WILLIAM HAMILL

FROM: The History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin, and Williamson Counties, Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887).  P. 705.

          William Hamill, attorney at law, of McLeansboro, was born in County Londonderry, North of Ireland, June 7, 1842, the Son of William, Sr., and Elizabeth (Crawford) Hamill, natives of the same county where the mother died. When our subject was a child they came to Philadelphia, where he secured a fair education in the common branches. In 1857 he came West, with a married sister, and entered McKendree College, St. Clair County, Ill. A few months before graduation he enlisted in Company E, one Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served three years as private, now a commissioned officer, and was seriously wounded in the right arm, on Sherman's raid to Meridian, Miss., in 1864. While wounded, he remained at Jackson three months a prisoner of war. While in college he studied law under ex-Gov. French, who had charge of that department, and since the war has practiced continuously ever since, and with success. November 17, 1870, he married Maria E. Randall, a native of Missouri. He has always been a Democrat, though no political aspirant. Besides his profession he owns and manages several good farms at present. He is an Odd Fellow, and is recognized as one of the able members of the Hamilton County bar, and a citizen of high standing.