Samuel Hamilton's biography, Homer Township, Calhoun County, Michigan

Copyright © 1999 by Pat Nowicki. This copy contributed for use in 
the MIGenWeb Archives.  

 

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SAMUEL W. HAMILTON
 1801-1851

Few of the early pioneers were better known in this and adjoining towns than
Samuel Watson Hamilton.  He was born in Granville, Hampden county, Mass.,
April 18, 1801, and was married to Miss Sarah Parsons, of the same place,
March 9, 1824.  His ancestors on his father's side were Scotch-Irish, on his
mother's, English, but both families for several generations had been
residents of Massachusetts.  He had two brothers and three sisters, one of
the latter being Mrs. Mila A. Hatch, whose portrait appears in this work.
Mr. H. with his family came to Michigan in 1835, arriving in Homer in June
of that year.  They came with the Frederick R. Hatch family and the journey
from Detroit, which was made with two ox teams, occupied a week.  A Mr.
Taylor, from Long Meadow, Mass. accompanied them with a one-horse wagon. It
was a beautiful summer's day when the little party, as they came over the
Concord road hill, saw for the first time the little hamlet which was to be
their home.  Mr. H. was a natural mechanic, and finding that a stone mason
was needed in the new settlement, adopted that as his trade and on the day
following his arrival here commenced laying the foundation for Mr. Barney's
store building.  In the spring of '36 the family moved into and occupied for
some time the Barney log house, which is shown elsewhere.  In 1837 Mr. H.
purchased of the government the desirable farm south of this village, now
owned by T.H. Janes, built him a house and moved into the same the following
year.  Mr. Hamilton was an active member of the M.E. church from early
manhood, he was one of the first of the Homer society and was a steward and
class leader in the church for many years.  He took an active part in
erecting the old wooden structure, which for many years occupied the site of
the present church edifice.  The itinerant ministers of early days always
found a welcome under his roof.  He was a noble and upright man.  In
politics he was a Jeffersonian Democrat.  He died on his farm south of this
village, after a long and painful illness, March 31, 1851; his wife, one of
the kindest and most devoted mothers, following him to the world beyond,
July 21, '64.  She died at the home of her son-in-law, H.H. Dorsey, in
Albion.  Both funerals were held at the old M.E. church, and both were
buried in the old cemetery on Webster street, this village.  Mr. And Mrs.
Hamilton had eight child: Betsey Adelia; Milo Dwight, Orpha Clarinda, Emma
Almira, Mila Almeda, Frank Parsons, Samuel Luman, and Sarah; of these five
are still living and are all residents of this State: Milo D., Monroe; O.
Clarinda, now Mrs. H.H. Dorsey, Albion; Emma A., wife of Jackson Howell, of
the same pace; M. Almeda, now Mrs. Frank Rice, Paris; and Rev. Samuel
Hamilton, a minister of the M.E. church, Buchanan.

 Homer and It's Pioneers - 1888