California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


JAMES LAKE HAMILTON. A very extensive stockman, and one whose success has numbered 
him among the representative men of Tulare county, is James Lake Hamilton, who is located 
seven miles from Exeter. He was born on the Isthmus of Darien, July 4, 1852. His parents dying 
when he was a small child, James Lake was taken into the home of Hugh Hamilton, given the 
latter's name and reared with all the care and attention that could be bestowed upon him. 
Hugh Hamilton, a native of Virginia, came across the plains in 1852 and became the owner of a 
ranch on the line between San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. On the 24th of December, 1864, 
he located on the Kaweah and engaged as a farmer and stockman until his death, Which 
occurred in October, 1883, at the age of sixty-two years. He was very successful in his efforts 
and became the owner of a large amount of land, the ranch upon which he lived containing ten 
hundred and eighty acres, while he also owned considerable other property. His wife survives 
him and is now the wife of T. J. Dale of San Jose. 

The only member of the Lake family which attained maturity James Lake Hamilton came to 
Tulare county at the age of twelve years, attending school in the Kaweah district, while he 
performed the duties which were his as the son of a farmer. He was also trained in the thrifty 
habits and strict business methods which distinguished his foster father, and in manhood they 
have formed no small factor in his successful career. He remained with Mr. Hamilton to the 
time of the latter's death, the two carrying on the stock business and general farming 
operations which had engrossed the attention of the elder man for so many years. He was also 
taught the value of independence and at the age of twenty-two he took a number of hogs on 
shares, later doing the same with sheep and cattle. After his marriage he farmed on Kaweah, 
Dry and Yokohl creeks, and in 1887 began the improvement and cultivation of the property 
where he now makes his home. He owns one quarter of section 28, one-half of section 29, all 
of section 32, three-quarters of section 33, all of section 5 and one-quarter of section 4, 
aggregating twenty-four hundred acres in one body and all fenced for stock purposes. He also 
rents two thousand acres of the Dale property for stock-raising and general farming, and seven 
hundred acres in the hills adjoining his own lands. The irrigation ditch runs through his property, 
while he also has a pumping plant, operated by a gasoline engine, to use in dry seasons. He has 
about seven hundred head of cattle, full-blooded, graded Durham and Shorthorns, comprising 
one of the finest herds in the San Joaquin valley. 

May 8, 1878, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage with Rebecca Mehrten, a native of Calaveras 
county, Cal., and the daughter of Louis Mehrten, a pioneer miner. They are the parents of six 
children, namely : Louis Ray, John Garland, Charles Albert, Troy Edmond, Elizabeth May and 
Ethel. In national politics Mr. Hamilton' is a Democrat, but locally gives his support to the man 
whom he considers best qualified for public duty. He has taken a broad interest in educational 
affairs of his community, serving as school trustee of the Kaweah district, having acted as clerk 
of the board for a time. A broadminded, enterprising citizen, Mr. Hamilton merits the esteem 
and confidence which is given him in such large measure by all who have come in contact with 
him, either in a business or social way.