The Hamilton Families of Knox County, Ohio

EDWIN F. HAMILTON.

The name of Edwin F. Hamilton, of Clinton township, Knox county, is too well known in this locality to need any introduction to the readers of this work; his record as a private citizen and public servant speaks for itself.

Mr. Hamilton was born in Morgan township, this county, on August 8, 1856, and is the fourth son of William and Elizabeth (Sellers) Hamilton. The father was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on November 26, 1822, and the mother's birth occurred on July 15. 1817, in Pennsylvania. They were married on January 20, 1848, and lived happily together for a period of sixty years, William Hamilton dying on May 17, 1908, his widow surviving until

April 19, 1910. They were the parents of five children, two of whom, John and Craig, are deceased; W. M. and G. S. reside in Morgan township, this county, and Edwin F., of this sketch.

The subject of this biographical review was reared on the old homestead where he assisted with the general work during his boyhood. He received his education in the district schools.

Mr. Hamilton was trustee of Morgan township for several years, and in 1895 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, on which he served for four years. He belongs to Sycamore Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Brandon, and Utica Lodge, Knights of Pythias.

Edwin F. Hamilton was married on December 14, 1881 to Ida V. Guy, daughter of John and Emeline (Lafever) Guy, of Clinton township, Knox county. The family finally moved to Mt. Vernon, where the parents spent their last years, the death of Mrs. Guy occurring on July 20, 1899, and that of Mr. Guy on January 12, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have one child, Frank, who was born on December 29, 1884, and is living at home.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEORGE S. HAMILTON.

Among those who have met with a large measure of success in the active duties of life in Knox county is George S. Hamilton, owner of an excellent farmstead in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon. He comes of a splendid family, who have always been strong advocates of right living and industrious habits, for education and morality, and for all that contributes to the welfare of the commonwealth. Throughout his career Mr. Hamilton has pursued the even tenor of his way in the quiet and unostentatious manner which never courts publicity, attending strictly to his own affairs, doing the right as he sees and understands the right and keeping his conscience void of offense toward his Creator and his fellow men.

Mr. Hamilton was born on February 16, 1860, on a farm five miles north of Utica, where he has always lived. He is the son of William and Elizabeth (Sellers) Hamilton, the father a native of Harrison county, Ohio, born on November 26. 1822. The mother was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1817. William Hamilton came to Kinox county in 1846 with his brother John and they settled on the Martinsburg road in Morgan township, where he bought one hundred and eighty acres, later buying a farm where the subject now lives. He became a large land owner and prosperous farmer, and was influential in the affairs of his community. John Sellers, the maternal grandfather, came with his family from Greene county, Pennsylvania, about 1820 and settled on land in Morgan township, when the country was new and sparsely settled, establishing his home near Owl creek, where he spent the remainder of his life, and here William Hamilton and Elizabeth Sellers were married. They became the parents of five children, namely: John, born October 24, 1848, died April 2, 1853; Craig, born

January 5, 1851, and died April 4, 1851; William M., born February 15, 1854, lives in Kansas; Edwin F., born August 8, 1856, lives in Mt. Vernon; George S., of this review. The death of the father occurred on May 17, 1908, and the mother on April 18, 1910. Both are buried in Owl Creek cemetery, near the old family homestead. The father was a Republican and for many years was active in public affairs and filled various township offices, and he was land appraiser for some time; he was frequently urged to accept county offices, but always declined. He was a man of affairs, with advanced ideas, and was highly regarded by all. He and his wife were members of the Owl Creek Baptist church and were devout church people.

George S. Hamilton was reared on the home farm, where he assisted with the general work during the crop seasons as soon as he reached the proper age. and during the winter months he attended the common schools of his home community. He later entered Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he made a good record. Returning home, he worked on the farm until his marriage, on February 15, 1900, to Alice M. McMahan, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Jolly) McMahan, of Pleasant township, Knox county. This union has resulted in the birth of three children, namely: Ruth, born January 5, 1902; Georgia Louise and Martha Leone, twins, born February 16, 1904.

Since his marriage Mr. Hamilton has lived on the farm where he now resides, and he has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser and feeding live stock of various grades. He has kept the place under a high state of improvement and cultivation. For a number of years prior to and after his marriage he was extensively engaged in stock shipping. His fine farm comprises three hundred and eleven acres of as fertile land as the county affords, and he is regarded as a progressive and scientific farmer. He has a commodious home and substantial outbuildings and such improved types of farming machinery as his needs require. Mr. Hamilton has been very successful in a financial way and besides his farm he is largely interested in a number of business enterprises.

