Sylvia Hunt met William John Hamill when he was a student in Jefferson College in Canonsburg. She was 3 years older than he was. When Sylvia married him, her sister Isabella was 7 years old. The Hamills moved to Baltimore. Around 1860 Isabella is listed on the census with the Hamills, so Sylvia must have asked her parents to let Isabella come to work as a nanny and care for the children. [The parents did not die until a number of years after Isabella left for Baltimore.] Isabella probably was around 15 when she left Canonsburg, PA, and moved to Baltimore to help her sister Sylvia, who was involved in the oil company business with her husband.
Since Isabella was 12 years younger than Sylvia, as she grew to maturity, Sylvia's husband William John Hamill must have became infatuated with her, and she, more than likely, fell in love with him. He was under a lot of stress from the business and the burning of the oil refinery, and his problems probably strained the relationship with his wife. When Sylvia was pregnant with her 7th and last child, she discovered that her sister Isabella was also pregnant with her husband William John Hamill's child. When this rift occurred, William John Hamill and Isabella Hunt secretly left for Australia. Sylvia filed for a divorce and received it, and later listed herself as a widow.
The family did not know the whereabouts of William and Isabella, and Sylvia was left with 7 children to rear: George Hamill, Joseph Alexander Hamill, Elizabeth Olivia or Lillian Hamill, Harry Hunt Hamill, Mary McClelland Hamill, Grace Weir Hamill, and John Wilkins Hunt, who changed from his original name of William John Hamill after his father abandoned the family. Isabella's first child was born about the same time that John Wilkins was.
John and Isabella lived in Australia the rest of their lives and left a large number of descendants. The fact that they moved to Australia together and had at least 13 children suggests that they loved each other all their lives.
Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the bitterness in Sylvia Hunt Hamill's family, the fact that Sylvia called herself a widow, and the fact that the youngest child changed his name from Hamill to Hunt testify to Sylvia's contempt for William.
Isabella made a lonely choice to abandon her American family. As she bore children, she chose the same names that Sylvia had for some of her children – William, George, Elizabeth, etc. – suggesting that she missed the American children that she had tended as a teen. She missed the United States terribly because she put American flags on John Hamill's grave, and she said she loved him all of her life. She named children patriotic American names – George Washington, Patrick Henry, Millard Filmore, etc. She kept a private trunk, which apparently contained her remembrances of the United States, probably photos of her parents and family. It was so sacred that her family burned it without opening it after her death. And Isabella also must have spoken well of her sister Sylvia because Isabella has many, many descendants with the name Sylvia.
It was a sad occurrence in the family, but Sylvia went on to become a competent business woman in the oil field long before other women would have done such work. Sylvia was a strong woman who found the means to care for her children without support from her ex-husband in Baltimore (strange that she did not return to Canonsburg, but she had put down roots). One of her children even became a doctor.
Both Sylvia and Isabella lived to be 92, while their husband William John Hamill died at age 65. Sylvia died on 11 June 1921 in Baltimore, but she had done everything on her own - reared her children, worked as an executive in the oil business, and lived a long life. Through the miracle of computers, the two families of Sylvia and Isabella have reunited and have solved the mystery of Isabella's disappearance and have learned the history of William John Hamill's 20 children born to two sisters.
Written by Sylvia Hott Sonneborn, who also bears the name of her grandfather's favorite aunt!
Misc. Notes Baltimore Sun, Tues. Dec. 31, 1861 front page Destruction of Kerosene Oil Factory-Between six and seven o'clock yesterday morning an alarm of fire was sounded, caused by the explosion of a still and the ignition of the building of the kerosene oil factory of Messrs. A. & Wm. Hamill at the corner of Canton avenue and Eden street. The report of the explosion was like that of the discharge of a heavy gun and in a few minutes the whole establishment was in flames. The west wall of the building was thrown down by the explosion so that the flames had fair headway before the arrival of the firemen, though they promptly responded to the call. A large stock of crude material was stored in the factory the whole of which was destroyed. The loss sustained by the Messrs. Hamill is estimated at about $7,000 upon which there is no insurance. The flames communicated to the roof of the house No. 128 Canton avenue, adjoining occupied by Sebastian Miller, which was extinguished after a damage of about $25. Residence 1858 Baltimore County Deeds Liber GHC 22:282--deed to Wm. J. Hamill whereby he purchased 13 acres of a tract called Friends Discovery from James W. Curley & wife.
