Talk:Angelica Hamilton

Cause of mental illness
We ought to tread carefully here, more carefully than Ron Chernow does. I have rephrased to attribute the assertion that Angelica's mental illness was precipitated by the death of her beloved brother. Note that she was 17, the classic age for a first schizophrenic break; that it is very rare for grief to cause a catastrophic degree of loss of mental capacities that endures for a lifetime; and that clinical understanding of causation in mental illness is enormously different than it was 200 years ago. Let's all be very careful about making or citing diagnoses.E.M.Gregory (talk) 18:05, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I've added quotes and citations (with page images) from Angelica's nephew, the psychiatrist Allan McLane Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton knew his aunt in her later years, and he'd heard firsthand accounts of her earlier years from his family. Since he was a medical doctor and noted expert in mental illnesses, his clinical observations can carry a good deal of weight. You're certainly right that his diagnostic conclusions have been rendered doubtful or obsolete by 200 years of medical progress, but they're still valuable when placed in the context of his times. And I think his observations can still be considered authoritative. Lwarrenwiki (talk) 19:54, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Nice work. Tragic story.  The heartbreak of losing a son, then losing a daughter to mental illness.E.M.Gregory (talk) 19:58, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Dancing Lessons
OK, the link to the Chernow page is correct, but there is something terribly wrong with this. Martha Washington's children were fathered by her first husband who died in 1757. Why was she taking her children to dancing lessons over 30 years later. Grand children? Clearly Chernow got something wrong here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jhutzler (talk • contribs) 03:20, 13 July 2020 (UTC)


 * You're right. Chernow was clearly wrong about this, and congratulations for catching it! These must have been the grandchildren she raised, mentioned at https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/family/did-george-washington-have-kids/. Lwarrenwiki (talk) 15:38, 13 July 2020 (UTC)