Editing William Rowan Hamilton (section)

== Family==
While attending Trinity College, Hamilton proposed to his friend's sister, whose refusal drove the young Hamilton to depression and illness, even to the verge of suicide.<ref name="Bruno">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41497065|title=Math and mathematicians: the history of math discoveries around the world|last=Bruno|first=Leonard C.|date=2003|orig-date=1999|publisher=U X L|others=Baker, Lawrence W.|isbn=0787638137|location=Detroit, Mich.|page=209|oclc=41497065}}</ref> He proposed again in 1831 to Ellen de Vere, a sister of the poet [[Aubrey Thomas de Vere|Aubrey De Vere]], who declined as well.<ref name="Bruno" /> Hamilton eventually married Helen Marie Bayly in 1833,<ref name="Bruno" /> a country preacher's daughter, and had three children with her: [[William Edwin Hamilton]] (born 1834), Archibald Henry (born 1835), and Helen Elizabeth (born 1840).<ref>Sean O’Donnell (1983) ''William Rowan Hamilton: Portrait of a Prodigy'', Dublin: Boole Press {{ISBN|0-906783-06-2}}</ref> Hamilton's married life turned out to be difficult and unhappy as Bayly proved to be pious, timid, and chronically ill.<ref name="Bruno" />