***************************************
During 1864-78, Sylvia Crossman Hunt owned and ran a profitable coal oil refinery in Baltimore that was left to her by her estranged husband, William J. Hamill, in 1864. During the 1870's, John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company sought to dominate crude oil refining in the United States. Johnson Newlon Camden acted as the Standard agent in enacting their plans in Baltimore. In December 1877, he formed the Baltimore United Oil Company and bought out all of the local refiners except Hunt, who leased her plant to the company and continued to oversee the operation herself. She ceded day-to-day control the next year, but continued to be a difficult partner for Standard, who finally bought the plant site from Hunt in 1892. Hunt has been portrayed as a victim who suffered physically and emotionally because of Standard Oil's actions, but she used her health troubles as leverage in negotiations to make the best of a difficult situation.[5]
David N. Heller, "Mrs. Hunt and Her Coal Oil Refinery in Baltimore." Maryland Historical Magazine 1992 87(1): 24-41. Issn: 0025-4258
Since Isabella was 12 years younger than Sylvia, as she grew to maturity, Sylvia's husband William John Hamill must have became infatuated with her, and she, more than likely, fell in love with him. He was under a lot of stress from the business and the burning of the oil refinery, and his problems probably strained the relationship with his wife. When Sylvia was pregnant with her 7th and last child, she discovered that her sister Isabella was also pregnant with her husband William John Hamill's child. When this rift occurred, William John Hamill and Isabella Hunt secretly left for Australia. Sylvia filed for a divorce and received it, and later listed herself as a widow.
The family did not know the whereabouts of William and Isabella, and Sylvia was left with 7 children to rear: George Hamill, Joseph Alexander Hamill, Elizabeth Olivia or Lillian Hamill, Harry Hunt Hamill, Mary McClelland Hamill, Grace Weir Hamill, and John Wilkins Hunt, who changed from his original name of William John Hamill after his father abandoned the family. Isabella's first child was born about the same time that John Wilkins was.
John and Isabella lived in Australia the rest of their lives and left a large number of descendants. The fact that they moved to Australia together and had at least 13 children suggests that they loved each other all their lives.
Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the bitterness in Sylvia Hunt Hamill's family, the fact that Sylvia called herself a widow, and the fact that the youngest child changed his name from Hamill to Hunt testify to Sylvia's contempt for William.
Isabella made a lonely choice to abandon her American family. As she bore children, she chose the same names that Sylvia had for some of her children – William, George, Elizabeth, etc. – suggesting that she missed the American children that she had tended as a teen. She missed the United States terribly because she put American flags on John Hamill's grave, and she said she loved him all of her life. She named children patriotic American names – George Washington, Patrick Henry, Millard Filmore, etc. She kept a private trunk, which apparently contained her remembrances of the United States, probably photos of her parents and family. It was so sacred that her family burned it without opening it after her death. And Isabella also must have spoken well of her sister Sylvia because Isabella has many, many descendants with the name Sylvia.
It was a sad occurrence in the family, but Sylvia went on to become a competent business woman in the oil field long before other women would have done such work. Sylvia was a strong woman who found the means to care for her children without support from her ex-husband in Baltimore (strange that she did not return to Canonsburg, but she had put down roots). One of her children even became a doctor.
Both Sylvia and Isabella lived to be 92, while their husband William John Hamill died at age 65. Sylvia died on 11 June 1921 in Baltimore, but she had done everything on her own - reared her children, worked as an executive in the oil business, and lived a long life. Through the miracle of computers, the two families of Sylvia and Isabella have reunited and have solved the mystery of Isabella's disappearance and have learned the history of William John Hamill's 20 children born to two sisters.
Written by Sylvia Hott Sonneborn, who also bears the name of her grandfather's favorite aunt!
