State Rep. Greg Martin, R-Hixson, a history buff, was invited to give the pre-show Tiv Talk before the performance of “Hamilton” Thursday night, and offered the audience a question.
Hamilton County was named after Founding Father, Federalist and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, whose life is presented in the acclaimed musical, but why was the county named after him at its founding in 1819? It would have seemed antithetical to do so, the former county commissioner and school board member suggested, because the county’s agrarian area would have been more in tune with the political leanings of the Democratic-Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson.
Martin, who imparted that he’d previously seen “Hamilton” in New York and Chicago, said he’d searched books, histories and websites in vain to justify the naming but came up empty. In the end, he told attendees in the Walker Theater, he figured Hamilton County founding fathers felt it was just a way to honor the New Yorker, whose life was cut short when he was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr in 1804.
“Hamilton” runs through Sunday at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium.
If a reader has any further insight into why the county was named after the musical’s martyred hero, let me know for a future Weekend Dialogue column. And we’d like readers to continue to ask questions, comment on our editorials or the syndicated commentaries we run each week.