My Great Grandfather - Archie Hamilton

In 1998 I began to investigate my/our family tree. It really started when I discovered a tree posted on a genealogy site in the old AOL system. This tree was for my mother-in-laws family, the Crabtrees, of central Ohio. Her birthday was coming up and I thought a few printed pages and a few pictures in a binder would be a nice present. Her niece Karen, saw the binder and after looking through it she pointed out a few errors. She is an avid genealogist and has worked on the families for many years. She explained to me the importance of documentation to support ones findings.

By now most of us have seen the ads on TV for Ancestry.com and their “leaf” that pops up to tell you that they have found a tree or document that fits one of your entries in your online tree. Of course it sounds quick and easy, but many times these hints lack documentation. These can be dangerous and send you down the wrong tree branch in your research.

For the Kerr research, my 2^nd cousin Joan Mansfield, had already interviewed many of our relatives and provided a very sound base for me to start my Kerr family research. The same with Judy's family. Her cousin Karen Ver Wayne set me right by correcting some of my earlier errors and helping me with research technique and sources. All of the above is a prelude to what follows. The current state of my research into my Mother's family, the Hamiltons.

Archibald Hamilton

You know how they say that everyone has a relative that immigrated to this land we call America! Well for the Hamilton family it is Archibald Hamilton. Born in January of 1856 to James and Agnes Hamilton of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland. By the census of 1880, Archie was living in Providence Rhode Island with his older brother John Hamilton who immigrated 2 years earlier. Archie and his brother James came into New York on the English ship Devonia. Archie was listed in the ships manifest as a laborer. On the same ship was a fellow Scotsman, William B Harvey, a stone cutter.

I have yet to discover why he traveled west, but by 1887 both Archie Hamilton and William Harvey are listed in the Denver City directory as stone cutters. After 2 years of working for others, William and Archie form their own company – Hamilton & Harvey Construction.

In 1891 at the age of 35 Archie marries 22 year old Isabella C Scott. Isabel as she was known was also born in Scotland but immigrated at the age of 4 with her parents James and Mary Scott in 1873. 1892 saw the arrival of Elizabeth 'Bessie' Hamilton followed in 1893 by my future grand father, William P Hamilton. Archibald D Hamilton, 1902; Isabella M Hamilton, 1903; and James A Hamilton, 1906 completed the family.

It was about the time of James birth that Hamilton & Harvey became Hamilton & Gillespie with Donald Gillespie buying out William Harvey. The 1910 Denver City directory list Hamilton & Gillespie located on 7^th Street near Santa Fe Ave.

Prior to my Uncle Bill Hamilton's death, he gave me a few pages of Hamilton history that he possessed. One item was a small pocket diary for 1908 which belonged to Archie Hamilton. While this diary has a 1908 calendar, dated notations inside says he was using it in 1910. Like most of us, having a small note book was more important to him than actual dates. The leather bound diary is 4 inches by 2 inches and would easily fit in the breast pocket of overalls. Here is a sample of figures that look like computations for projects for which he was bidding. This entry for J L Gray dated February 4, 1910 and 227.18 

and Kirchoff, B + stone, etc is his last entry.

At the end of February, he would go to Phoenix Arizona and after a stay of only two weeks, he died on March 12, 1910. On March 14^th he was buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix.

Revisit to Dad's first job in Santa Monica

 This picture is from one of my first postings from March 2013 and has my dad Joe "JL" Kerr at the gas pumps of a service station in Redondo Beach, California in 1940.  While not part of his first job story, it is an interesting picture of the times.

Well, it seems like I left out an important part of the “Auto Laundry” story. My cousin Jim reminded  me about the story of what Dad went through to get his first job in California. I  looked in my OM Monk file and found his transcribed version of Dad's job hunt and added a rather long winded version of one of my job hunts.  Here it is as told by Dad's friend OM Monk:

"Seeing a Help Wanted sign at the Auto Laundry, JL inquired about the job. He was asked if he knew how to steam clean an engine? Of course he said yes, even though he had never steam cleaned anything. This answer seemed to satisfy the question and he was told to start the next morning. Now JL needed to figure out how to operate the steam cleaner. So he found another steam cleaning business and asked to watch the operation. A few hours of watching them fire up and use the kerosine burning steam cleaner and JL was ready for his first day of work."

And it seems that the apple does not fall far from the tree. I had a similar experience when I landed my first welding job. I returned from my job cooking hamburgers at Hamilton Stores in Canyon Village, Yellowstone Park in late September 1962. I had graduated the past June and returned to late to start at at our local Jr College, so I began to hunt for a job. My high school Mechanical Drawing teacher Irv Glushenko told me about a welding job with American Rolling that was run by a friend of his. I went for an interview and was hired. I knew how to arc weld and to gas weld, but he was looking for a Tig welder. I of course told him I could Tig weld even though at the time I did not know what Tig meant.

He surprised me by having me start that very moment by asking me to go with him to the welding supply house and help him purchase a Tig welder. Unknown to me was the fact that he had no welding equipment and one of my tasks would be to set up the welding shop. Luckily the salesperson was a hands on guy and he pretty much knew what was needed in the price range we gave him. He demonstrated the welder on some scrap aluminum and then handed me the torch. I was truly nervous but having seen that it was kind of like gas welding only with an arc, I proceeded to give it a try. After sticking the tungsten arc a couple of times I put down a short little bead and told my new boss that this piece should do the job.

