Wapello County IA Archives Biographies.....Hamilton, Augustus Harvey 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 June 28, 2013, 10:44 pm

Source: See Below
Author: S. J. Clarke, Publisher

HON. AUGUSTUS HARVEY HAMILTON.

On the list of leading citizens of Ottumwa the name of Augustus Harvey Hamilton
is written high. His prominent connection with journalism, his loyal- advocacy
and support of measures for the public good and his individual worth have
combined to make him a highly respected and honored resident of the community in
which he has so long made his home. He was born January 19, 1827, upon a farm
within the present limits of Cleveland, Ohio, and there he was wont to follow
the plow upon tracts that are now factory sites, situated in the midst of a
densely populated district of that city. His father, Justus Hamilton, born in
Massachusetts, March 17, 1792, made the journey westward from Massachusetts to
Cleveland on horseback with his father in 1801. Establishing his home there, he
became closely identified with agricultural interests. He married Salinda
Brainard, who was born on the Connecticut river, near Middletown, Connecticut,
on the 16th of March, 1791-The children of that family were Augustus Harvey;
Delia,, deceased; Edwin T., who was a judge upon the bench at Cleveland, Ohio,
for twenty years, but has now passed away; and Albert Justus, also deceased.
There is also a half sister, Rachel Burke, who is now living in Cleveland at the
remarkable old age of ninety-four years.

Augustus H. Hamilton pursued his early education in the common schools of
Newburg, Ohio, just out of Cleveland, and afterward entered Alleghany College at
Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1849, becoming a member of the senior class. He did
not complete the course, however, for an attractive business offer caused him to
put aside his text-books and enter business life. When about twenty-four years
of age he began reading law and was admitted to the bar at Painesville, Ohio, in
May, 1B54. Immediately he made his way westward to Iowa, where he arrived in
June. He saw the surveyors laying out the town of Omaha, on the site of which
there then stood but two houses, and those of logs. Returning to Iowa City,
Iowa, while the supreme court was in session, he was admitted to practice in
this state. In the following month he removed to Ottumwa, then a little village
containing a population of about four hundred. In 1856 he purchased a forty acre
tract of land, upon a part of which his home now stands. He paid thirty dollars
per acre for the tract, of which he remained the owner until after the war. He
also bought an additional tract of twenty-five acres and the entire place is now
thickly covercd with buildings, save about ten acres, which has been maintained
as a fine residence section. After coming to Ottumwa Mr. Hamilton engaged
successfully in the practice of law until he entered the army. In the meantime
he had been an active factor in the public life of the growing town and in 1858
was elected mayor. He was forced to abandon an extensive law practice when, in
1862, he responded to the country’s call for troops and went to the front in
defense of the Union, joining the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry. He entered the
service as first lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment and served for three
vears. It was in September, 1862, that he went to the front and in October,
18-65, he was honorably discharged. In 1863 he was promoted to the rank of
major. His service was nearly all west of the Mississippi and the first conflict
in which he participated was at Helena, Arkansas, on the 4th of July, 1863.
However, he had taken part in the Yazoo Pass expedition in March, twenty
thousand men advancing into that district, the expedition employing thirty
steamboats and ten gunboats. Thev were forty days and nights in the wilderness.
Later the command was sent into Arkansas and on the 10th of September, 1863, Mr.
Hamilton participated in the capture of Little Rock. A strategic movement was
planned and but few men were lost. Thev remained there through the winter and
the following March proceeded to capture Camden, at the head of navigation on
the Ouchita river. They were successful in this. Later the Union troops were
attacked by a combined force of two Confederate armies anti met with disastrous
defeat, suffering a great loss of life. '1 here Major Hamilton surrendered to a
Confederate major and was taken to the prison at Camp Ford, four miles from
Tyler, Texas. He was obliged to march nearly four hundred miles to that prison
and was there incarcerated until he managed to make his escape. He traveled
perhaps six or seven hundred miles before he reached the Union lines at Pine
Bluff, Arkansas. He was accompanied by Captain Allen W. Miller, of Company C,
and Captain John Lambert, of Company K, Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, and they
were thirty-three days in reaching the Union lines, Major Hamilton forging a
pass whereby Captain Miller, Captain Lambert and Private Hamilton managed to
make their escape. They went out on the 23d of July, 1864, and did not return,
reaching the Union forces on the 24th of August, 1864, after living on berries,
green corn and watermelons. They were also obliged to sleep out of doors, not
infrequently in the rain, but they managed to keep well and safe. On the last
day of their tramping they reached the Arkansas river and there separated. Mr.
Hamilton managed to make his way in camp at noon and the other two at night. He
then obtained a leave of absence for thirty days and returned home, but his two
companions died soon afterward.

When the war was over and Major Hamilton was honorably discharged, he again took
up his abode in Ottumwa and to some extent resumed professional activity, but
his practice was gone and, thinking he might have better business opportunities
in other fields than by waiting to build up another practice, he purchased an
interest in the Courier, becoming a partner of General John M. Hedrick in the
ownership of that paper in 1869. In ten years he became sole proprietor and
conducted it alone for another decade. At all times he held to the highest
standards of journalism and made his paper well worthy of patronage. In 1890 he
sold out and retired from active business life.

It was in 1856 that Mr. Hamilton was married to Miss Elma Coffin, who was born
in Springfield, Ohio, May 18, 1836, a daughter of Thomas C. and Mary (Harvey)
Coffin, the former a representative of an old North Carolina family, while the
Harveys were from Indiana, and on both the paternal and maternal sides Mrs.
Hamilton is of Quaker descent. By her marriage she became the mother of four
sons, of whom two died in infancy, while one son was drowned at the age of nine
years, and the fourth son, Justus Albert, died in Idaho. The two daughters of
the family, Mary E. and Emma Salinda, are at home caring for their father and
mother.

Mr. Hamilton has always been a stanch republican since the organization of the
party and was present when Abraham Lincoln was nominated in May, 1860. He has
done much to shape the policy of the party in this state and was twice elected
to represent his district in the Iowa senate in the latter part of the ’60s but
resigned in order to accept the position of postmaster of Ottumwa, in which
office he continued for twelve years, his official service commending him to the
confidence and regard of all. Possibly no man in the city of Ottumwa has
contributed more of his energy, time, and money, to the up-building of this
city. He is one of the few men now living who laid the foundation that has made
this one of the best towns in the State. He has always taken an active interest
in politics, but more especially in the cause of prohibition, and he has lived
to see the principles he worked for put into practice, as for some time past
there have been no saloons in Ottumwa, tie is a Unitarian in religious belief,
and his life has ever been actuated by high and honorable principles, so that
there is no occasion for him to look back over the past with regret. He is now
one of Ottumwa's most venerable citizens, having reached the age of eighty-seven
years, and the record of few has been more faultless in honor, fearless in
conduct and stainless in reputation.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY IOWA
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


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