#20: Alexander Hamilton
One of America’s most brilliant Founding Fathers had humble beginnings. Alexander Hamilton was born out of wedlock on the Caribbean island of Nevis around 1755. His life was marked by early tragedy; his father abandoned the family, and his mother died when he was about 11. A cousin briefly took him and his brother in, but after her mother died, they were left orphaned. A local merchant family then took him in. At that time, everyone around him praised Hamilton’s fierce intellect. Local patrons, recognizing his immense potential, pooled their money to fund his passage to New York for an education. An act of community charity that changed American history.
