Northumberland-Lancaster County PA Archives Biographies.....Hamilton, Emanuel Clay 1835 - before 1899
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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)


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