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Johann Michael Lavien
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Johann Michael Lavien
Johann Michael Lavien (or John Lavien) (c. 1717 – February 28, 1771) was a merchant and planter who lived on the Caribbean islands of Nevis and Saint Croix. He was the first husband of Rachael Fawcett, who later became the mother of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
As a young man "who had peddled household goods and now aspired to planter status", Lavien moved from Nevis, an island in the British West Indies, to St. Croix in the Danish Virgin Islands. On St. Croix, Lavien purchased a sugar plantation (later known as Estate Ruby), and by 1744, he had established himself as a planter and cultivated the appearance of wealth.
From 1748 to 1760, he owned at least sixteen slaves, including 5 to 7 children. After incurring significant debts, Lavien sold his last remaining plantation in 1753, after which he worked his slaves on the properties of other planters. In 1761, Lavien moved to Frederiksted, on the opposite side of St. Croix, where he speculated in real estate, and had some income from renting out his remaining slaves.
By 1768, a steep decline in his fortunes had left him working as a hospital janitor in Frederiksted.
In 1745, at the age of about twenty-eight, Lavien met and married Rachel Faucette, who was then sixteen years old. Her mother, Mary Uppington Faucette, was British, and her father John was a French Huguenot physician who had recently died. Shortly before the marriage, Rachel had inherited what her son Alexander Hamilton would later call "a snug fortune". Hamilton characterized Lavien as "a fortune hunter ... bedizened with gold" whose expensive clothes caused Rachel's widowed mother to be "captivated by the glitter" of his flashy appearance, and to push Rachel into reluctantly agreeing to what became a "hated marriage".
Lavien and Rachel had one son, Peter, born in 1746. However, in 1750, Rachel refused to live with Lavien any longer, an offense for which Lavien had her jailed under Danish law. She spent several months in a 10- by 13-foot cell with one small window, in the Fort in Christiansted, St. Croix. Soon after being released, she fled to the British West Indies, where she met James Hamilton, fourth son of a Scottish laird. James Hamilton and Faucette moved together to her birthplace, Nevis, and had two sons together, James Jr. and Alexander.
Lavien divorced Rachel in 1759 on grounds of adultery and desertion, under Danish law, which left her legally unable to remarry. Possibly to spare her from charges of bigamy, James Hamilton abandoned Rachel and their sons in 1765. Soon afterward, Rachel moved with the boys to Christiansted.
After learning of Faucette's death in 1768, Lavien used the 1759 divorce decree in probate court to prevent James Jr. and Alexander Hamilton from inheriting any of her property, due to their illegitimate birth. The entire estate went instead to his son Peter.
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Johann Michael Lavien
Johann Michael Lavien (or John Lavien) (c. 1717 – February 28, 1771) was a merchant and planter who lived on the Caribbean islands of Nevis and Saint Croix. He was the first husband of Rachael Fawcett, who later became the mother of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
As a young man "who had peddled household goods and now aspired to planter status", Lavien moved from Nevis, an island in the British West Indies, to St. Croix in the Danish Virgin Islands. On St. Croix, Lavien purchased a sugar plantation (later known as Estate Ruby), and by 1744, he had established himself as a planter and cultivated the appearance of wealth.
From 1748 to 1760, he owned at least sixteen slaves, including 5 to 7 children. After incurring significant debts, Lavien sold his last remaining plantation in 1753, after which he worked his slaves on the properties of other planters. In 1761, Lavien moved to Frederiksted, on the opposite side of St. Croix, where he speculated in real estate, and had some income from renting out his remaining slaves.
By 1768, a steep decline in his fortunes had left him working as a hospital janitor in Frederiksted.
In 1745, at the age of about twenty-eight, Lavien met and married Rachel Faucette, who was then sixteen years old. Her mother, Mary Uppington Faucette, was British, and her father John was a French Huguenot physician who had recently died. Shortly before the marriage, Rachel had inherited what her son Alexander Hamilton would later call "a snug fortune". Hamilton characterized Lavien as "a fortune hunter ... bedizened with gold" whose expensive clothes caused Rachel's widowed mother to be "captivated by the glitter" of his flashy appearance, and to push Rachel into reluctantly agreeing to what became a "hated marriage".
Lavien and Rachel had one son, Peter, born in 1746. However, in 1750, Rachel refused to live with Lavien any longer, an offense for which Lavien had her jailed under Danish law. She spent several months in a 10- by 13-foot cell with one small window, in the Fort in Christiansted, St. Croix. Soon after being released, she fled to the British West Indies, where she met James Hamilton, fourth son of a Scottish laird. James Hamilton and Faucette moved together to her birthplace, Nevis, and had two sons together, James Jr. and Alexander.
Lavien divorced Rachel in 1759 on grounds of adultery and desertion, under Danish law, which left her legally unable to remarry. Possibly to spare her from charges of bigamy, James Hamilton abandoned Rachel and their sons in 1765. Soon afterward, Rachel moved with the boys to Christiansted.
After learning of Faucette's death in 1768, Lavien used the 1759 divorce decree in probate court to prevent James Jr. and Alexander Hamilton from inheriting any of her property, due to their illegitimate birth. The entire estate went instead to his son Peter.