Samuel Hamill and Katherine Best
Samuel Hamill was born in 1791 in Blout, Tennessee. He married Katherine Best. They had nine children. According to a history by Susie Hamill Smith:
Samuel Hamill came to Hamilton County in 1832, making the voyage down the Tennessee River with his family in a flat boat, bringing all household belongings, and as much livestock as possible. He landed on the northside of an island in the river near the mouth of the North Chickamauga Creek. The island is not inundated by the waters of the Chickamauga Lake. He later bought several hundred acres of creek and river bottom land...He also purchased land in the Fifth Civil District. He was a school teacher before coming to Hamilton County. He taught all his sons and daughters at home, giving them a good basic education. He kept good books and current literature for their use. he did not believe in slavery and would not own any slaves. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1836, and held that office until his death in 1857. After the death of his first wife, he married the second time to Rachel Lea, their two children died in infancy. Samuel Hamill was an active member of the old line Presbyterian Church, and was one of the founders of Baker Creek Meeting House in June 1836. 1
Robert Hamill and Mary Hixon
One of the children of Samuel Hamill and Katherine Best was Robert Henry Hamill. He was born in 1821 in Blount County, Tennessee. By 1850, he was living in District 27, Hamilton, Tennessee. He remained a resident of Hamilton his entire life. He died in 1884. During his lifetime, he married Mary Collet (Polly) Hixon. They had eleven children. Mary's will, completed March 20, 1900, lists seven children:
I Mary C. Hamill and of age 73 years and of sound mind and memory do make publish and declare this my last will and testament in the manor following: First:~I give and bequeath to the folowing [sic] named persons, Samuel H. Hamill, Margret C. Hamill, Ephraim J. Hamill, James G. Hamill, William H. Hamill, George W. Hamill, and Henry C. Hamill, that the above persons shall share equally in the same. Second:~I give and devise to the said persons being seven in no and the same shall have all of my real estate in Hamilton Co., and that the same named peresons [sic] shall as near eaqualy [sic] as possible, further more Margret C. Hamill shall have the homestead and sufficient land attached to make her eaqual in first division. Then the said Margret C. Hamill shall have an eaqual share in the undivided real estate that I may have in said County. Furthermore it is my desire that J.G. Hamill shall take care of M.C. Hamill during her life, and that the said J.G. Hamill shall have the right and title to her property; furthermore I will say that neither of the above named persons shall convey thir [sic] right an title without the consent of a majority of all. To have and to hold the same and the several tracts and parcels thereof to the said named persons and thir heirs and it my request that Charles Hamill have a bedstead and bed and comfortable clothing and one horse. And lastly I do hereby nominate and appoint J.G. Hamill to be my executor of this my last will and testament hereby, revoking all former wills by me made, and direct that my executor shall not be obliged to give security as such. 2
Samuel Hamill was the oldest of Robert and Mary's children. Born on December 20,1846 in Hixon, Tennessee, he spent a significant portion of his life there. He joined the Union Army in the 6th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry during the United States Civil War. His rank going into the Army was that of Private, and is rank when he existed service was that of Corporal. He married Nancy Thomas (1946-1919) and the family moved to Missouri. Samuel was appointed Post Master for Ingalls, Missouri in 1890 when he was 44 years old. They had the following children: Mary (1877-1964), Cora (1880-), James (1883-1925), and William (1886-1973). Samuel died on January 16, 1819 in St. Clair County, Missouri.
Margaret Hamill was born December 10, 1849 and died on August 15, 1919. By the 1880 census, when Margaret was thirty years old. The census record still shows her residing in her parents house, keeping house as an occupation. Margaret never married.
James was born on May 1, 1853. He was a farmer, by profession. He married Elizabeth Bowman on June 14, 1898 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. They had the following children: Mary (1881-1944), Albert (1884-1922), Ethwel (1887-1977), Benjamin (1890-1964), Ruth (1892-), Rebecca (1899-1982), Eva (1901-), Susie (1905-), and David (1906).
He died December 3, 1926 and is buried in the Hixon Cemetery. |
William was born June 12, 1854. He married Eliza Hughes on August 19, 1875.3 They had the following children: John (1876-), Thomas (1884-1966), and Samuel (1887-1949). He was a farmer by trade. According to the 1940 census the highest level of education that he completed was the 7th grade. He died November 25, 1945.
George was born on October 1, 1858. He married Alice Dent (1861-1934) on March 28, 1880. He entered military service on September 3, 1918 when he was 60 years old to participate in clerical work.
They had the following children: Nettie (1881-1971), Vera (1882-1951), Martha (1884-1884), Laney (1885-1929), Robert (1887-1889), Lawson (1888-1970), Ephraim (1890-1969), Felix (1893-1972), Daniel (1895-), Zola (1898-1929), Myrtle (1901-1901), and Beatrice (1903-1979). He died March 7, 1928 in Dallas, Texas. |
Rebecca was born November 17, 1860 in Tennessee. She died on June 16, 1861.
