Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Provenance
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Indexing: Subject
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Laurentine Hamilton collection
Identifier/Call Number: mssHamilton
Physical Description:
5.75 Linear Feet
(9 boxes and 1 oversize folder )
Date (inclusive): 1858-1956
Abstract: This collection chiefly contains sermons written by California Presbyterian minister Laurentine Hamilton (1826-1882) between
1858 and 1882, as well as some ephemera.
Language of Material: English.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Laurentine Hamilton collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Gift of Clark Edward, April 25, 1961.
Biographical Note
Laurentine Hamilton (1826-1882) was born in Dix, New York, in 1826. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1850 and then from
Auburn Theological Seminary in 1853. He was ordained by the New School Presbytery of Geneva the following year and served
in western New York. He was commissioned as a home missionary of the New School Assembly in Columbia, California, and served
there from 1855 to 1859. He moved to San Jose in 1859 to preach at the First Presbyterian Church of San Jose and was also
a school superintendent there.
In 1861, he accompanied William H. Brewer and Charles F. Hoffman as part of the California Geological Survey. His service
was commemorated through the christening of one of the tallest peaks as Mount Hamilton.
He moved to Oakland in 1864 to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland. It was here that Hamilton's career
came in jeopardy when he was accused of heresy in 1869. He preached that there was a second chance of salvation after death,
contrary to Presbyterian doctrine. Faced with a trial, Hamilton refused to renounce his belief in posthumous salvation which
prompted the leaders of the Presbyterian Church to strip him of his ordination and force him to resign.
Hamilton's career was not destroyed by these events. Instead, he and his parishioners set up another church, the First Independent
Presbyterian Church of Oakland. They joined the Unitarians in 1879 and the church was renamed the First Unitarian Church of
Oakland. Hamilton served his congregation until he died in the pulpit on April 14, 1882.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of 551 manuscripts and 4 pieces of correspondence, which are arranged in chronological order by type.
The majority of the manuscripts consist of sermons written by Laurentine Hamilton between 1858 and 1882. The sermons are ordered
by the date they were first given, but Hamilton often reused his sermons. These dates are usually written on the manuscript
or on the bindings that Hamilton used to hold together the loose pages of many of his sermons. One sermon which illustrates
Hamilton's arguments for posthumous salvation was given on May 16, 1869 and is titled, "The Judgment." Hamilton also gave
sermons incorporating the theories of Darwinian Evolution into Christianity beginning in 1878. There is also a seven- page
biography of his life, which was read at Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley on December 17, 1956. It is unclear
who wrote the speech. It may have been the donor, Clark Edward. The speech itself is a brief overview of Hamilton's life and
then a short analysis of the events triggered by his controversial sermons regarding posthumous salvation.
The ephemera, consisting of 25 items, are arranged by type. The ephemera consists of issues of the
Oakland Daily News with Hamilton's printed sermons, from 1874 to 1875, issues of the
Oakland Daily Evening Tribune with an article by Hamilton and his obituary, and an issue of the
Sunday Chronicle from 1882 with Hamilton's obituary. Also included are three lists of Hamilton's sermons, a copy of one of Hamilton's sermons,
his academic diplomas and certificates, notes by an unknown author, and a tract by Hamilton, titled
The Future State and Free Discussion; Four Sermons Preached in the First Presbyterian Church dated 1869.
Subjects in the collection include: Assassination of Alexander II, Emperor of Russia; Asylum for the Insane of the State
of California; Bank of California; J. Ross (John Ross) Browne; Influence of the Count Camillo Benso Cavour; Central Pacific
Railroad Company; Christianity; Compulsory Education in United States; Evolution; First Unitarian Church of Oakland, California;
Octavius Brooks Frothingham; Chicago Great Fire of 1871;Laurentine Hamilton; Judgment Day Sermons; Church history of San Jose,
California; American Sermons in California American Presbyterian Sermons; Stockton State Hospital in California; and Religion
and Science.
Arrangement
Sermons arranged in Boxes 1-9 chronologically, followed by correspondence and ephemera in Box 9. There is also a folder of
oversize material.
Indexing: Subject
Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, 1818-1881--Assassination.
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1881, Jan. – Mar.). Box 7 (6).
Asylum for the Insane of the State of California
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1877, Jan. – Apr.). Box 5 (5).
Bank of California
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1875, Sep. – Nov.). Box 4 (5).
Browne, J. Ross (John Ross), 1821-1875
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1873, Dec.). Box 3 (1).
Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di, 1810-1861—Influence
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1881, Apr. - Sep.). Box 8 (1).
Central Pacific Railroad Company
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1869, Jan. – May). Box 1 (3).
Education, Compulsory--United States
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1873, Jan. – May). Box 2 (5).
Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, 1822-1895
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1881, Oct. – Dec.) Box 8 (2).
Great Fire, Chicago, Ill., 1871
- Subject in Sermons by L. (Laurentine) Hamilton, 1827-1882 (1871, Oct. – Dec.) Box 2 (3).
Stockton State Hospital (Calif.)
- Subject in Sermons
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Judgment Day -- Sermons.
Presbyterian Church -- Clergy -- California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Religion and science -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Unitarians -- California
California, Northern -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 19th century
Sermons California -- 19th century