Alexander Hamilton, a miller and a farmer, married Mary McFarland in 1839. She lived in a log farm house on land that John F. Singer later bought. The Annals tell,
The house stood near the site of the Singer mansion. Whoever has seen the Singer house has heard the tale of the Singer ghost, but the ghost has a longer pedigree than the elegant stone building. The following story is vouched for as true by Mrs. Lida Hamilton Downing. The ghost had often been heard by the McFarland family, but they, being practical and busy people, were not disturbed by it. But two friends of Mary McFarland spent an early spring night at the farm, and in the morning, anxious to help, they lifted the ashes from under the coal grate and started down stairs with the pail. Just then the ghost groaned! The sister at the rear made a leap carrying with her her sister and the pail. There was no time to obey the precaution “this side up with care” nor shall we enter into further details—sufficient unto the ghost’s groan was the result thereof.
An anonymous article in the Wilkinsburg Gazette of 1937 is based on information from Gilchrist’s History of Wilinsburg. John Singer had died. The family traveled.
A caretaker was put charge of the empty house, and from that time to this, rumors that the house was haunted, have been flying fast and thick. The caretaker . . . let it be known that the place was frequented by ghosts in order to keep boys and other prowlers off the premises. . . .
At the present time, Mrs. Ida B. Hanna has taken over the house, and has changed its name to Belmont and is making it a home almost exclusively for young Westinghouse students. Up to now, they have had little or no trouble with ghosts.
And so time goes on. As staunch today as it was almost three-quarters of a century ago when first built, the Singer Mansion will probably still be standing when Wilkinsburg celebrates its 100th Anniversary, still lord of all it surveys from its high vantage point, and still an unending source of legend and ghosts and haunts for the wide eyed boys and awe stricken olders, who will the street on a dark and windy night to get just a little further away from it, or who will at least walk a little faster as they pass, and behind them to make sure there's nothing there.
An article in 1977 called “Time stands still at Singer Mansion“ tells,
For years the mansion was unoccupied, and any hulking, gothic style dwelling eventually earns a reputation as a “haunted house.” Terah Brown, who lives next door, said that neighborhood kids, thinking the house haunted, stalked it in search of ghosts. But, he added, kids’ thrillseeking often turned into vandalism. Frequently, windows were broken.
John Bosos, a new owner, turned the house into apartments and the vandalism “virtually ended.”
Currently, the house has a spirit of joy. The house is undergoing a renewal. Joy is very good at driving away ghosts!
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Elizabeth M. Davison, “Alexander Hamilton,“ in Annals of Old Wilkinsburg and Vicinity: The Village 1788—1888. Wilkinsburg, Pa.: Group for Historical Research, 1940, pp. 241–242.
Wilkinsburg Public Library Digital Archives:
“Famous Old Landmark,“ Wilkinsburg Gazette, October 1, 1937, p. 38.
John P. Moore, “Time stands still at Singer Mansion,“ March 9, 1977.