James Hamilton history uncovered at Daly Mansion

The Daly Mansion made an exciting discovery about James Hamilton, the town’s namesake.

Each month the Daly Mansion has a fun fact on their Facebook page called “Did you know?”

Operations Assistant Elena Lopez was working on one about James Hamilton when she hit a road block. The historical centers she contacted had only the basic information on him — that he worked for Marcus Daly and platted the town.

Elena Lopez, operations assistant at the Daly Mansion in Hamilton, holds a photograph of James Hamilton, the town’s namesake.

MICHELLE McCONNAHA, Ravalli Republic

The Ravalli County Museum, the Daly Mansion archives, the University of Montana and the Butte archives — all had that information but no more.

Lopez considered selecting a different topic but out of curiosity decided to persevere. The search was difficult especially since shortly after Marcus Daly died, his personal records were burned, by his prearranged order.

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Lopez said her first glimmer of success was that she discovered a historical pageant written as a graduate student thesis in 1959.

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