Politically, Mr. Hamilton is a Republican, and while he is a strong partisan he has not been an office seeker or holder; however, he has been urged frequently to be a candidate for county offices, but has always declined, preferring to attend strictly to his individual affairs, leaving the emoluments of public offices to others, though his support in all local movements looking to the general good of the community may always be depended upon.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

JOSEPH H. HAMILTON.

Rev. Joseph H. Hamilton is a superannuated minister of the Methodist Protestant church, residing ii; Mount Vernon. For more than a half century he devoted his life to the work of the Christian ministry and the influence of his labors has been incalculable. He came to Knox county in 1855, and during the greater part of the time since that year his time and talents have been given to the work of uplifting his fellow men in this portion of Ohio, spreading the gospel among those with whom he has been associated and thus developing characters that exemplify all that is highest and best in life. Rev. Joseph Hamilton was born in Muskingum township, Muskingum county, Ohio, July 23, 1826, and is of Scotch lineage, for his grandfather William Hamilton was a native of Scotland and founded the family in America. In West Virginia occurred the birth of the Rev. William Hamilton, the father of him whose name introduces this record. He, too, became a preacher of the Methodist Protestant church, and as early as 1828 and 1829 he was engaged in proclaiming the gospel to the pioneer settlers of this locality. He lived to be seventy-eight years of age and left behind him the memory of a noble life which remains as a blessed benediction to all who knew him. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia Springer, was a daughter of John Springer and a granddaughter of Christopher Springer, who settled in Wilmington, Delaware, before the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Hamilton died at the age of seventy years. She was the mother of ten sons and two daughters, and all of the former averaged six feet in height. Four of the number served as soldiers in the Union army, including Captain H. C. Hamilton, of Richwood, Union county, Ohio, who commanded a company of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Infantry. Another brother. Dr. Isaac Newton Hamilton, of Marysville, Ohio, was a surgeon in the army, while a third. Dr. Thoma'S Benton Hamilton, was a surgeon with an Illinois regiment and died in Nashville, Tennessee. Another member of the family was Dr. John W. Hamilton, of Columbus, Ohio, professor of surgery in the Starling Medical College, and his sons are now eminent physicians in Columbus. One of his nephews was Governor John M. Hamilton, of Illinois.

In the common schools Rev. Joseph H. Hamilton pursued his education, and at the age of eighteen he began to preach. His time and talents have ever been devoted to the service of the Master and he has been instrumental in turning many from the errors of their ways to walk in the straight and narrow path which leads unto life everlasting. For five years he was pastor of the church in Steubenville, Ohio, and for two years in Gircleville. He also spent two 3-ears in Lancaster and for three years occupied the pulpit of the Methodist Protestant church in Brownsville, Licking county. In 1855 he came to Knox county, locating at Fredericktown, where he preached for the church for a number of years. In 1865 he came to Mount Vernon and was pastor of the church in this place for twelve years. He had been connected with the Mount Vernon circuit for five years, and in his ministerial capacity has traveled extensively throughout this county, preaching and laboring for the upbuilding of the cause of Christ-anita. During his long connection with the ministry he has attended over fifteen hundred funerals and has performed twelve hundred and seventy-two marriage ceremonies in Knox county. After fifty years of active work in the ministry he was retired in 1894 to a superannuated position, and his rest is well deserved, for with untiring zealand in the most self-sacrificing manner he has labored for the church, whose interests have from his early life been most dear to him.

Rev. Hamilton was united in the holy bonds of matrimony, in Muskingum county, to miss Charlotte M. Rodman, a daughter of Joseph Rodman, a native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and a representative of one of the old families of that state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have been born two sons and a daughter, the eldest being Edward C, a printer of Mount Vernon. The second was Mrs. George Turner, of Mount Vernon, who is now deceased. She and her husband were of great assistance in church work and her loss throughout the community was deeply felt. Mary L., the youngest, is the wife of W. E. Jackson, of Mount Vernon. She is a graduate of Adrian College, of Adrian, Michigan, and is a teacher of music.

For fifty-five years Rev. Hamilton has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for fifty-three years of the Masonic fraternity, and has been a most worthy representative of the fraternal spirit of these orders, whose beneficent teachings are founded upon the instruction which was given by Him who came to minister and not to be ministered unto. He is also identified with the Soils of Temperance, has been representative to the grand lodge and for years served as its grand chaplain. Whatever tends to advance kindliness, benevolence, tolerance, the good, the just, the true and the right has received his endorsement and his co-operation as far as it lay in his power to give. His church grew and prospered under his labors, and the influence of his life cannot be measured by any of the known standards of this life.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.