SAMUEL A. HAMILTON.
 


	Samuel A. Hamilton, a prominent business man and former mayor of
Moose Jaw, has made his home in this city for the past seventeen years,
during which he has been actively identified with its commercial and
political circles.  He is one of the many eastern men who, on coming
west, have made good, and in so doing have advanced the city in which
they have located. Moose Jaw points to him with pride as a self-made
man who is typical of hundreds of persons who have made the most of
their opportunities in western Canada. He was born on March 15, 1874,
in Fitzroy Harbour, Ontario, his mother's birthplace. His mother was
Sarah Jane Craig before her marriage to Thomas Hamilton, a daughter
of James Craig, who came to Ontario from his native County Antrim,
Ireland, about the year 1830 and took up land, which he farmed the rest
of his life. Through his father Mr. Hamilton is of Irish descent also,
for Thomas Hamilton was born in the Emerald Isle, of parents who never
left their native soil. Early in life he came out to Ontario, where he
was married and worked a farm all of his active life. In 1913 he retired
and moved with his wife to Saskatchewan. They both passed away while
in Moose Jaw.
	Samuel A. Hamilton obtained an excellent educational preparation
for life in the Fitzroy Harbour schools and the Almonte and Renfrew
Collegiate Institutes. At the age of eighteen he made his first trip to
the west, remaining about a year in Oxbow, Saskatchewan, where he
worked as a clerk in a store.  Returning to Ontario in 1893, he was
engaged in the lumber business there for nine years, working with the
Bronson West Lumber Company of Ottawa for two years and with
McLaughlin Brothers, a well known lumber concern, for seven years.
When he returned to the west it was for the purpose of engaging in the
same line of business for himself. He decided to locate in Radisson, Sas-
katchewan, a choice that was later vindicated by his success, for in the
three years that he conducted a lumber business in that place he did
well. In 1907 he moved to Moose Jaw and continued in the same line of
business until 1911, when he sold out his lumber interests and engaged
in the coal and wood trade, which has been his chief financial interest
ever since. He has enjoyed the same prosperity in his new venture that
he enjoyed in his former business and thus has never had occasion to
regret his decision in making the change. In addition to this enterprise
Mr. Hamilton devotes considerable time to the rather extensive real
estate holdings he has acquired from time to time, much of which is
valuable farm property in western Canada.  Mr. Hamilton has always
been keenly interested in politics, both as a supporter of the Conservative
party and as a candidate for various offices.
	In 1899 Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Jessie O'Reilly
of Renfrew, Ontario, who was born and reared in that city. Two of the
three children born to this union are living: Kenneth A., who is a Rhodes
scholar from Canada to Oxford and is now studying at Christ Church
College; and Jean, a school girl of Moose Jaw. Mrs. Hamilton belongs
to the Presbyterian church. Mr. Hamilton is a Mason and a member of
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He follows all kinds of manly
sports, believing that they not only promote physical well-being but also
instill into young people the spirit of cooperation and fair play.



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