Hello! Could you tell me more about the relationship between Hamilton and his nephew Phillip Church, and later Phillip Church's with the Hamilton Kids?
Hamilton had a very, very sweet relationship with Philip Church, Angelica and John’s eldest boy. Philip Church was born on April 14, 1778, which means he would have been about two years old when Hamilton began courting Eliza. Hamilton’s first reference to his little nephew is in a letter to Eliza dated 12 October 1781, while Hamilton was with the army at Yorktown. Sending congratulations to Angelica for the birth of a second son, he wrote, “Tell Mrs. Carter I partake in the joy of the adventure she has made a present of to the world. I hope he may have as many good qualities as Phil; but I protest against his being too much a rival.”
Hamilton remained interested in his nephew even after John and Angelica moved to Europe. John Church wrote an update on the health of his family to Hamilton on 7 February 1784, “Angelica joins me in Love to Mrs. Hamilton and yourself she is very well the little maid [Catherine] is fat and handsome. Phil is in Pension he jabbers now more French than English.” After Angelica’s trip to America, Hamilton wrote to her on 8 November 1789:
Kiss your children for me. Teach them to consider me as your and their father’s friend. I shall by the first direct opportunity begin a correspondence with Philip. I have serious designs upon his heart and I flatter myself I am not a bad marksman. Adieu Dear Angelica!
Philip attended Eton before studying law at the Middle Temple in London, and when he returned to New York with his parents in 1797, he was apprenticed to Nathaniel Pendleton (who would go on to be Hamilton’s second in his duel with Burr). When the quasi-war with France began in 1798, Hamilton lobbied James McHenry and John Adams to have his nephew made a Captain in the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry. After writing to McHenry several times on the subject, McHenry responded on 13 September 1798:
My dear Hamilton. I recd. yours of the 9th this morning. Why is it necessary you should repeat to me your request, or require any new evidence, that I will not take the same care of Philip Church as I would of my own son. Let Mrs. Church be assured I will.
John Adams also took no issue with the appointment, despite his strained relationship with Hamilton. Understanding the hint of impropriety in recommending his own nephew for an appointment, Hamilton wrote an almost apologetic letter to Adams on 24 August 1798:
I have recommended to the Secretary at War, Mr Philip Church, my nephew, for the appointment of a Captain of Infantry.1 ….I have myself so favourable an opinion of him that it is my intention to take him into my family as an Aide De Camp. Under these circumstances, very contrary to the general rules by which I govern myself, I take the liberty to request his appointment as a personal favour to myself—and I venture to undertake for him that he will not discredit it. The appointment will also lay himself and all his friends under a particular obligation. Let me at the same time beg you to be persuaded, Sir, that I shall never on any other occasion place a recommendation to office on a similar footing.
Adams replied on 3 September 1798:
Mr Phillip Church, your Nephew whom you recommend to be a Captain of Infantry I have had the Pleasure to See, both in New York and Philadelphia, and have been so well Satisfied with all I know of him as to be very willing to appoint him and shall write to the Secretary at War accordingly.
From 1798 through 1800, Hamilton and Philip Church spent an inordinate amount of time together. More than 200 of Hamilton’s letters from those two years are in Philip’s handwriting, and he would also answer correspondence for his uncle when Hamilton was unable. For example, on 12 January 1799, Philip wrote to James McHenry:
General Hamilton has continued, since I last had the honor of writing to you, so indisposed as to have been frequently confined to his bed and consequently not able to attend to the report you sent him, but he is now much better and has desired me to inform you that he will forward by monday’s post his ideas on the subject.
Philip exchange correspondence with Hamilton to update him on the state of the troops, problems with getting uniforms to the men, and his concerns about how “lightly they talked of desertion” in June 1799. Philip seems to have proven his worth and abilities when among the men. For example, William S. Smith wrote to Hamilton on 23 December 1799:
In your Letter of the 17th.1 you mention your intention of retaining Capt Church with you,2 to this I cannot with propriety object, but I can with propriety say, the Regt. feel his loss, & I, particularly regret his absence, his pointed attention to duty, & his Gentlemanlike deportment has endeared him much to the Corps, I now see no prospect of his ever rejoining it. I shall always however, wish him happy, and a promotion suited to his talents and abilities.
During the time spent with his uncle, Philip appears to have befriended his cousin, Philip Hamilton. Philip Church was one of the people Philip Hamilton consulted before his duel with George Eacker, and Church had advance knowledge of Philip Hamilton’s decision to reserve his first fire. (See Rush to Hamilton, 26 November 1801, fn 1).
After 1800, Philip agreed to manage a large tract of land for his father, and he settled the first town of Allegany County, which he named Angelica, for his mother. He became the first judge in the county in 1807. (New York Times, 23 June 1895). He kept in touch with the Hamilton’s, however–Hamilton invited Philip to a family dinner in 1802, and he references Philip stopping by the house with news a few times to Eliza; for example, the opening line of Hamilton’s 13 March 1803 letter to Eliza reads: “Captain Church,2 My Dear Betsy, has just arrived & brings me favourable accounts of your journey hitherto and prospects.” Philip was so close to his uncle in those later years that Eliza requested he write down some anecdotes and memories for her in 1840.