Sarah was born March 10, 1862 in Tennessee. She died on June 12, 1886. She never married.
Susan was born November 7, 1864 in Tennessee. She married John Hill (1862-1918). They had two children: Fred (1891-) and Clara (1893-). The 1900 census shows that she lived close to her brothers James and William. She died in October 21, 1912 in Hixon, Tennessee.
Henry was born September 17, 1866 in Tennessee. Henry was a farmer. He married Nancy Johnson (1871-1942). They had the following children: India (1893-1962), Sarah (1896-1945), Wilburn (1898-1959), Martha (1899-1975), Mary (1905-1993), Clarence (1909-1909), and Claude (1909-).
Martha was born on October 8, 1869 and died January 8, 1870.
Ephraim Hamill and Mary Jane Dowlen
Of those children, Ephraim John Hamill was born in 1851 in Hixson, Tennessee. He resided in Hamilton County, Tennessee with his parents in the 1860s. In 1876, at the age of 24, he married Mary Jane Dowlen in Hixson, Hamilton, Tennessee. Ephraim and Mary had twelve children.
In 1880, the Hamill family was living in Tyler, Hickory, Missouri. By 1900, they had moved to Pleasant Valley, Wilson, Kansas. Ephraim died in 1909 at the age of 57 in Chanute, Neosho, Kansas. According to local papers, beginning in 1907 Ephraim Hamill was struggling with an unidentified illness. In September 1909 he passed away. His obituary was listed in The Chanute Daily Tribune. |
Again, the paper identifies the long illnesses of Ephraim Hamill. Ephraim Hamill's funeral service was conducted at his residence and he was buried in the Pleasant Valley cemetery.
He had been born in Hamilton county, Tennessee and it was in Tennessee that he had met Mary Jane Dowlen and had married her. Mary was the daughter of Harris or Harrison Dowlen and Mary Vandergriff. Although Ephraim had died in his fifties, Mary continued to live within the community close to her children and her grandchildren. Per other articles in The Chanute Tribune, a picture of Mary and her relationship with her family can be complied. Mary and her children all interacted with one another on a regular basis. Mary's grandchildren would often stay with their grandmother. Her children would visit each other, or help with different agricultural tasks. |
Ephraim and Mary had had a large family: Robert Harrision (1876-1946), Sarah Leona (1878-1952), Eula Alice (1880-1968), Cora Virginia (1882-1969), Edna Earl (1883-1953), Grover Cleveland (1885-1962), James Edward (1887-1969), Mary Susan (1889-1973), Gertrude (1891-1921), Elizabeth (1894-1974), Louise (1894-1964), and Charles Floyd (1898-1972).
Robert married Leatha S. Ayers (1875-1966) on November 6, 1898 in Polk County, Missouri. They had three children: Zola (1903 -), Allie (1904-1953), and Dennis (1907-1969).
Sarah or "Leonie" married Homer Russell (1877-1964) and had eight children: Nellie (1902-1984), Mary Ethel (1903-), Marie (1906-), Susie (1910-), Argyle Russell (1912-), Joe (1916), and Daisy (1917). Sarah died in Washington state.
Eula married Charles Souders and they had three children: Eva (1907), Marie (1907), and Charles (1912).
Robert married Leatha S. Ayers (1875-1966) on November 6, 1898 in Polk County, Missouri. They had three children: Zola (1903 -), Allie (1904-1953), and Dennis (1907-1969).
Sarah or "Leonie" married Homer Russell (1877-1964) and had eight children: Nellie (1902-1984), Mary Ethel (1903-), Marie (1906-), Susie (1910-), Argyle Russell (1912-), Joe (1916), and Daisy (1917). Sarah died in Washington state.
Eula married Charles Souders and they had three children: Eva (1907), Marie (1907), and Charles (1912).
Edna Earl married Frank Taylor. They had three children: Lela (1906-), Dorothy (1908), and Glenn (1923). Edna and Frank were married in Kansas, where Edna had moved with her parents.
Per newspaper clippings from The Chanute Tribune Edna Hamill Taylor and Frank Taylor were very close with their parents and extended families, and the young family and their children would often visit their grandparents or other family members. Frank Taylor was also the proud owner of a bicycle in 1912 - a newsworthy event!4 When she was 37, the Taylors lived in Earlton, Kansas. By the time she was 42, the family had moved to Canville, Kansas. When she was 37, they lived in McPherson, Kansas. By the time that Edna was in her fifties the family had moved again - this time to Bristol in Colorado. Edna died when she was 69 years old in Orchards, Washington. |
Grover Cleveland Hamill married Matilda "Tillie" Van Meter (1887-1954). They had one child, a son, Estil born in 1912. Grover died in California in 1962.
