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WNY's Unknown Connections to Hamilton story

With the hit musical Hamilton opening in Buffalo, we're celebrating Western New York with a look at some local connections to the story.

The musical Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first treasury secretary, and the founding of our nation.

Most of the characters are people we all know about; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison. But there are also plenty of names that may sound familiar, because they are names you've heard, but may not know their history.

Angelica Schuyler Church is one of those people. The Schuyler sisters are central figures in the musical. And Angelica is Alexander Hamilton's sister-in-law.

She's also the namesake of the Allegany County town of Angelica. It's land that was given to her husband, John Church, for his help financing the revolution. And the town of Angelica's street pattern was modeled after Paris, where Angelica spent part of her life.

After winning the war, Alexander Hamilton was one of three men who defended the constitution in a series of 85 essays known as the Federalist papers. According to scholars, Hamilton wrote 51 of them.

Those insights are still used today by courts to help understand and interpret the constitution. And among the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library's rare book collection is a first edition. But not just any first edition, one that was sent to Paris for our ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson and Hamilton did not get along, which is another theme of the musical and a piece of American history captured here in Jefferson's own handwriting, arguing with Alexander Hamilton's ideas, on the pages of this rare book at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.

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