Old Winlock Man is Dead - Joel Hamilton Died at His Home at Winlock Friday at Advanced Age of 87 Years - Was Native of Vermont - Crossed Plains in 1862 With His Family
Joel Hamilton, a pioneer of Lewis county, died at his home in Winlock Friday, age 87 years. Mr. Hamilton was born in Vermont, where he lived until 23 years of age, and where he was married in 1850 to Miss Cornelia S. Wheeler, who survives him. The family made the trip across the plains from St. Joseph, Mo., in 1862, arriving at Dalles, Ore., in October of that year. Mr. Hamilton worked for a while on the portage railroad around the cascades of the Columbia river, the first piece of railroad built on the Pacific Coast.
He ran a dairy at Scappoose, Ore. in 1863, and in the fall of that year packed his butter on ponies to the Bannock mines in Idaho, where he sold it for $1 per pound. He ran a mill at Rainier, Ore., in 1884, and in 1886 engaged in the hotel business at St. Helens, returning to Scappoose in 1870. In 1883 he went to Winlock, taking up a homestead about four miles northeast of town. On account of failing health, he gave up farming in 1904, moving to Winlock, where he has since made his home.
Mr. Hamilton leaves a wife, a daughter, Mrs. Lucy Sager, and son, M. A. Hamilton, member of the city council of Winlock. There are five generations of the family living here. Mrs. Sager's daughter, Mrs. R. C. Freeman, being a grandmother.
Source: Centralia Daily Chronicle-Examiner, Monday, 14 Jun 1915, page 6.
Transcribed by Diana Smith. She has no further information on this individual.