Charles H. HAMILTON ^{2 3}

  General Notes:

Bruce Philp related a fascinating story to me about the serendipitous discovery of the grave of Charles H. Hamilton, which is worth sharing:

"About 1983 I was in Missouri on business. I obtained a circa 1880 plat map of Vienna (Economy), Macon Co., MO at the state records in Jefferson City. It showed the farm owned by my gr-gr grandmother, Malissa Hardgrove, Charles' widow. My cousin (who lives in the area) and I decided to go visit the four cemeteries shown on the old plat map to identify as many Hamiltons and Hardgroves as we could. Two of the cemeteries were well known and we scoured them, making note of all Hamilton and Hardgrove graves. We found Malissa Hardgrove Hamilton's grave (she died 28 Feb 1885), but no Charles. We found a third cemetery had apparently been removed or destroyed and is now a farmer's alfalfa field. No idea what happened to the graves. We looked for the fourth cemetery which, according to the map, was adjacent to the old Hamilton farm. The present owner's wife met our car with a shotgun (no less) and considerable suspicion, wanting to know what the hell we were doing on her property. After we explained, she said her grown retarded son had mentioned playing around some graves in the woods back of the farm, but she'd never seen them, even though she had lived there for over 30 years.

My cousin and I took off down a trail on foot. The woods were quite extensive (at least 300 acres) and we had no idea where the graves might be, if indeed there were any, or which way to walk. We decided to take a wild stab and at an arbitrary point halfway down the trail, we turned at a right angle to the trail and walked into the woods for about 200 yards. We walked into a clearing (not visible from the trail) and found the sun's rays shining through the trees directly on two graves . . . those of Charles H. Hamilton (26 Oct 1805 - 14 Oct 1855) and his eldest son, John S. Hamilton (10 May 1830 - 19 Aug 1851). There were no other graves . . . only those two! Talk about a spooky and very spiritual experience! I still get chills thinking about it. It certainly seemed like we were meant to find the graves." ⁴

  Research Notes:

The 29 Oct 1821 deed by which the heirs of Charles Hamilton, Dec'd, conveyed a portion of his land to the Trustees of The Methodist Episcopal Church is generally relied upon as evidencing the children of Charles and Hannah. Charles H. Hamilton is the only child who did not participate in this deed, presumably because he was barely age 16.

It also appears that Charles H. moved to Pulaski County before 1826, the year he turned age 21, since he does not appear in the tax records until he moved back about 1833.

I find it interesting that when he returned to Wayne County, he was already prosperous, quite a feat for a young man with no inheritance. Bruce Philp suspects he had financial backing from his in-laws. ⁶

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census: 1830, Pulaski County, Kentucky. ⁷

Charles H. Hamilton: 10011-00001

2. Tax List: 1833-1839, Wayne County, Kentucky. ⁸

[1831 and 1832 Tax Books are missing.]

1833: Hamilton, Chs. H.; 166 acres, CR; 1 white male 21+; 4 horses/mares; total value, $1,000.

1834: Hamilton, Chrs; 166 acres and 175 acres, CR; 1 white male 21+; 4 horses/mares; total value, $1,125.

1835: Hamilton, Charles H; 166 acres, 175 acres and 30 acres, CR; 1 voter, 1 white male 21+; 9 horses/mares; total value, $1,733.

1836: No listing found, some "H" pages unreadable.

1837: Hamilton, Chs W.; 1 white male 21+; 166 acres, FC, $1200; 186 acres, FC, $280; 25 acres, FC, $100; 10 acres, FC, $30; 119 acres, ES, $1000; 6 horses/mares, $300; 4 cattle, $50; total value, $2,963.

1838: Hamilton, Charles; 1 voter, 1 white poll; 2 male children 5-18; 633 acres, ES, $3411; 2 horses/mares, $175; 13 cattle, $50; 1 wheel carriage, $100; total value, $3,736.

1839: Hamilton, Chs H; 1 white male 21+, 1 county levy; 1 male child 5-18, 1 female child 5-18; 334 acres, E.S., $1500; 4 horses/mares, $230; 28 cattle, $140; total value, $1,870.

3. Deed: 1833, Wayne County, Kentucky. ⁹

Dated 3 Oct 1833, Recorded 2 Dec 1833, Bk F:237
Charles E. Mills and Elizabeth his wife to Charles Hamilton, 166 acres on Cumberland River for $800.

4. Military Service: 1835-1836, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹⁰

Charles H. Hamilton was a Captain in the 90th Kentucky Regiment.

5. Deed: 1836, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹¹

Dated 28 Jun 1836, Recorded 28 Jun 1836, Bk G:82
John L. Mills to Charles Hamilton, 8 or 10 acres for $27 (consideration paid to Micajah Phillips, Administrator of Nancy Fry, Dec'd).

