Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/505

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

Zll

In 1913, at the age of thirty-six, Mr. Hamilton was a member of the electoral college of his state, being one of the twelve who cast the vote of Virginia for Wilson and Marshall, having been chosen in 1912 a presidential elector for the Second Con- gressional District. He is (in 1914) a direc- tor of the Norfolk Banks of Savings and Trusts and also a director of the Mutual Building Association of Norfolk.

When a boy he was an attache of the United States House of Representatives at Washington, and when he came to manhood he was for a number of years secretary of the school board of his home city.

He married, October 10, 1901, Adelaide Etheredge, daughter of Edward Cowlin Etheredge and Rosanna Coles Hanby of Portsmouth, Virginia, Mrs. Hamilton being a direct descendant of Leah Custis, whose brother married Martha Daindridge, after- ■ wards Martha Washington. Mr. Hamilton has two sons, Norman Etheredge and Rich- ard Douglass.

Mr. Hamilton is the son of Richard Dab- ney Hamilton, of Portsmouth, Virginia, who served that city in various civic capa- cities, as a member of the city council, board of health and school board — and who was one of Portsmouth's representatives in the politically epoch-making "Lynchburg" con- vention, the work of which resulted in the restoration of the Democratic party to power in Virginia.

Mr. Hamilton's mother was Ella L. Rond, second daughter of Charles A. and Mary Elizabeth Rond, of Portsmouth, Virginia.

He is descended from men who saw hon- orable military or naval service under the American flag in the revolutionary, Indian and Alexican wars, and under the Confed- erate flag in the American civil war. He is a great-grandson of one of the sturdy sons of Virginia of the early part of the nine- teenth century — Richard Carr. of Chester- field county — and is also a great-grandson of Rev. William Hamilton, one of the heroic pioneers of Methodism, the literature of which church tells of his faithful and valu- able service, and of the hardships he en- dured in helping to establish that religious faith in Ireland.

Mr. Hamilton has played an important part in the recent international complica- tions, and to what good efifect may be judged from the following extract from his home city newspaper :

The Washington, D. C, Times, which was repre- sented here by special staff men during the Prinz Eitel and Kronprinz Wilhehn "stories," had the following to say in its local columns concerning the successful handling of these delicate international problems by Collector of Customs Norman R. Hamilton:

When the tide of war drove the German com- merce destroyer, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, into the safety of Newport News harbor and made her the pivot about which spun a perplexing international situation, the man upon whose shoulders fell the responsibility of representing the United States government, was a young collector of customs who had not yet served a year in office

To-day this same young collector of customs, Norman R. Hamilton, is known, at least by name, from one end of the country to the other, not only because he controlled the difficult problem which the presence of the Eitel within the territorial waters of the United States presented, but also because he is the only man in the service of the Federal government possessed of this experience.

And, peculiarly enough, when the second of the sea-raiders, the Kronprinz Wilhelm, was seeking sanctuary from the ravages of beri beri and the starvation threat of short rations, she, like her companion, now interned, made straight for New- port News, where Norman R. Hamilton, with the experience he had gained in handling the case of the Eitel, stood ready to take over the supervision of her stay in these waters. * * *

The chief attributes which apparently have con- tributed most to the young collector's success in handling two difficult international situations, even though he lacked the schooling of a diplomat, are his ready smile, his ability to keep an absolutely tight mouth, and the fact that, although of abste- mious habits, he is known among his friends to be a "good mixer."

When the avalanche of metropolitan newspaper men poured into Newport News upon the arrival of the Eitel the collector had a hearty grip and greet- ing for every one. Being a former newspaper man he put himself out to make the news-gathering task an easy one, yet as soon as his negotiations with the German commander over the Prinz Eitel's stay in American waters were definitely begun, Norman Hamilton, though keeping his ready smile, "clapped hatches" on his speech.

Not even the confidential clerks in his office knew exactly what was going on, and when the State Department had decided upon the time which would be nermitted the German raider for refitting, Hamilton dispensed with the services of a stenog- rapher and sat himself down to a machine, himself typing his communication to the Eitel's commander, which he delivered in person, so that until the offi- cial announcement of the internment of the Eitel was announced in Washington, no whisper of the time allotted her, had escaped.

Mr. Hamilton took his oath of office as collector of the port of Norfolk and Newport News on April 16, 1914, having acquired a special fitness for his duties through his familiarity with the shipping of that section, during his long years as a newspaper man.

Rev. Samuel Need Hurst, teacher, law- yer, preacher, author and publisher, of Pu-