Alexander Hamilton’s been having a good decade, thanks to a massive new biography by Ron Chernow, and an overwhelming new musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Aaron Burr, who killed Hamilton in a duel, is having a mini-revival too, but only as “the man who,” and only from the viewpoint of Hamilton enthusiasts.

Interestingly enough, at Steuben County Historical Society’s Magee House we exhibit a letter from Hamilton and one from Burr, each promoting investment out here in the “Pulteney Estate.”

Hamilton County and Hamilton College are each named for Alex, who also appears on the ten-dollar bill. But it’s interesting that a number of our local place names honor friends and associates of Hamilton – he was a very busy bee, and got around to a lot of people.

STEUBEN COUNTY is named for Baron Steuben, who served, like Hamilton, on George Washington’s staff during the Revolutionary War. Both of them were geniuses at organization, something that the Continental Army sadly lacked. Steuben, of course, also had deep military knowledge and experience, something that Hamilton and Washington both lacked. But all three were brilliant (Hamilton probably the most so), all three thought deeply, and all three recognized that they were building the future.

Hamilton helped Steuben, who was just learning English, to write his seminal manual of arms. At Yorktown Steuben commanded a division, and Hamilton a battalion. He stormed and captured a British fortification at the head of his men in a nighttime bayonet charge with no ammunition – a tactic Steuben had taught them.

Steuben and Hamilton were very different in age, background, and even language. But each thought very highly of the other, which actually tells us a great deal about each of them.

TROUPSBURG takes its name from Robert Troup, who was the orphaned Hamilton’s roommate and best friend at King’s College (now Columbia University). They joined the militia together when the Revolution broke out, and together joined an eventually-successful abolition society. Troup took over from Charles Williamson as Agent for the Pulteney Estate, and did the job for 31 years. He tried to get Hamilton to invest, but Hamilton contented himself with taking a yearly retainer through his law practice. The Town of PULTENEY takes its name from those British investors for whom Hamilton sometimes worked, and who owned over a million acres out here.

LAFAYETTE PARK in Watkins Glen honors Marquis de Lafayette, who served on Washington’s staff along with Steuben and Hamilton – though in Lafayette’s case, at least at first, he was largely hanging around learning the language, and being a poster boy for a desired French alliance. He and Hamilton were of an age, dedicated to the Revolution, enthusiasts for Washington, and both hungry for military glory, valiant and energetic in combat and in command. Like Steuben, Lafayette was a commander at Yorktown where Hamilton served as a captain.

SCHUYLER COUNTY takes its name from General Philip Schuyler who was – Hamilton’s father-in-law! A veteran of the French and Indian War and a member of the Continental Congress, he became a major general during the Revolution and served with mixed success. Since he was mostly working from Albany, coping with threatened British invasions out of Canada, he and Hamilton never served together. But the general arranged Hamilton’s appointment as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

And since we’re talking’ family we should mention ANGELICA, in Allegany County, named for one of Schuyler’s daughters, who was thus Hamilton’s sister-in-law. Many moderns read their intense correspondence as evidence of an affair, or at least of powerful attraction, and the musical falls in with that view. But the correspondence may be intense just because they were both very intense people. She was also close with Jefferson, Lafayette, and the Prince of Wales, and for most of the acquaintanceship she and Hamilton were not even in the same hemisphere. Her son, who became a major landowner in the area, put her on the map.

Well, if we’ve got Steuben, Yates, and Schuyler, why not LIVINGSTON COUNTY? Livingston was involved in everything from the Declaration of Independence to the Louisiana Purchase and the first steamboat line. But he and Hamilton were two of a five-man team that successfully steered the U. S. Constitution to ratification at the New York state convention in 1787.

And we should take note of MONROE COUNTY, for James Monroe and Alexander Hamilton were brother veterans – in particular, they were both (along with Aaron Burr) in the ice-raining crossing of the Delaware, the long night march, and the storming of Trenton – perhaps the one indispensable moment of the Revolution. Despite this shared experience, though, they were bitter political foes, Monroe even helping leak (true) smears about Hamilton’s personal life. As we said, Alex got around to a lot of people. Not all those ties turned out well.