James E. Hamill (1887-1969) married Nettie Rose Dewey (1893-1970). Nettie was the daughter of Edmond and Jennie Dewey.
Mary Hamill (1889-1973) married Roy Cleaver.
Gertrude was born in 1891 when the family still lived in Missouri. She died at the age of 30 from tuberculosis. She never married and never had children.
James E. Hamill (1887-1969) married Nettie Rose Dewey (1893-1970). Nettie was the daughter of Edmond and Jennie Dewey.
Mary Hamill (1889-1973) married Roy Cleaver.
Gertrude was born in 1891 when the family still lived in Missouri. She died at the age of 30 from tuberculosis. She never married and never had children.
Elizabeth was born in 1892 when the family was in Missouri. She married George Van Meter (1891-). The family had four children: Lois (1916-), Gelnna (1921), Erma (1923-), and Rena. The family would move from Kansas to Washington state were living in Washington when Lizzie died in 1974 at the age of 82.
Louise Hamill (1894-1964) married Clarence Clever.
Charles Floyd Hamill (1898-1972) married Grace Hyde.
Louise Hamill (1894-1964) married Clarence Clever.
Charles Floyd Hamill (1898-1972) married Grace Hyde.
George Watt and Cora Hamill
Cora Virginia Hamill was born in 1882 in Humansville, Polk, Missouri. In 1900, when her parents had moved to Pleasant Valley, Kansas she was married to George Menoun Watt in Fredonia, Wilson, Kansas.
In 1905, she and her new husband resided in Pleasant Valley, Wilson, Kansas. She and George Menoun Watt had seven children: Mary Opal (1901), Alice (1903), Nora (1904), John (1906), George (1908) Eula (1914), and Seward (1919). The children of the Hamill and Watt family wrote: |
Seven years of marriage and four adorable children living in the little house one half mile from Grandma Watt and one mile from Grandpa Hamill's. All the aunts and uncles to play and tease and also to help with us. We were well entertained and happy.5
The Watt family lived very closely to the Hamill's until George Watt's failing health took them to Holly, Colorado. The children report the sad feelings by their maternal grandparents:
The last night we spent at Grandpa and Grandma Hamill's. With Doll and Amy, our beautiful bay team of horses, hitched to the covered wagon in the road in front of the house, we said our goodbyes, Grandpa saying, "You're taking our babies away". Papa drove around the corner slowly, with the family following, and we children waved from the back of the wagon at least a half mile down the road. 6
The time in Holly was not always positive for this family. A new little one, George, died of Scarlet Fever. Eventually the family would return to Kansas. George and Cora spent their final years in Orange County, California.
Figures
Fig. 1 - "Marriage record" - Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950, familysearch.org
Fig. 2 - "George and Alice Hamill" - from ancestry.com
Fig. 3 - "Hamill Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 4 - "Ephraim J. Hamill Obituary" - The Chanute Daily Tribune, 30 September 1909, pg. 7, newspapers.com
Fig. 5- "Edna and Frank Taylor" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 6 -"Gertrude Hamill's Obituary" - The Chanute Daily Tribune, 23 June, 1921, pg. 1, newspapers.com
Fig. 7 - "Cora Hamill Watt Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 2 - "George and Alice Hamill" - from ancestry.com
Fig. 3 - "Hamill Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 4 - "Ephraim J. Hamill Obituary" - The Chanute Daily Tribune, 30 September 1909, pg. 7, newspapers.com
Fig. 5- "Edna and Frank Taylor" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Fig. 6 -"Gertrude Hamill's Obituary" - The Chanute Daily Tribune, 23 June, 1921, pg. 1, newspapers.com
Fig. 7 - "Cora Hamill Watt Family" - contributed by Heather Wylie
Sources
1. The history by Susie Hamill Smith was taken from ancestry.com
2. Will of Mary C. Hamill, Tennessee, Willis and Probate Records, 1779-2008, Vol. 3, 1894-1920. Ancestry.com
3. Marriage record. Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950. Familysearch.org
4. The Chanute Daily Tribune, 8 August, 1912, pg. 7. Newspapers.com
5. Watt Family Writings, written by the Watt children.
6. Ibid.
2. Will of Mary C. Hamill, Tennessee, Willis and Probate Records, 1779-2008, Vol. 3, 1894-1920. Ancestry.com
3. Marriage record. Tennessee Marriages, 1796-1950. Familysearch.org
4. The Chanute Daily Tribune, 8 August, 1912, pg. 7. Newspapers.com
5. Watt Family Writings, written by the Watt children.
6. Ibid.