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Removing Category:African-American men in politics per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2025 March 24#Category:African-American men in politics

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{{Short description|American politician}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name= Ross Hamilton
|image = File:Ross Hamilton.jpg
| office = Member of the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] from the [[Mecklenburg]] district
| term_start = June 2, 1870
| term_end = January ?, 1883
| preceded = [[John Watson (Virginia politician)|John Watson]]
| succeeded = [[Amos Andre Dodson]]
| term_start2 = November ?, 1889
| term_end2 = January 3rd, 1890
| preceded2 = [[Britton Baskerville Jr.|Britton Baskerville]]
| succeeded2 = J.N. Hutcheson
| birth_date = c. 1843
| birth_place = [[Mecklenburg County, Virginia]]
| death_date = May 2nd, 1901
| death_place = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| spouse = Pattie Shelton • M. B. Knox
|profession = Carpenter, storekeeper, politician
}}
'''Ross Hamilton''' (c. 1843-1901) was a carpenter, storekeeper, federal employee and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politician who represented [[Mecklenburg County, Virginia|Mecklenburg County]] in the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] from 1870 to 1883, and 1889–1890.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Forsythe|first=Harold S.|date=1997|title="But My Friends Are Poor": Ross Hamilton and Freedpeople's Politics in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 1869–1901|jstor=4249674|journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=105|issue=4|pages=409–438}}</ref><ref>[[Luther Porter Jackson]], Negro Office-Holder in Virginia 1865-1895 (Norfolk; Guide Quality Press 1945) p.19 at hathitrust.org or reprinted by UMI books on demand</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kCoTAAAAYAAJ&q=ross+hamilton+chase.environs | title=Chase City and Its Environs: The Southside Virginia Experience, 1765-1975 | last1=Brown | first1=Douglas Summers | year=1975 }}</ref> Hamilton had the longest legislative career of any African American in 19th century Virginia.<ref name="encyclopediavirginia">{{cite web|last1=Tarter|first1=Brent|title=Ross Hamilton (1843–1901)|url= https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/ross-hamilton-ca-january-1843-may-2-1901/|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Virginia]]|access-date=26 August 2023}}</ref>

==Early and family life==
Born a slave in [[Mecklenburg County, Virginia]] in about 1843, the names of his parents remain unknown. A carpenter by trade, Hamilton had likely married a woman named Pattie Shelton by 1870, who bore 4 daughters and 2 sons together. However, three of the children died as infants and one died in college in 1885. After his first wife died of [[Consumption (disease)|tuberculosis]] in November, 1883, the widower married M. B. Knox on May 18, 1885, who bore three children, but both sons also died as infants.<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/>

==Career==
Trained as a carpenter, Hamilton eventually operated a store in [[Boydton, Virginia]], the Mecklenburg county seat. He also purchased six pieces of real estate in Boydton near the former [[Randolph-Macon Academy]], which had moved northward to [[Ashland, Virginia]] just north of Richmond, and its former campus ultimately became the [[Boydton Institute]], a school for African-Americans. He bought those properties in 1871, 1872, two in 1873, one in 1875 and the last in 1892, some with [[James R. Jones (Virginia politician)|Dick Jones]] as partner before Jones joined the Readjuster Party discussed below and also incurred legal problems in the mid-1880s.<ref>Jackson p. 19</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">EV</ref>

==Political career==
Mecklenburg County had an African American majority in this era and Hamilton was a good orator and very able political leader. He carefully cultivated friendships and made alliances throughout the country. Reportedly, he also enjoyed "drinking in bars and talking politics with his friends on Saturday nights and rising early on Sunday mornings to attend church with their families."<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/> Several politicians of both races considered him "unbeatable" as Hamilton had won the largest number of votes in seven consecutive elections for the [[Virginia House of Delegates|House of Delegates]] from 1870 through 1881. He won his first term to finish the term of [[John Watson (Virginia politician)|John Watson]], who had represented Mecklenburg county in the [[Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868]] and also briefly served as delegate but died in office.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Hamilton was an active member of the Republican party.<ref>{{cite book |title=House documents |date=1875 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3x9lAAAAcAAJ&dq=henry+cox+virginia+house.of+delegates&pg=RA10-PA101 |language=en}}</ref>

As a member of the minority party in the [[Virginia House of Delegates]], during his first three terms, Hamilton only was appointed to low level committees, such as the "Committees on Executive Expenditures" and the "Committee on Manufactures and Mechanic Arts."<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/> A much more capable party leader than legislator, in 1882, Hamilton unsuccessfully sponsored a bill which prevented people who did not live in Virginia from attending the county's tax-payer-supported public schools. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in [[1872 Republican National Convention|1872]] and [[1876 Republican National Convention|1876]].<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/> Unlike most African American political leaders in Virginia during his time, he did not initially support the [[Readjuster Party|Readjuster party]], and remained a "straightout" Republican. This ended up costing him his seat in the Legislature, as the [[Readjuster Party|Readjusters]] who were at the height of their political power, ran an African American man ([[Amos Andre Dodson]]) to challenge Hamilton for the nomination. Dodson ended up winning the Republican nomination for the Mecklenburg County seat in the House of Delegates, and thus denied Hamilton his 8th term.<ref>Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 509, 514, 518, 522, 526, 530, 534</ref> However, Dodson lost his re-election bid, and two years later Hamilton threw his support to [[Britton Baskerville Jr.]] who won. Hamilton would run again in 1889 for his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, winning the primary when Baskerville withdrew, then outpolled J.N. Hutcheson, a white man 2248 votes to 2194. But, just a month into the subsequent [[Virginia General Assembly]] session, the [[Virginia House of Delegates|House]] declared Hamilton's election improper, and seated his opponent.<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/><ref>Leonard p. 550 and note</ref>

==Later life==

After losing his legislative seat in 1890, Hamilton moved permanently to [[Washington D.C.]], where he had begun working at [[patronage]] jobs as early as 1879 (and commuted to Boydton for years). He held jobs in the [[Government Printing Office]] and later at the [[Department of the Interior]].<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/> Hamilton continued his political activism, speaking at an 1892 meeting of the [[Republican Party of Virginia|Virginia Republicans]] at the party’s national headquarters in Washington, as well as campaigning for the Republican congressional candidate in the [[Virginia's 4th congressional district|Fourth District]] in 1894 and 1898.<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/>

==Death and legacy==
Hamilton died at his residence in [[Washington, D.C.]], on May 2, 1901, and was buried on the grounds of [[Boydton Institute]] in [[Boydton, Virginia]]. His Boydton properties had declined in value and were ultimately sold to pay debts of his estate.<ref name="encyclopediavirginia"/>

==See also==
* [[African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Ross}}
[[Category:1840s births]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates]]
[[Category:People from Mecklenburg County, Virginia]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]]
[[Category:African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era]]

Ross Hamilton - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Removing :Category:African-American men in politics per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2025 March 24#Category:African-American men in politics