Thought I would forward a copy of my last note to BR McCain regarding the family of the Rev. Hans Hamilton, Vicar of Dunlop, who d. 1608. I was pursuing this in an attempt to see if any linkage could be found between John Hamilton d. 1721 Chester Co. PA(father of Capt. Hance Hamilton b. 1704 Londonderry, and of James, John, Wm, Janet, Hester, and Margaret). So, if anyone has more information or can correct any of my info on the immediate descendants of the Rev. Hans Hamilton, please advise. Regards to all, Larry D. Hamilton Coats ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Coats To: Barra McCain Cc: larcoa@aspermont.esc14.net Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 3:51 PM Subject: Re: Hans Hamilton et al Mr. McCain,(BTW, do you "go by" Barra or do you have some other middle or nickname that I may use???), I had some time to compare some notes that I took from THE HAMILTON PAPERS years ago. They were basically put in a rough sketch form and are my very rough construct of the descendants of Rev. Hans Hamilton(d. 1608). After eliminating those lines that ended early in females, those that pertained directly to the Earls of Clanbrassil, and those who d.s.p. or never married, I made an interesting discovery: Of the children of Archibald Hamilton, who marr. Rachel Carmichael, I counted six sons, of whom only Gawin likely had any male line descendants(and he liv. c. 1680-1703). So, I eliminated Archibald's line as a likely source for "our" Hamiltons in PA. I then moved on to Wm Hamilton, who was settled in Co. Down and who married a dau. of John Melville. They had sons: James, John, Hans and Wm, but by the time I reached the approximate time of John Hamilton, the father of Capt. Hance Hamilton(b.c. 1704), three of these four sons had had only one son apiece(James Jocelin, son of Wm; James, son of Hans; and James son of James). No John Hamilton there at all. So, unless there are missing/unnamed sons of Wm Hamilton and ____Melville, I have pretty much concluded that this line is also an unlikely source for John Hamilton b.c. 1677-80. I then examined the line of the Rev. Patrick Hamilton, minister at Enderwick in East Lothian, and who d. there. He had three sons(James, Alexander, and Archibald) by Elizabeth Glenn and all three were in Co. Down. However, I can only find one of them as having had a son, and that was Archibald, who had a son named John, who SEEMS to be about the right age for "our" John, but can't be sure without more information. Lastly, I looked at John Hamilton of Monella/"Hamiltonsbawn", who marr. Sarah Brabazon. He had sons: Hanse, Francis(a professional soldier it seems and of whom I have no further record)and James "of Ballieborough". This last named James was most interesting to me as his elder brother was Hanse, who was the ancestor of the Hamilton Baronets of Mt. Hamilton, now extinct. I then remembered that your last note to me said that "our" Capt. Hance Hamilton was some sort of connection to the Hamiltons of Hamiltonsbawn. James Hamilton "of Baillieborough" had a son, also named Hans, who was b.c. 1643 at Baillieborough. But I can find no further record of this Hans. Of course, I am only doing some educated speculating here, but it seems to me that IF Capt. Hance Hamilton and his father were close connections to the Hamiltonsbawn line, then the likeliest connection would be via Hamilton of Baillieborough. In fact, the Hans b. at Baillieborough abt 1643 could well be the father of James b.c. 1677-80. Again, this is purely my interpretation of some rough notes, and they may or may not be complete, but in the absence of any other information, this makes reasonably good sense to me. If you have any means of checking out any of these names/dates, etc, feel free to do so as I am only trying to "narrow the field" a bit and, hopefully, get us closer to solving this mystery....such a well-known branch of the Hamiltons ought not be sunk in such obscurity!<g> Let me know what you think. Best regards always, Larry ----- Original Message ----- From: Barra McCain To: Larry Coats Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 2:48 PM Subject: Re: Hans Hamilton et al Unfortunately I can not add to your data. It is a puzzle, as these Hamiltons were historical and fairly well known in their day. Only thing I can turn up is there is 1) positively one Hans Hamilton who did led a party of settlers from north Antrim to the Colonies in 1728; 2) he is connected to the Hamilton's of Hamilton's Bawn in Armagh, and to the Hamiltons of Hamiltonsbawn township in the Marsh Creek settlement in southern PA Colony. I have other Hamiltons tell me he was from the Dunluce area, in north Antrim. The curious thing is some Hamiltons tell me his father was named John and his mother was Jennet Boyd. Oh well. That is one still to be solved. Thanks for your notes and answer though. If I find anything interesting I will forward it to you. B McCain