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Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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HAMILL, HUGH FULTON (1799-1849)

HAMILL, HUGH FULTON, saddler and hotel keeper; b. c1799; m. 1st, 1825, Charity (Oulton) McCullam, and 2nd, 1833, Mary McCullam, d/o Henry McCullam and Mary Rogers; d. Newcastle, 2 Oct 1849.

Hugh Hamill was a saddler in 1826 when he purchased the lot of land in Newcastle on which he erected Hamill's Hotel. The hotel was in operation by the summer of 1827, and he was its proprietor for the next twenty-two years, while continuing to work as a saddler. From an early date Hamill's was the Newcastle depot for the stagecoaches on the Fredericton-Miramichi route. For many years sheriff's auctions were conducted in front of the hotel, while meetings of importance in the history of the community took place inside. The hotel also hosted memorable social events, examples of which were a dinner in 1837, "prepared and served up by Hamill in his usual superior style," for Lieut. Col. Alexander Davidson and forty-five senior officers of the 2nd Battalion of militia, and a lavish St Andrew's Day banquet in 1840, over which Thomas C. Allan presided. Few reports of the experiences of overnight guests are available, but Edmund Ward, the proprietor of the Fredericton Sentinel newspaper, stated after a visit in 1839 that Hamill kept "an excellent hotel."

By way of community service, Hamill filled several minor Newcastle parish offices. In 1844 he was a member of the "grand inquest" which investigated the roles played by the magistrates and salaried officials in the conduct of county affairs. He had a successful career in the militia, being promoted from ensign to lieutenant in 1836, and captain in 1840. He was survived in 1849 by his second wife, Mary McCullam, who was remarried in 1862 to Thomas Vondy Sr. Five children also survived, but his daughter Margaret Jane Hamill, the first wife of Allan A. Davidson Sr, died less than a year later.

Sources

[m] official records [d] Gleaner 8 Oct 1849 / Advocate 16 Feb 1938; county records (26/201, Coyne to Hamill, 1826); Davidson Collection (Box 18); Facey-Crowther; Gleaner 29 Jan 1832, 24 Jan 1837, 8 Dec 1840, 28 Sep 1844; Mercury 26 Jun 1827


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