Albert Thorburn Hamilton, my great grand uncle, was born on this date in Upper Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, in 1895, the seventh of nine children born to Peter Suther Hamilton and Isabella Fulton MacKay, and their third son.
When he was around 23 years old, in 1919, Bert immigrated to the States, stating that his destination was the home of Mrs. E. K. Noyes, who was his sister Mary, married to E. Kent Noyes and living at 1367 Washington Avenue in Portland, Maine.
In the 1930 U.S. Census, Bert was living with his brother Dan, as well as his mother Isabella, at 67 College Avenue in Portland, and working as a truck driver. By 1940, he was lodging in Hannah Fowler's rooming house at 10 Shepley St., in Portland, with Dan and Dan's wife Lettie.
Bert Hamilton never married. In my youth, I remember his visits to his sister Vina, my great grandmother, in Portland. I was told he had a "club foot," which, naturally, fascinated me, although I never heard the story behind it.
 |
Nana and Uncle Bert During One of His Visits
Our House in South Portland,
c.1968 |
By that time, the 1960's, he had moved back down east. He and their unmarried sister Stella lived very near "the old home place," in Nova Scotia, until Stella passed away in 1966.
Bert Hamilton died at the Colchester Hospital, in Truro, Nova Scotia, on January 30, 1975.
His obituary read:
Albert T. Hamilton
UPPER STEWIACKE - Albert T. Thorburn Hamilton, 79, died Thursday at Colchester Hospital, Truro.
Born in Upper Stewiacke, he was a son of the late Peter and Isabel (MacKay) Hamilton. He was a member of Elm Lodge No. 115.
He is survived by a brother, Dan, Portland, Maine.
He was predeceased by two brothers and five sisters.
The body is at the Mattatall Funeral Home, Truro. Funeral and committal service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. in the the Springside United Church, Rev. David Whiston officiating.
Bert Hamilton is buried with his sister Stella in Pembroke Cemetery in Upper Stewiacke.
Sources:
1930
U.S. Census; Census Place: Portland, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 831; Page: 4A;
Enumeration District: 0077; Image: 844.0, Albert T Hamilton.
1940
U.S. Census; Census Place: Portland, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: T627_1475; Page:
4A; Enumeration District: 3-69B, Albert T Hamilton.
“Canada
Census, 1901," index, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KHK2-TGV : accessed 15 Apr 2014), Albert
I Hamilton in household of Peter S Hamilton, U, Colchester, Nova Scotia,
Canada; citing p. 12, Public Archives, Ottawa, Ontario.
CanadaGenWeb's
Cemetery Project. CanadaGenWeb.org. http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org.
“Albert
T. Hamilton,” obituary, The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax), 1 Feb 1975, p.40, col
4. Retrieved: Library and Archives Canada, 15 Apr 2014.**
Ancestry.com.
Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 [database on-line]. Provo, UT,
USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
** I am particularly grateful to Ken McKinlay in the Nova Scotia Roots Facebook Group, who kindly found Uncle Bert's obit while giving a tour at LAC in Ottawa this afternoon, just in time for this story.
This is the 15th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small.
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