Beadle's Dime Novels No. 115: The Sons of Liberty

About this issue

This dime novel by W. J. Hamilton, serialized as issue No. 115, depicts the American colonial period of resistance to British taxation. Set near Schenectady in the Mohawk Valley during the Stamp Act controversy, the narrative follows the Connor family: farmer Edward Connor, his sons Richard, David, and John, and his daughter Miriam, a locally renowned beauty. The three brothers are divided by political allegiance—Richard and John are committed "Sons of Liberty" opposing the stamp-act, while David serves as a Tory officer under Sir John Johnson, creating bitter family conflict. An unnamed patriot agitator, claiming the "Sons of Liberty" title from parliamentary discourse, arrives to organize resistance. When David confronts him in town, the stranger strikes him down. The story portrays the ideological rupture of the Revolutionary period, with family bonds fractured by opposing loyalties to the Crown and colonial self-governance.