Misc. Notes Baltimore Sun, Tues. Dec. 31, 1861 front page Destruction of Kerosene Oil Factory-Between six and seven o'clock yesterday morning an alarm of fire was sounded, caused by the explosion of a still and the ignition of the building of the kerosene oil factory of Messrs. A. & Wm. Hamill at the corner of Canton avenue and Eden street. The report of the explosion was like that of the discharge of a heavy gun and in a few minutes the whole establishment was in flames. The west wall of the building was thrown down by the explosion so that the flames had fair headway before the arrival of the firemen, though they promptly responded to the call. A large stock of crude material was stored in the factory the whole of which was destroyed. The loss sustained by the Messrs. Hamill is estimated at about $7,000 upon which there is no insurance. The flames communicated to the roof of the house No. 128 Canton avenue, adjoining occupied by Sebastian Miller, which was extinguished after a damage of about $25. Residence 1858 Baltimore County Deeds Liber GHC 22:282--deed to Wm. J. Hamill whereby he purchased 13 acres of a tract called Friends Discovery from James W. Curley & wife.
***************************************
During 1864-78, Sylvia Crossman Hunt owned and ran a profitable coal oil refinery in Baltimore that was left to her by her estranged husband, William J. Hamill, in 1864. During the 1870's, John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company sought to dominate crude oil refining in the United States. Johnson Newlon Camden acted as the Standard agent in enacting their plans in Baltimore. In December 1877, he formed the Baltimore United Oil Company and bought out all of the local refiners except Hunt, who leased her plant to the company and continued to oversee the operation herself. She ceded day-to-day control the next year, but continued to be a difficult partner for Standard, who finally bought the plant site from Hunt in 1892. Hunt has been portrayed as a victim who suffered physically and emotionally because of Standard Oil's actions, but she used her health troubles as leverage in negotiations to make the best of a difficult situation.[5]
David N. Heller, "Mrs. Hunt and Her Coal Oil Refinery in Baltimore." Maryland Historical Magazine 1992 87(1): 24-41. Issn: 0025-4258
Sylvia Hunt met William John Hamill when he was a student in Jefferson College in Canonsburg. She was 3 years older than he was. When Sylvia married him, her sister Isabella was 7 years old. The Hamills moved to Baltimore. Around 1860 Isabella is listed on the census with the Hamills, so Sylvia must have asked her parents to let Isabella come to work as a nanny and care for the children. [The parents did not die until a number of years after Isabella left for Baltimore.] Isabella probably was around 15 when she left Canonsburg, PA, and moved to Baltimore to help her sister Sylvia, who was involved in the oil company business with her husband.
Since Isabella was 12 years younger than Sylvia, as she grew to maturity, Sylvia's husband William John Hamill must have became infatuated with her, and she, more than likely, fell in love with him. He was under a lot of stress from the business and the burning of the oil refinery, and his problems probably strained the relationship with his wife. When Sylvia was pregnant with her 7th and last child, she discovered that her sister Isabella was also pregnant with her husband William John Hamill's child. When this rift occurred, William John Hamill and Isabella Hunt secretly left for Australia. Sylvia filed for a divorce and received it, and later listed herself as a widow.
The family did not know the whereabouts of William and Isabella, and Sylvia was left with 7 children to rear: George Hamill, Joseph Alexander Hamill, Elizabeth Olivia or Lillian Hamill, Harry Hunt Hamill, Mary McClelland Hamill, Grace Weir Hamill, and John Wilkins Hunt, who changed from his original name of William John Hamill after his father abandoned the family. Isabella's first child was born about the same time that John Wilkins was.
John and Isabella lived in Australia the rest of their lives and left a large number of descendants. The fact that they moved to Australia together and had at least 13 children suggests that they loved each other all their lives.
Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the bitterness in Sylvia Hunt Hamill's family, the fact that Sylvia called herself a widow, and the fact that the youngest child changed his name from Hamill to Hunt testify to Sylvia's contempt for William.
Isabella made a lonely choice to abandon her American family. As she bore children, she chose the same names that Sylvia had for some of her children – William, George, Elizabeth, etc. – suggesting that she missed the American children that she had tended as a teen. She missed the United States terribly because she put American flags on John Hamill's grave, and she said she loved him all of her life. She named children patriotic American names – George Washington, Patrick Henry, Millard Filmore, etc. She kept a private trunk, which apparently contained her remembrances of the United States, probably photos of her parents and family. It was so sacred that her family burned it without opening it after her death. And Isabella also must have spoken well of her sister Sylvia because Isabella has many, many descendants with the name Sylvia.
