Northumberland-Lancaster County PA Archives Biographies.....Hamilton, Emanuel Clay 1835 - before 1899 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 3, 2005, 11:16 am Author: Biographical Publishing Co. MAJOR EMANUEL CLAY HAMILTON. The subject of this review is gratefully remembered as one of the most energetic, progressive and public-spirited citizens of Northumberland County. He is survived by his widow, who is now a beloved resident of Shamokin, and by four children. Our subject was born in the city of Lancaster, Pa., February 15, 1835, and was a son of Peter Hamilton and a great-grandson of a former governor of this state who was reared in the Colonial days. Mr. Hamilton traced his ancestry to an English-Scotch origin, the family being one of the earliest to settle in Eastern Pennsylvania. Part of the site of the city of Lancaster is ground which originally was deeded to our subject's ancestors by William Penn. When quite young our subject evinced a great fondness for study and he applied himself diligently to obtaining an excellent education, principally through his own effort, and well equipped himself for the active and uniformly successful career he subsequently enjoyed. In 1852 Mr. Hamilton went to Baltimore, Md., where he resided five years; then he returned to this state and located in Lewistown. When the daring Rebel leader, Gen. Robert E. Lee, sought to invade Pennsylvania our subject was one of the first to grasp a musket and assist in repulsing the Confederates and driving them out of the state. Early in 1865 Maj. Hamilton was appointed postmaster of Lewistown by President Lincoln, which position he most acceptably filled for some time. He also was agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Lewistown borough, having entire charge of the company's interests there. While at Selinsgrove Maj. Hamilton did most effective service and won an enviable reputation as a shrewd and capable detector of criminals and acted as assistant to Detective W. Y. Lyon of Reading, Pa. With Detective Lyon our subject solved the mystery and arrested the perpetrators of one of the worst crimes ever committed in this state, the murder of the aged Knistlers, a case which was celebrated. Link by link the chain of evidence was put together by the sleepless and vigilant officers and the crime fastened upon Uriah and Jonothan Moyer, Emanuel Ettinger and Israel Erb. The Moyer brothers were hanged, Ettinger committed suicide in jail and Erb was sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary in Philadelphia. In 1877 Maj. Hamilton removed from Lewistown to Adamsburg, Pa., where he conducted the Merchants' Hotel for three years, then locating in Selinsgrove, where he also engaged in the hotel business for six years. He removed to Shamokin in 1887 and became proprietor of the Exchange Hotel, which he ran until 1890, when he retired from the business and devoted his attention and his marked ability to promoting and successfully instituting street railway enterprises. He was the leading spirit in the formation of the Shamokin Street Railway Company in 1892 and he was the first president of the company, holding the office for two years, when he sold his stock in the corporation and immediately began to agitate the formation of the Shamokin & Mount Carmel Street Railway Company, which was quickly organized, the line being built and put in operation in 1894. He was made president of the company and subsequently was succeeded in that office by G. M. Smith, remaining one of the directors until his death. Our subject was united in marriage to Cornelia Beam of Lancaster, Pa., on July 26, 1860. Their happy union was blessed with five children, as follows: John D., now dead, who was station agent at Adamsburg when fifteen years of age, and who married Cora Earhart of Snyder County, Pa., who bore him two children, E. C. and Mertie Irene; Samuel A., who has been in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad for eighteen years, since he was fifteen years of age, and is now a resident of Roaring Springs, Blair County, Pa.; a daughter, the wife of Charles A. Heintzman of Shamokin, who was one of the first letter-carriers in that city and is now in the postal service; Nellie, who is the wife of Charles Lark, a leading attorney of Shamokin; Bertie, who is with her mother. Maj. Hamilton took great interest in fraternal societies and was a Mason, a Knight Templar and Shriner; an Odd Fellow; and an enthusiastic member of the Benevolent Order of Protective Elks. In politics he was a stanch Republican and was very active in the councils of his party. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb