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On May 2, 1845, in Scott county, Ohio, Charles W. was born to William and Jane (Byers) Hamilton, farmers of that section. In July, 1874, the parents, with the subject of this sketch, came to grande Ronde valley, using teams for the journey from Cheyenne. The father took up eighty acres of land about five miles from Island City, where he engaged in agriculture until 1885, when he was called by the messenger of death to the world beyond, the mother passing away on June 12, 1881. The son-in-law is now living on the old home place. The immediate subject of this sketch took up three hundred and twenty acres of land on Sand Ridge in 1878 and engaged in general farming there until 1888, and then purchased his present place of one hundred and sixty acres, twelve miles north from Cove on the hill, his postoffice being Alicel. He has about eight acres in fruit, raising all kinds that are commonly produced here and also successfully cultivate grapes, peaches and so forth. He has abundant yeilds and is a leader in this line. He has also a good acreage to general crops and rises stock in addition to these industries mentioned. He has a quarter sectionof timber and meadow andowns six hundred and forty acres all told.Mr. Hamilton is careful and judicious and is always dominated by skill and sagacity, while thrift is everywhere in evidence upon his estates.

The marriage of Mr. Hamilton and Miss Sarah F., daughter of James and Mary Ann Bridwell, natives of Ohio, was solemnized on September 13, 1866, and they have become the parents of the following children: Charles, at home, Lydia, wife of Walter E. Pratt, now living on the first farm taken in the county; Ormina, wife of Charles Pratt; Hattie, wife of John Wright; sally, wife of Charles Gray; Nora, at home. Mr. Hamilton has frequently given his services as director of the schools in district No. 9. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church and is a leading figure and highly esteemed in that relation. When the Civil war was in progress, Mr. Hamilton was one of the noble men who three themselves into the breach and fought intrepidly and faithfully for the cause of his country. His enlistment was in teh One Hundred and Fortieth Ohio and occurred on May 2, 1863. He served under General Crook in Virginia in the army of the Potomac and was in almost constant skirmish duty, and also participated in different battles, among which may be mentioned; Lynchburg, Meadow Bluff and others. At the close of the war, Mr. Hamilton was mustered out a Gallipolis, Ohio, with the consciousnes that he had served is country well and had assisted in saving for the generations to come to Union that has dispensed so many blessings upon her citizens. Mr. Hamilton has always manifested a loyal and patriotic spirit and is public minded and of broad views, while his personal qualities are of real worth and have commended him to the esteem and confidence of all of his fellows, and to-day he is one of the highly respected members of society.

Richard A. was born June 30, 1846, in Hardin county, Ohio, being the son of Richard and Elizabeth (Ulin) Hamilton. In 1854 the family removed to Keokuk county, Iowa, later to Wapello county, and thence to Lucas county, and in April, 1858, the mother was called away to death. On May 11, 1864, our subject and his older brother, Benjamin S., came across the plains with Bohler's ox train, arriving in West Bannock, Idaho, on October 22d, and thence, via Boise, to the Grande Ronde valley, in November of the same year. On the plains they were nearly caught in a battle between hostile Indian tribes and our subject was treated to several arrows arriving with a speed and proximity that were not especially gratifying. Soon after landing here he engaged to work in a hotel, and on January 1st he went to Walla Walla and split rails on the Touchet river whence in June following he went to Coeur d' Alene Mission, Idaho, where five thousand people had congregated, led by the false mining reports of a man that was supposed to be lynched afterwards. Returning to Walla Walla, Mr. Hamilton worked on a farm until September 27, 1866, and then went to the Gallatin valley, Montana, whither his father and sister, Elizabeth J., and two brothers, Thomas C. and Andrew T., had come. The following winter was spent in the home circle and the spring found him in the Lemhi mines, whence he returned home, and in the spring of 1868 he went to Walla Walla, crossing the Pend Oreille lake with Captain Moody, who was afterward governor of Oregon. In 1868 he operated a threshing outfit, and the following year he went to Oro Fino, thence to Florence and back to Walla Walla. For a time he freighted, and in the spring of 1871 he drove a bank of horses across the Coeur d' Alene back to the Gallatin valley and joined the soldiers and citizens who went to fight Sitting Bull's tribe, and the result was that they were nearly starved to death before getting back. In 1876 he took a trip to his old home in Iowa and traveled in different portions of the country, returning to Walla Walla via San Francisco and Portland. Mr. Hamilton was at Colfax when the Indians broke out on Camas prairie, and he was instrumental in saving the crops from the ravages of the stock turned loose by the refugees. Returning to Gallatin valley, he sold his ranch and stock and went prospecting to northern Idaho. In 1880 we find him in Umatilla county operating a planing mill near Athena, and four years later he went to Lagrande, whence he started on a trip via San Francisco, Los Angeles, Yuma City, to Ohio and Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1885 he returned to Lagrande, and on January 8, 1886, he married Miss Mary E. Richardson. In July of the same year he secured a contract for cutting thirty thousand ties for the O.R.&N., and did well, delivering the goods at Hillgard. Later he secured another contract to make fifty thousand ties for the U.P.R.R. and success attended his efforts here also. He erected a saw mill in Hillgard and has given his attention to operating it for some time. He owns eleven hundred and twenty acres of timber and grazing land, having a fine house and orchard on it. He also owns a modern eight-room cottage in the best residence portion of Lagrande, and he is one of the substantial men of the county, highly respected by all and deserving of the confidence which is generally reposed in him.