The Curious Case of Gene Hamilton

I’ve long wondered what the story is behind Gene Hamilton, a grandson of Thomas Hamilton via his Father Fred Hamilton. Thomas and Sukie had 11 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. The land appears to have been divided up amongst their children but then, oddly, Gene started to become the principal recipient of his generation.

You can check out the Hamilton Shores database to get a sense, but in summary, from 1921 through his death, many of his aunts and uncles gifted Gene their Maine lands. He ultimately amassed 160 acres (you can see the full estate below – Marion was Gene’s wife).

He held onto the lands with a tight fist, other than one curious grant – in 1969, he granted Richard and Nancy part of the land we sit on now. I wondered why?

I talked to Doug Hamilton and got the story. As the story goes Gene was a bit of an angry personality, and never joined the family cocktails or gatherings. It turns out there was a quirk in Maine law where if you paid taxes on a piece of property for a long enough time, you could claim ownership. Gene had apparently been doing that for years. Dick Hamilton found out, and demanded the grant from 1969.

Unfortunately later Gene passed in 1976 without children after his only son committed suicide at 16 years old (on their boat, at the shore). His wife passed within a year after that, and the entire estate was sold off and the proceeds given to Boys Town. In the Hamilton Shores section you can see that his estate sued all of our family to prove title, which doesn’t appear to have been contested.

An interesting chapter in our history, and credit to Richard Hamilton for saving the land we have today.

If you have any more color on this, please comment below!