Price Jr is may be the son of Robert Price.

James Hamilton

James Hamilton Closeup

James Hamilton Inv_5763S

James Hamilton Inv List

James Hamilton Inv 1822

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Haines, Alanson A. Hardyston memorial : a history of the township and the North Presbyterian Church, Hardyston, Sussex County, New Jersey. (Hardyston, N.J.?: unknown, 1888).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} James Hamilton, in Whittemore, Henry. The Founders and Builders of the Oranges: Comprising a History of the Outlying District of Newark, Subsequently Known as Orange, and of the Later Internal Divisions, viz.: South Orange, West Orange, and East Orange, … 1666-1896. (Newark, New Jersey: L. J. Hardham, 1896)
   p 318.
3.   John B Hamilton, in Index of wills, inventories, etc. in the Office of the Secretary of State prior to 1901. (New Jersey?: State of New Jersey?, 1912-1913)
   4719S, 1888.
4. ↑ James Hamilton, in Index of wills, inventories, etc. in the Office of the Secretary of State prior to 1901. (New Jersey?: State of New Jersey?, 1912-1913)
   1822.

   Int.5763S and Estate File #4115, Orphans Court Minutes, Vol A, pages 292, 318

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Find A Grave.

   James Hamilton