Alice Hamilton grew up in
Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her Grandfather had migrated from Northern
Ireland and had amassed a substantial fortune as a land speculator,
fur trader, retailor to the Indians, banker, and railroad promoter.
He created a compound the size of three city blocks around his
stately mansion, fondly referred to as the “Old House”. In addition
to the mansion, there were two houses for the families of sons
Andrew Holman and Montgomery, father of Alice and four siblings;
three sisters and a son. . All in all, there were eleven cousins
living in the compound and, except to attend church, they rarely
ventured outside. Until their early ‘teens”, the Hamilton children
were “home taught”. Then they were sent off to boarding schools, the
girls to Miss Potter’s “finishing school” in Connecticut and the
boys to various schools in the northeast.. Alice had this to say
about Miss Potter’s, “…some of the teaching we received there was
the world’s worst.”. But about her home tutoring she had this to
say:
