Family Library
There have been a number of genealogical works over the years which have referenced branches of our family, and in particular the Dunham Family which goes back to Deacon John Dunham, a resident of Plymouth (but not a passenger on the Mayflower, which had long been rumored but has since been debunked).
We’ve started to compile both first edition books where we can find them, which we will keep up at HamDun Lodge, as well as a virtual library you can access via the Family History menu.
We would love to add to both the physical and virtual versions of this library so if you have other notable works please let us know.
2006 Photo
Just added this photo to the recent photos section. This is one of my favorite photos of my Grandmother, Nancy (Nivison) Hamilton, taken on the porch of HamDun Lodge in 2006.
HamDun Women, 2006 The photo includes Barbara (Hamilton) Martin, Peggy (Hamilton) Smith, Nancy, Megan (O’Keefe) Manzo, and Sarah (Parker) O’Keefe. The color coordination was a complete coincidence (or more likely a genetic fashion sense).
Nancy’s birth name was actually Anne Crichton Nivison (you can see her original birth certificate from 1912 below), but there were two Anne’s in the house, so she become known as “Anne C”. That eventually became Nancy, which she went by her whole life, although it’s unclear to me whether she formally changed it.
Nancy (Nivison) Hamilton’s Birth Certificate, 1912 Family Photos
You’ll see we made a change to the photos section, splitting it up into three sections:
- Older photos, generally before 1950
- Photos from 1950-2000
- And more modern photos, generally from 2000
All are works in progress and we need your help! If you have physical photos we can help you get them scanned, or always feel free to email digital copies. Just get in touch and we will make it happen.
Often we get photos with no known date so we are making estimates. If you see any that our in the wrong bucket, just let us know.
Here’s a fun more recently picture. This is from 2016, around the remembrance we had for Dave Rice.
Hamilton Family, 2016 Working from left to right, as best we can, we have:
- Tom Hamilton
- Joan (Streeter) Hamilton
- Brittany Hamilton
- Caitlin Hamilton
- Amity Hamilton
- Brooks Hamilton
- Jenna Hamilton
- Dan O’Keefe
- Sarah (Parker) O’Keefe
- Tim O’Keefe
- Mike Manzo
- Cameron Manzo
- Megan (O’Keefe) Manzo
- Tommy Gates
- Nathan Martin
- Harry Gates
- Duncan Hamilton
- Boe Hamilton
- Barbara (Hamilton) Martin
- Doug Hamilton
- Annabel Manzo
- Albie Smith
- Brad Gates
- Amy (Hamilton) Speth
- Peggy (Hamilton) Smith
- Emery O’Keefe
- Robert Speth
- Brian Corain
- Maggie (Smith) Corain
- Sarah (Rice) Castor
- Elise O’Keefe
- Todd Smith
- Charlotte Smith
- David Engel
- Ken Rice
- Cecila (Wanker) Smith
- Mark Engel
- Jack Engel
- Anne (Rice) Engel
- Peter Gates
- Adrien Gates
- Bill Gates
- Lynn (Rice) Whitehead
- Haley Whitehead
- Helen (Yuu) Gates
- Jeff Whitehead
- Sam Engel
Family Pic, 1973
We posted a new family photo to the photos section, this one from Catherine Lodge. Given Brooks is a newborn in the picture, I’m assuming this is from 1973.
Some of the Donald Hamilton Family, circa 1973 From left to right, it’s Tom, Joan with Brooks in her arms, Joan’s brother Jack Streeter, Christine and Donald, Andy, Amy, Ann, Bob, Duncan, Frances and Catherine (with Frances’ hands on her shoulders).
Robert Nivison
I thought you might all might enjoy this biography of Robert Nivison, 1853-1902, written by his grandson, David Shephard Nivison, in April 1975. Our family has a long history in the paper business, a topic I will try to take up in a separate post. Robert was no exception, becoming chief papermaker of the Guard Bridge Paper Company in Scotland at only 28.
Robert married Margaret (Maggie) Boe in 1879, but unfortunately she passed away during child birth of their 8th child. Robert remarried the following year, to a Rachel Thompson of St. Andrews but she passed away in 1898. Not a man to sit still, he married his third wife, Jessie Fraser of Dundee, in 1899, and she finally outlived him.
My mother and I were able to visit Scotland 3 years ago and managed to track down their gravestone. The church where it was located was being renovated, and many of the gravestones had toppled from the vibrations, which is why you see it lying on the ground in the above picture. When the foreman came to kick me out (I had to jump a fence to get to it), he assured me they would stand it back up when they were finished.
Robert-NivisonHamilton Family, circa 1899
Hamilton Family, circa 1899 This photo has hung inside HamDun Lodge for as long as any of us can remember. According to the handwritten notes on the back, it’s from around the year 1899. It is Henry Clay Hamilton’s family, taken in Brooklin, Maine. Looking at each person in the photo:
#1 standing, holding the horse is Henry. Henry was the 8th child of Tom and Sukie Hamilton. His wife was Eva Byard Hamilton, who went by Gene (after her middle name Georgine) and is #10 here.
#2 sitting on the horse is Harry Edward Hamilton. Harry was born in 1869 so would be about 30 in this picture.
#3 with the bicycle is Emma Ruby Hamilton. Emma was born in 1880, and was Henry’s niece – her father Charles was Henry’s brother. Emma would have been about 19 here.
#4 is Clara Joyce Hamilton, Emma’s mother, married to Henry’s brother Charles. She was born in 1854.
#5 & #6 are listed as Celia Higgins (with the bicycle) and her sister Laura next to her. Not sure who they are – perhaps neighbors.
