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An Ancestor Story
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Here is a story about a few of our Hamilton ancestors that I have run across in my geneological research.;
Incidentally I have previously proven to my satisfaction that we are in no way related to Alexander Hamilton of political fame.
A Story About Thomas Hamilton and Hamilton’s Fort
The original Hamilton immigrant to the United States from Ireland came to Guiliford County , North Carolina. Thomas was born in 1725 in either Ireland or Scotland and died in 1803 in Sumner County Tennessee. Thomas married Jane McCracken in Ireland about 1750 and immediately immigrated to the US and established a home in Guiliford County North Carolina.
Jane and Thomas had four children, all born in North Carolina.
These were:
James Hamilton, born 5-1-1757 died 4-27-1801 in Sumner county Tennessee
Thomas Hamilton II, born 2-24-1762 died 2-14-1841 in Illinois
Robert Hamilton, born 2-8- 1766 died 11-15-1846 in Cass County TX. Married Sarah Agnew
Elizabeth Hamilton, born 1775 died 12-15-1856 in Sumner County TN
Of those four children the direct ancestor of myself and those addressed is Robert Hamilton
Sometime in the very early 1780s Thomas and all of his children migrated westward through the Cumberland Gap and took up land near Mansker’s Fort. The settlers believed at that time that the Indian troubles with the Cherokee Nation had subsided and would not be renewed. They were mistaken. An Indian raid resulted in the death of three Montgomery brothers living nearby. Thomas Hamilton immediately started construction of a substantial fort on his land at the head of Drake’s Creek on the highland rim about five or six miles north of Shackle Island. John Carr had adjoining land and assisted Thomas in construction of the fort. Walter T. Durham author of "The Great Leap Westward" says of Thomas Hamilton "Hamilton had fought throughout the American Revolution and was as brave a man as ever took a gun or sword in hand." Hamilton’s Fort as it came to be called was completed in 1788. Sumner county was organized and named in a meeting held at the home of John Hamilton five miles west of Gallatin Tennessee on the second Monday of April in 1787. I have no evidence that John Hamilton was a relative of Thomas Hamilton or is related in any way to us.
George Hamilton, is also mentioned in the history of Sumner County as being an attractive young man with an especially melodious voice. On the night of July 20, 1787 George who was Sumner County’s first and only school teacher was asked to entertain a number of men meeting in the quarters of Colonel Anthony Bledsoe. Unknown to the group of men meeting there was a party of hostile Indians just outside the walls of the fort awaiting the signal to attack. The fireplace in the colonel’s quarters was incomplete and there was a hole in the masonry. One over-anxious Indian poked a gun through this hole, fired a shot which struck George Hamilton in the jaw and broke his jawbone. This naturally ended his contribution to entertainment for the evening and broke up the meeting. I can find no connection between our Hamilton’s and this unlucky singer but I am still looking.
In 1789 Thomas Hamilton attended a religious service held by Benjamin Tucker in the home of John Carr a close friend of Thomas Hamilton’s. It seems that Rev Tucker desired to form some sort of religious society in addition to preaching a sermon that night. His sermon was very long and detailed and after it was concluded Rev. Tucker had the only door to the room closed and locked and a bench placed across the door and seated three ladies on the bench—all of these precautions taken to assure that no one left the meeting until Tucker had completed his appeal for new members to his society. Tucker then began to examine each person present asking detailed and probing questions about their state of salvation and the religious health of their souls. This process did not sit too well with Thomas Hamilton, tough old frontiersman that he was, and he looked anxiously around the room as Tucker approached his seat. Durham in his book "The Great Leap Westward" then reports "When the preacher began to examine those sitting next to him , Hamilton sprang to his feet. Leaving his rifle behind, he bolted up the stick chimney, went out the top , and mounted his horse. Only minutes later he rode bare headed into the fort to be greeted by his wife who seeing him ride so hard with neither hat not gun, ran out to meet him and exclaimed, ‘Tommy, have the Indians been after you?’ ‘Worse than Indians’ he replied as he dropped wearily from his sweating mount."
Thomas Hamilton is also mentioned in "A History Of Sumner County Tennessee" by Walter Durham as having established the fort on Drake’s Creek.
All of us can trace our lineage back to Thomas Hamilton the original immigrant but so far I have not been able to find any Irish or Scotch references to go further back. The trail from me back to Thomas is as follows:
Charles Turrentine son of Ouida Ethel Hamilton daughter of Walter Thomas Hamilton son of Malberry Adalbert Hamilton son of Malberry Thomas Hamilton son of Henry Harry Hamilton son of Robert Hamilton son of Thomas Hamilton I. That is seven generations and gets us back to the original immigrant for our passle of Hamiltons. It is interesting when one is doing geneological research to come upon a real character and I think that Thomas Hamilton may have been one.
I will have some similar reports on others from time to time.
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