Clinton

Unlike many of the other Founding Fathers of America, Alexander Hamilton was not born into a family of wealth and title. Hamilton's mother, Rachel Fawcett, married sugar planter John Lavien on the island of St. Croix in the 1740s. Their relationship was tumultuous, and Lavien frequently beat her. After Lavien had Rachel imprisoned for a short term after one fight, she left her husband and son and fled to the islands of Nevis and St. Kitts in the Caribbean. While there, Rachel met James Hamilton in 1751 and lived with him for nearly fifteen years, even though she had not formally divorced L…