#7 is Frank Sidney Hamilton, born in 1884. Frank was also a son of Charles Hamilton so he and Emma were brother and sister.
#8 is Frances Dunham Hamilton, Nanna Hammie, with #9 Charlotte Dunham Hamilton in the carriage. Charlotte was born in 1898 so would be 1 here.
#10 is Eva Byard Hamilton (Aunt Gene or Georgine Hamilton), who was Henry’s wife, Fannie’s Mom, and Charlotte’s Grandmother.
#11 is Adelle Grindle Hamilton, Fred Hamilton’s wife and Gene Hamilton’s Mother.
#12 is Fred Augustine Hamilton, holding the horse. Fred was born in 1850 so would be 49 here. He and Adelle were Gene Hamilton’s parents. They also had Winnie Hamilton Freethey who was born in 1878 but apparently isn’t pictured here, unless you believe my thesis on #17 which you’ll find below.
#13 is Florentine (“Floyd”) Byard Hamilton. Floyd was born in 1882 so would be 17 here. That’s his dog Sport in his lap. Floyd was Harry’s brother but 13 years his junior. Their parents Henry and Eva had only two children, after losing a middle child at birth.
#14 is listed as “unknown person” and a friend of the Higgins above.
#15 is Laura Susan Hamilton, sister of Frank and Emma. She was born in 1892, so would be 7 years old here.
#16 is our old friend Eugene (Gene) Bartlett Hamilton, who looks angry in this photo (which isn’t a surprise). He was born in 1886 so would be 13 here. Thats his dog Skip.
#17 is listed as Carrie Bartlett, apparently the first wife of Will Bartlett, who was married to Frank’s daughter Susan. If true, I would find an ex-wife in this gathering quite awkward, so do wonder if that is actually Winnie. Winnie would be 21 in this photo, and would be seated next to her brother and beneath their parents. So I’m wondering if the label is incorrect.
Nanna Hammie DAR Application
Barbara Martin submitted the attached – Frances Dunham’s (Nanna Hammie) original Daughters of the American Revolution application.
We have a number of ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War – at some point I’ll try to compile a list. But Grammie Hammie chose Sylvanus Dunham, likely her most direct ancestor who fought.
Grammy-Hammies-DAR-ApplicationQuoting from her application:
Sylvanus Dunham was a Private in Capt. Nathaniel Shaw’s company, Col. James Harren’s regement which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775 to Marshfield.
Page 49, Vol 5 Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution.
Service 2 days.You can see the reference she is quoting from here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOcQAQAAMAAJ&vq=sylvanus%20dunham&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false
The Curious Case of Gene Hamilton
I’ve long wondered what the story is behind Gene Hamilton, a grandson of Thomas Hamilton via his Father Fred Hamilton. Thomas and Sukie had 11 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. The land appears to have been divided up amongst their children but then, oddly, Gene started to become the principal recipient of his generation.
You can check out the Hamilton Shores database to get a sense, but in summary, from 1921 through his death, many of his aunts and uncles gifted Gene their Maine lands. He ultimately amassed 160 acres (you can see the full estate below – Marion was Gene’s wife).
The Gene and Marion Hamilton Estate from 1977, just after Gene passed. You can see the one carve out for Richard and Nancy Hamilton. He held onto the lands with a tight fist, other than one curious grant – in 1969, he granted Richard and Nancy part of the land we sit on now. I wondered why?
I talked to Doug Hamilton and got the story. As the story goes Gene was a bit of an angry personality, and never joined the family cocktails or gatherings. It turns out there was a quirk in Maine law where if you paid taxes on a piece of property for a long enough time, you could claim ownership. Gene had apparently been doing that for years. Dick Hamilton found out, and demanded the grant from 1969.
Unfortunately later Gene passed in 1976 without children after his only son committed suicide at 16 years old (on their boat, at the shore). His wife passed within a year after that, and the entire estate was sold off and the proceeds given to Boys Town. In the Hamilton Shores section you can see that his estate sued all of our family to prove title, which doesn’t appear to have been contested.
An interesting chapter in our history, and credit to Richard Hamilton for saving the land we have today.
If you have any more color on this, please comment below!
Original Thomas Hamilton Deed
Our family has a long history on Blue Hill Neck, starting in 1770 with the arrival of James Carter. However most of us trace our lineage more directly to Thomas Hamilton, who married James Carter’s grandaughter Sukie and with whom he had 11 children and launched our Tribe of Tom.
Below is the original Thomas Hamilton Deed, when he purchased 33 acres from his Father in law, John Carter. The deed references the shore and the town line.
If you’re curious about the history of our Family’s land on Blue Hill Neck, we have compiled a database of relevant deeds. You can take a look through by visiting the Hamilton Shores portion of our website: https://www.hamdun.org/?page_id=4810.
Deed-1831-John-Carter-to-Thomas-Hamilton-Book-57-Page-25Reunion delayed :(
Hi all,
In the abundance of caution, we’ve decided to postpone the reunion until next year. It will now be held the weekend of July 30-August 1st, 2021.
All payments will be refunded back the way they came – so if you paid by check, Dave and Marian will send you a check back, and if online we’ll refund your credit card or other method of payment.
In the meantime, we are going to get even more active on this site. We’ve compiled some fun stories and memories and are going to start publishing them here. We hope you might use some of this time at home to gather up any photos, recipes, stories or otherwise and send them to us!
Most importantly, we hope this finds all of you healthy, and we can’t wait to see you in 2021.
- Dan, Anne, Helen and Duncan
