# Representative women of New England/Margaret Hamilton

​MARGARET HAMILTON, past president of the National Army Nurse Association, is one of the heroines of the Civil War whose record deserves a place in its history. Her experience as an army nurse was in her early womanhood, when she bore her maiden name, Margaret Mahoney. She was married in Philadelphia in November, 1864, to Charles Roberts Hamilton, a soldier of the Nineteenth Maine Volunteers, whom she had first met while she was on duty in the Satterlee Hospital.
Born October 19, 1840, in Rochester, N.Y., Mrs. Hamilton is the only child of the late Cornelius and Mary (Sheehan) Mahoney. Her paternal grandparents were Dennis Mahoney and his wife Margaret, for whom she was named. She was educated in the public schools and St. Joseph's Seminary at Emmitsburg, Md. Here she joined the order of Sisters of Charity, going through the novitiate, and was sent by them to teach at St. Joseph's Asylum at Albany, N.Y., where she remained for a year and a half. She was with the sisters four years; but, before it was time to take the vows (which is done in the fifth year), she found that she hail no vocation for that life, and left the order, but with respect for it and the best of feeling for those with whom she had been associated.
Early in the spring of 1862 an order came from the Mother House for three other nurses and herself to go to the Satterlee United States Military Hospital in West Philadelphia. Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, was the surgeon in charge, being assisted by Dr. James Williams, Dr. John S. Billings, and others. The hospital was built to accommodate five thousand patients, and was opened May 1, 1862.
Referring to her experiences, Mrs. Hamilton says: "We fared poorly for some time, as the commissary department had not been established nor the necessary conveniences for work supplied. A day or two later hundreds of ​ our brave boys arrived from the Chickahominy swamps. The ward surgeons, metUcal cadets, and the commissary department arrived with them. Now the real work of hospital life began in earnest. The first week after the arrival of these wounded and fever-stricken boys we had scarcely time to eat, rest, or sleep. During the battles that followed in 1S62, 1863, and 1864 our hospital was constantly filled. From the battle-field of Gettysburg more soldiers were received than ever before. The wards were overcrowded, and tents were erected on the grounds to accommodate two thousand. The most of these were colored troops, who, when convalescent, made it lively with camp-meeting hymns, which greatly amused some of the boys. The weather was extremely warm, and the vast number of the wounded made careful attention to their wounds impossible. Upon the arrival of the men at the hospital many of the wounds were full of vermin, and in numerous cases gangrene had set in. The odor was almost unbearable. So increased was ' the demand on our time and labor that the number of nurses seemed utterly inadequate, and the hospital presented a true picture of the horrors of war. Amid such scenes of dreadful suffer- ing, borne so uncomplainingly, my life as an army nunse was passed. Yet it is with feelings of thankfulness to God that I recall those times, and know that I was permitted to give almost three years of the best of my life to the country I love and to its brave defenders."
Mrs. Hamilton was one of those who vol- unteered to nurse the soldiers stricken with small-pox, which meant isolation from all but the patients. Sister Mary Xavier, a loyal, loving nurse, who was associated with her in the j)est department, died while in the per- formance of these duties. After the battle of th(> Wilderness in the summer of 1864, small-pox again visited this hospital, and Mrs. Hamilton once more occupied the post of danger in caring for the patients. In No- vember, 1864, on account of failing health, she was obliged to leave the hospital, her inability to continue in the service being a great disappointment to her.
Mrs. Hamilton's interest in the men who saved the Union will never cease. The re- unions and other celebrations connected with the national encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic are occasions of great enjoy- ment, whenever she has the privilege of attend- ing them. She has been elected chaplain of the H. M. W^arren Relief Corps of Wakefiekl, Mass., several years in succession, and is highly esteemed by the comrades of the post to which this corps is auxiliary.
When the Army Nurse Association of Massa- chusetts was organized, in 1892, Mrs. Hamilton was chosen secretary, and has continued in the office. She was president of the National Army Nurse Association, having been elected at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in 1902. She is a member of the Ladies' Ai(l Association of the Massachusetts Soldiers' Home, and often visits this home in Chelsea. She is a member of the First Baptist Church of Wakefield.
Eight children, two sons and six daughters, were the fruit of the union of Margaret antl Charles Roberts Hamilton. The eldest child, Charles West, died February 10, 1869, in Phila- delphia. The other son, George Gordon, died February 22, 1901, aged twenty-four years. Six children are living, namely — Anna May, Margaret Esther, Blanche Roberts, Charlotte Douglas, Lucy Belle, antl Ruth Florence. Anna May Hamilton was born in Philadelphia, and was five years old when her parents came to Massachu-setts. She was graduated from Welles- ley College in the cla.ss of 1890. She is professor of Latin in the Penn.sylvania College for Women at Pittsburg, and ranks high as a teacher. In 1902, having been granted a year's leave of ab.sence, she enjoyed a trip to Europe. Margaret and Charlotte Hamilton also attended Wellesley College. Blanche, Lucy, and Ruth ar(> graduates of the Wakefield High School.
