[p. 840] one of North Beaver Township's leading citizens, residing on his valuable farm of 150 acres, which he devotes to general farming and stock raising, was born on this same farm, December 14, 1854, son of James and Lydia Jane (Silliman) Hamill.
James Hamill was born and reared on this farm and was a son of John Hamill, who came here from the eastern part of Pennsylvania with the pioneers about 1801. James Hamill cleared up the larger part of the farm which his father left uncleared, and cultivated and improved the property. He married a daughter of Thomas Silliman, a man of Scotch-Irish birth, who came very early to North Beaver Township. They had children as follows: Mrs. Mary Crawford, Rosana Hamill, Mrs. Martha McKean, Mrs. Minerva Hope, Mrs. Anna Swisher, William Brown, Mrs. Estella Howe, and Thomas Baker. The last named was born in 1862 and died in California in early manhood. He was known in the neighborhood as "Colonel." In 1892 the mother of this family died and a month later the father was killed by a vicious bull, the former passing away on May 5 and the latter on June 9, 1892.
William Brown Hamill was reared on the home farm and obtained his education in the country schools. In 1884 he was married to Margaret Elizabeth Hayes, who was born and reared in North Beaver Township, and is a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Clark) Hayes. They have three children: James Edwin, who married Jane Hope, and has one child, Florence Muriel, and Colonel Thomas and Mary Hayes, who reside at home.
Mr. Hamill has devoted himself to agricultural pursuits and has met with very satisfactory returns. From 1878 until 1900 he was engaged in a milk and dairy business in Allegheny, but has discontinued that industry. He is a man of reading and culture and with his family he spent three years traveling through California, Utah, Arkansas and Colorado: He is prominent in the order of Odd Fellows, being a member of Park Lodge, No. 916, Allegheny, and of Allegheny Encampment, No. 101. He belongs also to Lorena Lodge, No. 198. Knights of Pythias; Allegheny Council, No. 228, of the National Union, and to Triumph Lodge, No. 101, of the Protective Home Circle. Mr. Hamill and family belong to Westfield Presbyterian Church.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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Updated: 14 Jan 2002