General Notes

REFN: 609AN
REFN: P609
SOME HAMILTONS and WALLACES
of
Lancaster Co., PA, Jefferson Co, OH and South Carolina
Harriet E. Wallace ~ 1986
INTRODUCTION
When I started to organize the Hamilton and Wallace family' informati
on into a unit, the family relationships did not make a picture in my min
d. In order to develop this picture and knowing it was a large family grou
p, I started with large size, plain shelf paper and tried to keep going..E
ven so the shelf paper was not wiDe enough and soon ran out. The long to
ll was difficult to carry around and awkward to handle. I have, therefor
e, transferred the lengthy "scroll" to standard sized sheets of piper. I
f- you lay them end to.end in numerical order on a table or the floor, y
ou will derive the same picture as that on the shelf paper.
There are, however, two parts to the present charts. The first pa
rt is for the Hamiltons who came to Lancaster Co, PA around 1730. In th
is part the youngest generation shown was born in the first half of the 19
th Century. So far the only family continued into a chart and brought do
wn to current people is that of Hugh Wallace - my own family. Informati
on on all of the other families still has to be brought to the present.
In most genealogies only one surname is included, and the surnam
es of most of the female members are ignored. In my mind the female membe
rs contribute equally with their husbands to the quality and caliber of t
he family. In the case of this family, it will soon be noted that, if o
ne follows the Wallaces back or the Hamiltons forward, at least t ree Hami
lton women married members of the,Wallace family. The earliest was Ann Ham
ilton, daughter of William Hamilton (d. 1781), who married James Wallac
e. Two of their sons, William and John married Hamilton cousins. Membe
rs of both the Hamiltons and Wallaces participate in many documents. It se
ems to me impossible to separate these two families.
The superscript numbers in both parts refer to the numbers of entri
es in the list of Sources of Information. The information in the prefa
ce is taken from other publications studied as well as some of the documen
ts. As yet no numbers have been given to any of the members of these famil
ies.
In the first chart the column at the left is blank, because as. y
et I have not found the name of the parents of John, Anne (Hamilton) ' - S
eawright, Hugh, Mary, and William Hamilton (d. 1781). If they all,we
re as young as indicated in 1733, it seems as if they must have come wi
th parents. The question marks in the line connecting these individuals in
dicate that no proof of the relationship has been found. The relationsh
ip is stated in the history of the Seawright (Searight) family. Consideri
ng James Hamilton (1724-1807) to be the brother of William Hamilton (d.-17
81) is speculation. Most of the other relationships are taken from o
ne or more of the documents listed, except in one or two cases. In those i
nstances the evidence appears to be the relationships shown although th
ey are not so stated specifically.
PREFACE
The Hamiltons and Wallaces are two of the oldest, most prominent, a
nd most numerous families of Scotland. Both families lived in the southe
rn or "lowland" part of Scotland.
The ancient family of Hamilton received a grant of land for a small l
ordship in his domain from the Earl of Leicester. Their coat of arms indic
ates a close connection with the family of the Earls of Leicester It is fr
om this'family that the Scottish Hamiltons are descended. Many of them we
re influential in the courts of England and Scotland maintaining very lar
ge estates. They were part of the aristocracy and nobility of early Engli
sh and Scottish history. At least six members of this family were undertak
ers who undertook the task of accepting large tracts of land in Ulst
er to which they moved tenants and other Scots in the early 17th centu
ry in an attempt to plant Scottish settlemen