Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hamlin, Norman S 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 8:57 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

NORMAN S. HAMLIN. Although beginning his life in this county with very little 
money, Mr. Hamlin has long been known as one of the substantial and prosperous 
farmers and citizens of his locality.  His life has been characterized by 
industry and frugality, and individualized by sagacious management and strict 
integrity.  Farming has been his life work and in it he has met with signal 
success; however, years ago he retired from active cares incident to the 
tilling of the soil and gathering in of the crops, but he still superintends 
his various interests, being of too energetic a nature to content himself in 
idleness.

In Fenner Township, Madison County, N. Y., Mr. Hamlin was born May 27, 1824.  
His father, Solomon, a native of Dutchess County, N. Y., removed to Madison 
County, the same state, with his parents, where he grew to manhood and where 
he died at the age of forty-four.  He was a member of the Baptist Church and a 
stanch Abolitionist in principle.  His father, Louis Hamblin (for in that way 
the name was spelled originally), was born in Connecticut and settled on a 
farm in New York in early manhood; he was eighty-seven at the time of his 
death. The family is of English extraction and was represented in New England 
at an early period.

The mother of our subject was Lucinda (Stannard) Hamlin, a native of 
Bennington, Vt., but a resident of Madison County, N. Y., from childhood until 
some years after her marriage.  Her last days were spent in this county in the 
home of her son, Norman S., where her death occurred at eighty years of age.  
As her husband, she held membership in the Baptist Church.  Of her four sons 
and one daughter only two sons are living, Norman S., and Reuben S., of 
Canada. The subject of this sketch was educated in country schools.  After the 
death of his father, which occurred when he was a youth of sixteen, he was 
taken into the home of an uncle, with whom he remained for five years.  Later 
he secured work by the month.  In the spring of 1851 he came to this county 
and bought one hundred and eighty-four acres of raw prairie land in Lockport 
Township, for which he paid $5.50 per acre.  Putting up a small house he 
established his home there. By diligent effort he made the necessary 
improvements and placed the soil under cultivation.

In those early days the country was destitute of improvements.  While for a 
number of years settlers had been coming to the county, they had settled here 
in numbers too small to effect any radical transformation in the appearance of 
the prairie, on which one might still ride long distances without fences to 
impede his progress. The land was not yet under first-class cultivation, towns 
were small, and the work of progress seemed scarcely begun.  Mr. Hamlin bore 
his share in the development and upbuilding of the county, and as a result of 
his labors he became known as one of the best farmers in the county. For 
twenty years it was his custom to buy raw land, improve it and then sell at an 
advance, and at the same time he bought and sold stock.  In the spring of 1870 
he sold his farm land and bought a home in Plainfield, where he has since 
resided.

The marriage of Mr. Hamlin, in 1849, united him with Miss Parnel Keeler, who 
was born in Madison County, N. Y., December 21, 1822, and died in this county 
January 30, 1897.  The only child born of their marriage is also deceased.

In the matter of good roads Mr. Hamlin has always been interested.  Years ago, 
when the question was agitated, he advocated the buying of gravel pits and the 
putting of gravel on the roads, a plan that proved successful.  For twenty 
years he served as road commissioner and his work while filling the office was 
of permanent value, its benefits being reaped at the present time.  In 
politics he is independent, voting for the best men of either party.  He is 
connected with Plainfield Lodge No. 536, A. F. & A. M.


Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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