It was a sad occurrence in the family, but Sylvia went on to become a competent business woman in the oil field long before other women would have done such work. Sylvia was a strong woman who found the means to care for her children without support from her ex-husband in Baltimore (strange that she did not return to Canonsburg, but she had put down roots). One of her children even became a doctor.
Both Sylvia and Isabella lived to be 92, while their husband William John Hamill died at age 65. Sylvia died on 11 June 1921 in Baltimore, but she had done everything on her own - reared her children, worked as an executive in the oil business, and lived a long life. Through the miracle of computers, the two families of Sylvia and Isabella have reunited and have solved the mystery of Isabella's disappearance and have learned the history of William John Hamill's 20 children born to two sisters.
Written by Sylvia Hott Sonneborn, who also bears the name of her grandfather's favorite aunt!
Misc. Notes Baltimore Sun, Tues. Dec. 31, 1861 front page Destruction of Kerosene Oil Factory-Between six and seven o'clock yesterday morning an alarm of fire was sounded, caused by the explosion of a still and the ignition of the building of the kerosene oil factory of Messrs. A. & Wm. Hamill at the corner of Canton avenue and Eden street. The report of the explosion was like that of the discharge of a heavy gun and in a few minutes the whole establishment was in flames. The west wall of the building was thrown down by the explosion so that the flames had fair headway before the arrival of the firemen, though they promptly responded to the call. A large stock of crude material was stored in the factory the whole of which was destroyed. The loss sustained by the Messrs. Hamill is estimated at about $7,000 upon which there is no insurance. The flames communicated to the roof of the house No. 128 Canton avenue, adjoining occupied by Sebastian Miller, which was extinguished after a damage of about $25. Residence 1858 Baltimore County Deeds Liber GHC 22:282--deed to Wm. J. Hamill whereby he purchased 13 acres of a tract called Friends Discovery from James W. Curley & wife.
***************************************
During 1864-78, Sylvia Crossman Hunt owned and ran a profitable coal oil refinery in Baltimore that was left to her by her estranged husband, William J. Hamill, in 1864. During the 1870's, John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company sought to dominate crude oil refining in the United States. Johnson Newlon Camden acted as the Standard agent in enacting their plans in Baltimore. In December 1877, he formed the Baltimore United Oil Company and bought out all of the local refiners except Hunt, who leased her plant to the company and continued to oversee the operation herself. She ceded day-to-day control the next year, but continued to be a difficult partner for Standard, who finally bought the plant site from Hunt in 1892. Hunt has been portrayed as a victim who suffered physically and emotionally because of Standard Oil's actions, but she used her health troubles as leverage in negotiations to make the best of a difficult situation.[5]
David N. Heller, "Mrs. Hunt and Her Coal Oil Refinery in Baltimore." Maryland Historical Magazine 1992 87(1): 24-41. Issn: 0025-4258
Since Isabella was 12 years younger than Sylvia, as she grew to maturity, Sylvia's husband William John Hamill must have became infatuated with her, and she, more than likely, fell in love with him. He was under a lot of stress from the business and the burning of the oil refinery, and his problems probably strained the relationship with his wife. When Sylvia was pregnant with her 7th and last child, she discovered that her sister Isabella was also pregnant with her husband William John Hamill's child. When this rift occurred, William John Hamill and Isabella Hunt secretly left for Australia. Sylvia filed for a divorce and received it, and later listed herself as a widow.
The family did not know the whereabouts of William and Isabella, and Sylvia was left with 7 children to rear: George Hamill, Joseph Alexander Hamill, Elizabeth Olivia or Lillian Hamill, Harry Hunt Hamill, Mary McClelland Hamill, Grace Weir Hamill, and John Wilkins Hunt, who changed from his original name of William John Hamill after his father abandoned the family. Isabella's first child was born about the same time that John Wilkins was.
John and Isabella lived in Australia the rest of their lives and left a large number of descendants. The fact that they moved to Australia together and had at least 13 children suggests that they loved each other all their lives.
Meanwhile back in Baltimore, the bitterness in Sylvia Hunt Hamill's family, the fact that Sylvia called herself a widow, and the fact that the youngest child changed his name from Hamill to Hunt testify to Sylvia's contempt for William.
