Religious Leader. Hamilton graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, in 1850 and from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1853. He first preached in Ovid, New York, where he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1854. In 1855, Hamilton married Isabella Mead, who bore him three children, Edward, Agnes, and Frederick. They moved to California's "gold country," where the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society assigned him to preach at a mining camp in Columbia. In 1859, they moved to San Jose, where he served as both the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church and as the superintendent of schools for the City of San Jose. In 1861, William H. Brewer of the California State Geological Survey invited Hamilton on a trip to climb the highest peak in the Diablo Range near San Jose, California. He was the first to reach the summit, and Brewer later named the mountain after Hamilton. In 1864, they moved to the First Presbyterian Church in Oakland. This high profile pastoral assignment brought his preaching doctrine (known as "second probation after death") under scrutiny by church elders, who declared the doctrine heretical in 1869. Hamilton resigned both his pastoral position and his Presbyterian ordination. He thereafter established the Independent Presbyterian Church of Oakland (subsequently known as the Independent Church of Oakland and finally the First Unitarian Church of Oakland), taking many parishioners with him. After Isabella's 1871 death, he married Clara Batchelder in 1875. He died in the pulpit while preaching on Easter Sunday in 1882. Mount Hamilton is now home to the Lick Observatory, where there is a memorial to the pastor.
Religious Leader. Hamilton graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, in 1850 and from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1853. He first preached in Ovid, New York, where he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1854. In 1855, Hamilton married Isabella Mead, who bore him three children, Edward, Agnes, and Frederick. They moved to California's "gold country," where the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society assigned him to preach at a mining camp in Columbia. In 1859, they moved to San Jose, where he served as both the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church and as the superintendent of schools for the City of San Jose. In 1861, William H. Brewer of the California State Geological Survey invited Hamilton on a trip to climb the highest peak in the Diablo Range near San Jose, California. He was the first to reach the summit, and Brewer later named the mountain after Hamilton. In 1864, they moved to the First Presbyterian Church in Oakland. This high profile pastoral assignment brought his preaching doctrine (known as "second probation after death") under scrutiny by church elders, who declared the doctrine heretical in 1869. Hamilton resigned both his pastoral position and his Presbyterian ordination. He thereafter established the Independent Presbyterian Church of Oakland (subsequently known as the Independent Church of Oakland and finally the First Unitarian Church of Oakland), taking many parishioners with him. After Isabella's 1871 death, he married Clara Batchelder in 1875. He died in the pulpit while preaching on Easter Sunday in 1882. Mount Hamilton is now home to the Lick Observatory, where there is a memorial to the pastor.
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