I worked there until September 1963 when I enrolled in the Welding class at the Jr College so I could truly learn how to weld and prepare to get certified.

The Western Journey

OM cooking breakfast near Little Rock Arkansas

 A month after his 20th birthday, my dad JL Kerr set out on a life changing journey with his friend OM Monk.  OM was less than a month away from his 20th birthday.  They planned to drive their 1931 Chevrolet from Etowah Tennessee to California.  Along the way they would see those things in the West that came straight from their school books.

JL Kerr at the Grand Canyon

The site of Dad's first job after arriving in California.

Places like the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and the Mojave Desert.  OM took this picture of Dad standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.  While not mentioned in his diary of the trip, OM loved to tell us about the fateful decision that was made while they were on the North Rim of the Canyon.  Looking at their map, they had a choice of roads to go Southwest to Los Angeles or due West towards San Francisco.  They agreed to let a coin flip decide -  Heads it is LA, Tails it is SF.  He always said that we were lucky that it was Heads.

On Sunday, April 2nd they were standing at the end of Wilshire Blvd looking out at the Pacific Ocean.  From his journal, OM wrote: "We drove hard all day today, Sunday, and came through Hollywood, down to the ocean front to watch the waves roll in.  The Oranges are very abundant and very cheap."  He continues: "Got a room at 711 Marine Street Sunday evening, and started looking for work Monday morning, April 3.  J. landed a job Thurs. and I try out for one on Friday."




This is the Santa Monica Auto Laundry that was JL's first job after arriving in Santa Monica.  It was a Mobil Oil gas station as well.  That is a new friend and OM talking as JL takes their photo.  The 1931 Chevrolet is also in the picture.

In less than a year, Dad and Mom would be married in Feb 1940 after meeting here at this service station.

Some Hamilton and Nye

1958 and a picture of the women on our maternal side of the family.  Marie and Faye Nye are sisters who both married in Colorado and Marie went farming in Idaho and Faye ended up in Southern California.  Virginia Grimm married Faye's youngest son Harold.  My mother Dorothy married Joe Kerr in 1940 and her sister Irene married Richard Kimball and after her divorce married John Johnson of Santa Monica.

This picture was in our front yard and the tree that was planted following completion of the house.

This is Faye's husband and my grandfather William Hamilton driving dad's Jeep.  I am on the hood and don't look to happy about it either.

Grandpa Hamilton was a cement contractor who had a passion for gold hunting.  He would spend weeks in the deserts of California prospecting.  I have never heard any success stories from him or my Uncle Bill.  He and grandma lived a few houses down the street from us in Redondo Beach in their retirement years.

Baseball and Mom

Allstar Sam Kerr and mother Dorothy Kerr

 Mom loved baseball.  She played Catcher on the girls baseball team at Santa Monica High School.  When I was 8 years old she encouraged me to try out for the Central Redondo  little league that played at Perry Park.  She usually attended every game in those early years.  But for some reason my second game in the Majors, playing for Banner Drug she was at home trimming her rose bushes that lined the driveway.  We lived close enough that during a game you could hear the announcer and cheers from the crowd.  You might not know what the announcer actually said but you could hear.  She was trimming away and heard a loud roar from the crowd and thought she heard my name.  When I got home, and she found out that at 10 years old I had hit my first home run she told my dad that she would never miss another game.  She held true to that through all 4 of us as we progressed through Little League, Pony League, Babe Ruth League and High School.

Jason Kerr, Grandma Kerr, Joshua Kerr

Living in Aqua Dulce from 1972 through 1978 Jason and Joshua played in the Canyon Country Little league.  And when she could, Grandma was there for them too.

Both Mom and Dad were very active in the Redondo Beach Little League operations.  Another example of the positive  neighborhood involvement that they both set for us as we grew into men with our own families.

Early Family Visits

My Grandmother Mollie was a frequent visitor.  Aunt Lu, Uncle Bob, Uncle Tom, and Aunt JoAnn brought Mollie with them in 1949.  My best guess is that these photos were taken as we were getting ready to take them all to the train station for their return home.  This was in front of our house on Carnegie Lane in Redondo Beach.

JoAnn and Tom Kerr

Uncle Tom, my brother Terry, and Mollie Kerr

Family visits

 My first trip to visit our East coast relatives was in August 1945.  I was not yet a year old.  Dad and Mom drove to Kentucky to visit with my ailing grandfather, Joe Kerr.  And of course it was a chance for them to parade me to all Dad's family.  As I got older, my memories are of the frequent visits by family to our house in Redondo Beach California.  I guess that by 1958 all of my Uncles and Aunts from Kentucky to Florida had paid us at least one visit.  Grandma Mollie Kerr would accompany most of the kin that traveled by train.  I don't remember her ever coming out by car.  This rather dark picture was taken at our friends Don and Mary Sidle's house.  Grandma Mollie is on the left, with Mary Sidle, then Aunt Lizzie Dew and Uncle Esco "Jake" Dew. 

  

It was always fun to have Aunt Lillian and Uncle Walter Young visit.  They would drive in from Tennessee and you never knew what kind of big car he would be driving.  Oldsmobiles and Buicks seem to come to mind when I think of Uncle Walter.  Of course a trip to one or more of the scenic wonders of California was part of everyone's visit.  This photo is of my Mom, Dorothy Kerr and my Aunt Lillian Young in one of the California Poppy fields around So California.