Prof. Samuel Hamilton, A.M., Ph.D. and Minnie M. McCune

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Husband Prof. Samuel Hamilton, A.M., Ph.D. ^{1 2}

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           Born: 30 Jun 1856 - Washington Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Samuel Hamilton (1807/1809-      ) 2 3
         Mother: Mary Patterson (      -Aft 1889) 2 3

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       Marriage: 2 Jun 1886 1 4

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   Other Spouse: Mary R. Kennedy (      -      ) 4 - 1 Jun 1898 4

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Wife Minnie M. McCune ^{1 4}

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 9 May 1887 1 4
         Buried: 

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         Father: John McCune (      -      ) 1 4
         Mother: Sarah E. [Unk] (      -      ) 4

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Children

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1 M Paul Holland Hamilton ^{1 4}

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           Born: Abt 1886-1887
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           Died: 
         Buried: 

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General Notes: Husband - Prof. Samuel Hamilton, A.M., Ph.D.

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He was reared on a farm in Plum township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and at sixteen years of age became a student at the Laird Institute, Murrysville, Westmoreland County, where he graduated in 1876. He taught in the district schools for a time; then for three years he filled the position of principal of the graded schools at Chartiers, Allegheny County, and for four years was superintendent of the public schools in Braddock. In 1886 he was appointed by State Superintendent Higbee county superintendent of schools of Allegheny County, and was elected to that position in 1887. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church; in politics a republican.

After the death of his father, he worked for the farmers of the neighborhood in summer and attended the district school in winter. Naturally of studious habits, he prepared himself for the work of teaching, and at the age of seventeen, took charge of the school in which he had been a pupil. While teaching, he pursued his studies under a tutor and attended the academy during vacation. He afterward completed a course in Laird institute, where he worked as a teacher while pushing his studies as a pupil. He was also a student for a time in the Oakdale academy. In 1878 he took charge of the schools of Chartiers borough, later known as Carnegie, Pennsylvania, where he remained for three years, and then accepted a similar position in Braddock, and while engaged in this work he read law with James McF. Carpenter, of Pittsburgh. In September, 1886, before completing his law studies, he was appointed superintendent of the schools of Allegheny County, was elected the next year and was re-elected five times. During his incumbency as superintendent of schools, the county grew from 576 schools to almost 1,500, and the number of high schools from one to twenty-six. During his service in that office he enjoyed an increase in salary from $2,000, when first appointed, to $5,000. This was the highest salary ever paid to a county superintendent in the United States. In 1888 he organized the Allegheny county school directors' association; he aided in forming similar organizations in other counties, and the movement thus inaugurated resulted in the formation of a State directors' association in 1896. Superintendent Hamilton served as president of the Pennsylvania State teachers' association in 1893-94. He completed the work and in 1900 received the degree of Ph. D. from the Grove City college. As early as 1883 he interested Andrew Carnegie in school libraries, and received from him $500 for the public school library at Braddock. This was said to be Mr. Carnegie's first gift to the cause to which he gave so many millions.
Mr. Hamilton helped to organize a building and loan association in Braddock and served as one of its managers. He was for many years a director in the Masonic hall association, and a member of the board of managers of the Carnegie library. In 1897 he helped organize the State bank of Braddock, of which he was a director. He represented his ward in the city council for six years and served as its president for three. Mr. Hamilton also took a prominent part in the religious and fraternal affairs in the community. He was a Presbyterian and for twenty years or more was a teacher in the Bible class in the Sabbath-school. When the Calvary Presbyterian church of Braddock was organized, he was one of the moving spirits and he became an elder in that church. In fraternal circles he was a member of Braddock's Field lodge, No. 510; Shiloh chapter, No. 257; Gorgas lodge of Perfection, and Pittsburg chapter, Rose Croix. He was at one time an officer in Pennsylvania council, Princes of Jerusalem; Tancred commandery, No. 48, K. T.; a member of Pennsylvania consistory, S. P. R. S., and in 1902 was crowned as an honorary member of the supreme council of the thirty-third and last degree of the northern Masonic jurisdiction of the United States.

On Jan. 15, 1902, while boarding a train at Braddock, Mr. Hamilton met with an accident which necessitated the amputation of both of his limbs, one at the ankle and the other below the knee. His vigor was marvelous and his recovery rapid. In twenty days he was back from the hospital, and on June 1st was again at work with the aid of artificial limbs. While he was confined to the hospital and his home 276 teachers sent flowers, many of them twice, and some three and four times. Others sent fruit, house plants and books and more than 500 children sent flowers or fruit; and from dozens of other friends came flowers by mail and by express. Mr. Hamilton was again elected to the office of county superintendent in June, 1903.

1 Editor, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 448.

2 Editor, Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II (Madison, WI: Northwestern Historical Assosciation, 1904), Pg 371.

3 Editor, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 448, 517.

4 Editor, Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II (Madison, WI: Northwestern Historical Assosciation, 1904), Pg 372.