6. Land Grant: 1837, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹²

Hamilton, Charles; 6 acres, Elk Spring Cr; surveyed 26 Jan 1837; Book L-2

7. Land Grant: 1837, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹²

Hamilton, Charles H.; 45 acres, Fall Cr; surveyed 11 Sep 1837; Book L-2

8. Deed: 1837, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹³

Dated 17 Oct 1837, Recorded 4 Apr 1838, Bk G:321
Archibald C. McBeath and Margaret his wife to Charles H. Hamilton, $400 for two 60 acre tracts on Elk Spring Creek.

9. Census: 1840, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹⁴

Charles H. Hamilton: 211001-000001

10. Tax List: 1840-1841, Wayne County, Kentucky. ⁸

1840: Charles H. Hamilton; 234 acres, Elk Spring, $1500; 160 acres, Harmony Cr, $20; 1 white male 21+; 2 slaves 16+, 2 total, $1200; 5 horses/mares, $200; 1 child 7-17; total value, $2920.

1841, District 1 (Upper): Charles H Hamilton; 116 acres, Elk Spring Creek, $600; 1 white male 21+; 1 slave 16+, 1 total, $500; 7 horses/mares, $225; 5 cattle, $100; 1 carriage, $75; 2 children 7-17; total value, $1500.

11. Deed: 1840, Wayne County, Kentucky. ^{15 16}

Dated 20 Apr 1840, Recorded 3 Sep 1840, Bk H and/or I:273
Archibald C. McBeath and Margaret his wife to Charles H. Hamilton, 50 acres on Elk Spring Creek for $100. [Dower relinquished by Margaret on 11 Dec 1840, Bk H:277]

12. Deed: 1840, Wayne County, Kentucky. ^{17 18}

Dated 4 May 1840, Recorded 12 Dec 1840, Bk H or I:280
Charles H. Hamilton and Malissa his wife to Stephen Scott, three tracts of land for $1,500 in cash and notes: (1) 160 acres on Cumberland River; (2) 8 or 10 acres sold to C. H. Hamilton by Micajah Phillips, Administrator of Nancy Fry, Dec'd and deeded by John L. Mills; and (3) 45 acres being part of Land Warrant 22712 dated 11 Sep 1837.

13. Deed: 1840, Wayne County, Kentucky. ¹⁹

Dated 17 Aug 1840; Recorded 1 Feb 1841; Bk H:314
Charles H. Hamilton and Malissa his wife to William H. Berry, $1,050 for 118 acres "where Hamilton now lives" (Beg. at a rock on McKinnneys line in mouth of lane near the old Baptist Meeting House . . on Braxton Carter's line . . to Vanwinkles SE corner . .).

14. Deed: 1841, Wayne County, Kentucky. ²⁰

Dated 10 Feb 1841, Recorded 12 Mar 1842, Bk H:475
Charles H. Hamilton and Malissa his wife to William W. Carter, $600 for four tracts containing 116 acres in all.

15. Deed: 1841, Wayne County, Kentucky. ^{21 22}

Dated 19 Oct 1841, Recorded 10 Aug 1943, Bk I:46 and Bk J:131
Archibald C. McBeath, William J. Kindrick and Charles H. Hamilton by William Simpson, Commissioner of Wayne Circuit Court to Francis P. Stone . . By virtue of a Decree at July Term 1841 in Suit in Chancery where William J. Kindrick and Charles H. Hamilton are Complainants and Archibald C. McBeath is Defendant . . For $250 paid to [Kindrick and Hamilton] the commissioner doth convey unto Francis P. Stone all the right and title of A. C. McBeath as well as said Kindrick and Hamilton to a tract on right of Road leading from Monticello to Burksville near town . . containing 10 acres.

[It appears McBeath mortgaged the property to Kindrick and Hamilton on 11 Mar 1839. This appears to have been a foreclosure action by the mortgagees.]

16. Census: 1850, Macon County, Missouri. ²³

Charles H. Hamilton, 44, M, Farmer, $300, KY
Malissa _ Hamilton, 41, F, KY
John Hamilton, 20, M, Farmer, KY
James Hamilton, 17, M, Farmer, KY
Charles _ Hamilton, 13, M, KY
William H. Hamilton, 11, M, KY
Mary A. A. Hamilton, 10, F, KY
Granville C. Hamilton, 7, M, MO
Melissa A. Hamilton, 5, F, MO
Allen T. Hamilton, 3, M, MO

Charles married Malissa HARDGROVE on 12 Nov 1828 in Pulaski County, Kentucky.⁴ (Malissa HARDGROVE was born on 4 Feb 1808 in Pulaski County, Kentucky ⁴ and died on 28 Feb 1885 ⁴.)