Isabella made a lonely choice to abandon her American family. As she bore children, she chose the same names that Sylvia had for some of her children – William, George, Elizabeth, etc. – suggesting that she missed the American children that she had tended as a teen. She missed the United States terribly because she put American flags on John Hamill's grave, and she said she loved him all of her life. She named children patriotic American names – George Washington, Patrick Henry, Millard Filmore, etc. She kept a private trunk, which apparently contained her remembrances of the United States, probably photos of her parents and family. It was so sacred that her family burned it without opening it after her death. And Isabella also must have spoken well of her sister Sylvia because Isabella has many, many descendants with the name Sylvia.
It was a sad occurrence in the family, but Sylvia went on to become a competent business woman in the oil field long before other women would have done such work. Sylvia was a strong woman who found the means to care for her children without support from her ex-husband in Baltimore (strange that she did not return to Canonsburg, but she had put down roots). One of her children even became a doctor.
Both Sylvia and Isabella lived to be 92, while their husband William John Hamill died at age 65. Sylvia died on 11 June 1921 in Baltimore, but she had done everything on her own - reared her children, worked as an executive in the oil business, and lived a long life. Through the miracle of computers, the two families of Sylvia and Isabella have reunited and have solved the mystery of Isabella's disappearance and have learned the history of William John Hamill's 20 children born to two sisters.
Written by Sylvia Hott Sonneborn, who also bears the name of her grandfather's favorite aunt!
Misc. Notes Baltimore Sun, Tues. Dec. 31, 1861 front page Destruction of Kerosene Oil Factory-Between six and seven o'clock yesterday morning an alarm of fire was sounded, caused by the explosion of a still and the ignition of the building of the kerosene oil factory of Messrs. A. & Wm. Hamill at the corner of Canton avenue and Eden street. The report of the explosion was like that of the discharge of a heavy gun and in a few minutes the whole establishment was in flames. The west wall of the building was thrown down by the explosion so that the flames had fair headway before the arrival of the firemen, though they promptly responded to the call. A large stock of crude material was stored in the factory the whole of which was destroyed. The loss sustained by the Messrs. Hamill is estimated at about $7,000 upon which there is no insurance. The flames communicated to the roof of the house No. 128 Canton avenue, adjoining occupied by Sebastian Miller, which was extinguished after a damage of about $25. Residence 1858 Baltimore County Deeds Liber GHC 22:282--deed to Wm. J. Hamill whereby he purchased 13 acres of a tract called Friends Discovery from James W. Curley & wife.
***************************************
During 1864-78, Sylvia Crossman Hunt owned and ran a profitable coal oil refinery in Baltimore that was left to her by her estranged husband, William J. Hamill, in 1864. During the 1870's, John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company sought to dominate crude oil refining in the United States. Johnson Newlon Camden acted as the Standard agent in enacting their plans in Baltimore. In December 1877, he formed the Baltimore United Oil Company and bought out all of the local refiners except Hunt, who leased her plant to the company and continued to oversee the operation herself. She ceded day-to-day control the next year, but continued to be a difficult partner for Standard, who finally bought the plant site from Hunt in 1892. Hunt has been portrayed as a victim who suffered physically and emotionally because of Standard Oil's actions, but she used her health troubles as leverage in negotiations to make the best of a difficult situation.[5]
David N. Heller, "Mrs. Hunt and Her Coal Oil Refinery in Baltimore." Maryland Historical Magazine 1992 87(1): 24-41. Issn: 0025-4258
Family Members
Siblings
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Sarah Hunt Potter
1824–1874
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Mary Hunt McClelland
1826–1897
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Letitia Wilkins Hunt Joy
1833–1897
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Rachel Janet "Jennie" Hunt Zimmerman
1835–1900
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Enoch Hunt
1836–1842
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Nannie Elizabeth "Nannie" Hunt Krise
1840–1917
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Martha Ann Hunt Ayers
1842–1924
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Harriet Hunt
1843 – unknown
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Isabella Cummings Hunt Hamill
1844–1936
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Josephine Hunt
1848 – unknown
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Elizabeth Hagerty Hunt Maginn
1854–1930
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