Tulare County Biographies

HUGH L. HAMILTON

Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
     One of the sturdy characters in the business life of Exeter is Hugh L. 
Hamilton, a blacksmith there. Born in 1861, in Mississippi county, Ark., he was 
a son of Andrew Hamilton, a native of Ireland. His mother died when he was three 
years old and he was only in his eighth year when his father passed away. About 
a year after his second bereavement, he went with his grandfather and the 
latter�s family to Missouri, where he remained three years. In 1872 he was 
brought to Tulare county, Cal., and his education, begun in Missouri, was 
continued in the public schools here. He was taken into the family of his uncle, 
Hugh Hamilton, for whom he was named. In his early life he worked at 
stock-raising and later for a considerable time gave his attention to both that 
and grain farming, meanwhile learning the blacksmith�s trade and devoting 
himself to it as occasion offered. Eventually he turned his attention entirely 
to blacksmithing, and his shop in Exeter is one of the leading concerns of its 
kind in that part of the county. 
 
     When Mr. Hamilton came to Tulare county there were few settlers in the 
vicinity of Exeter and the whole country round about was new and undeveloped. 
Stock-raising and grain-growing were the principal interests for many years. His 
uncle had one of the big stock ranches of the time and locality, and he gave his 
nephew a fair start in life. At one time Mr. Hamilton owned five hundred and 
ninety acres of land and did well as a farmer, but his inclination made him a 
follower of his chosen trade. 
 
     In 184 Mr. Hamilton united his fortunes with those of Miss Mildred Ferril, 
a native of Missouri, who bore him six children, five of whom are living. She 
died in 1895 and in 1897 he married Ida May Butts, a native of California. By 
his second marriage he has had two children, one of whom is deceased. The other, 
Harvey W. Hamilton, is a student in the Exeter high school. In his political 
affiliations Mr. Hamilton is a Democrat. He is identified with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Woodmen of the World and is a loyal citizen, for no worthy 
interest of the community is without his encouragement.       
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 389, 390