Charles Roberts Hamilton, the father, served in the army from August, 1862, until December, 1864. He died April 9, 1900. On the paternal side he was of Scottish extraction, belonging to the Hamilton family of Berwick, Me. The following account of his lineal ancestors has been compiled partly from the manuscript of the Rev. Arthur Wcntworth ​ Eaton Hamilton and partly from the notes copied from original records.
David Hamilton, a Scotch pris(jiier after the battle of Worcester, in September, 1651, was one of the passengers on the ship " John and Sarah," November S, 1651, sailing from Gravesend, England, to New England.
The Rev. Arthur W. H. Eaton says: "David Hamilton was undoubtedly born in Scotland, and most likely belonged to the Westburn Hamiltons. This, I think, is almost certain, since he named one of his sons Gabriel, a name which never occurs in Scotland, so far as I know, except in the Westburn family. . . . Westburn is in the barony and jxu-ish of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland. William Hamilton, of Wishaw, wrote in 1710: ' Westburn was lately fewed out by the Duchess of Hamil- ton to Hamilton of Westburn. It is a pleasant house upon the river with good gardens.'"
The Westburn Hamiltons were an old and distinguished branch of the family of the Duke of Hamilton, having sprung from Thomas of Darngabar, third son of the first Duke of Hamilton. (Burke's "Landed Gentry.")
David Hamilton married at Saco, Me., in 1662, Anna Jackson. From the journal of the Rev. John Pike it is learned that David Hamilton and others were killed by the Ind- ians at Newichwannock (Berwick), September 28, 1691. His sons were: David, Solomon, Gabriel, Jonathan, Abel, Jonas, Abiel, James.
Abiel Hamilton was born probal)ly about 16SU, but whether in Kittery or Dover has not been ascertained. As shown by the Ber- wick town records and York Deeds, he owned nuich land in Kittery, possessing large tracts situated on both sides of Salmon Falls, on Little River, near Love's Brook, ami near Doughty's Falls. He received two pounds, ten shillings, February 9, 1712, "for going ex])ress to Boston last fall and ye service of ye parish." He was grand juryman March 15, 1713-4; constable, DecembcT 23, 1717; and petit juryman, June 16, 1718.
Records of the First Church of Berwick give the following: " Bial Hamilton, member May 24, 1719; dismissed to Upper Church." On the parish rate, Berwick, September 29, 1752, he is taxed fifteen shillings, ten pence. Abiel' Hamilton married Abigail Hodgdon, December 26, 1721, she being his second or thinl wife. He had about fifteen children, one of whom, and the next in this line of descent, was named Solomon. Abiel Ham- ilton died between March 9, 1758, the date of his will, and January 31, 1763, when it was proved. He devises to wife Abigail one half of the homestead during her life; to sons Jonas and Solomon, the homestead, house, barn, orchard, and so forth.
Solomon Hamilton, son of Abiel and Al)igail, was baptized August 19, 1733, at the First Church in Berwick. He married twice, and was survivetl by his second wife, Eliza- beth Pearce. Previous to March 23, 1778, they signed a deed to Joseph Chadbourne, Jr., of land in Scjuth Berwick, near Love's Brook, on the roatl to Doughty's Falls. S(jlomon Hamilton died between April 9 and June 24, 1794. In his will he gave to his wife Eliza- beth, whom he made executrix, the improve- ment of all his estate in Berwick during her natural life, and directed that his son Daniel, the seventh of his eight children, should re- ceive five pounds, five shillings, on arriving at the age of twenty-one.
Daniel Hamilton, son of Solomon and Eliza- beth (Pearce) Hamilton, of Berwick, was born April 21, 1785. He followed the sea extensively for his occupation, anil he served his country in the War of 1812, participating in the engagement at Lundy's Lane. He married in Belfast, Me., Esther Roberts, grand-daughter of Joseph Roberts, who served four years in the Revolutionary War. Daniel Hamilton was the first settler in Swanville, Me. He died in that town, December 8, 1872, aged eighty-seven years, eight months.
In 1817 Daniel Hamilton, then of Belfast, appointed Jacob Hamilton, of Berwick, " my lawful attorney to take care of and manage all such real estate as belongs to me in the said town of Berwick which descends to me from my late father, Solomon Hamilton, of Berwick, deceased." The late Charles Roberts Hamilton was the youngest of the thirteen children born to Daniel and Esther (Roberts) Hamilton, of Belfast and later of Swanville, Me.