Biography

Levi Hamilton was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a Pennsylvania coal mine and started to attend worship services shortly thereafter. In 1914, when he was thirty years old, he converted and remained committed to his new faith for the rest of his life. He died in 1977, shortly after his ninety-fourth birthday and less than nine months before Spencer W. Kimball, then the leader of the LDS Church, announced a revelation that would have allowed Levi to be ordained to the priesthood. Levi had spent sixty-three years as a Latter-day Saint, barred from priesthood ordination and temple admission the entire time. When word came of the 1978 revelation, one of Levi’s former congregants suggested with a smile that Levi was responsible for the momentous change. He had gone to heaven and personally rectified the racial restrictions for all of his fellow Black Latter-day Saints.[1]

Levi Hamilton was born September 6, 1883 to Robert Hamilton and Harriet King in Cumberland Furnace, an unincorporated area of Dickson County in northcentral Tennessee.[2] Cumberland Furnace served as a makeshift community to workers at a steel smelter which explorer and colonizer General James Robertson had built in 1793. By the time of Levi’s birth, a new family had purchased the steel mill and continued to operate the business.[3]

The 1900 census reveals that Levi was literate and had attended public school in Tennessee until he was 17. It also records the marriage of Levi’s mother to a man named John Seth in 1891; Seth became Levi’s stepfather following the death of his biological father. Levi lived with Seth, his mother, and a combined family of six siblings. He worked at the smelter with his older brother and stepfather, but all reported three months of unemployment in 1900.[4]

By 1911 Levi had moved to Pennsylvania, perhaps looking for work in the area’s bustling coalmines. Instead, he somehow found himself in the Allegheny County Workhouse on suspicion of arson. He was sentenced to 30 days hard labor. The prison record stated that Levi’s father had died before Levi was 16 and that his family had attended the Baptist church. It also noted that Levi was not married.[5]

On his release from the workhouse Levi quickly changed his single status. Records of the New England Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints note the birth and blessing of Mamie Hamilton in June 1912.[6] Levi’s wife was entered as “Minnie,” but her full name was Annie Laura Moore Hamilton and she would remain Levi’s faithful partner until her death in 1955.[7]

While Levi had committed to marriage, he had not yet accepted baptism in the very church where his first daughter was blessed. Perhaps his faith developed gradually as he worked alongside a coalminer named Matthew Barnes. Levi recalled, "I was singing in the coal mine one morning when a man by the name of Matthew Barnes heard me. He said, 'Good morning, my boy!' He couldn't see who I was in the dark, so he came in and we started talking about the gospel. He invited me to his meetings and I came and met the people there and after a period of time I joined the Church."[8] On June 10, 1914, Matthew Barnes, Levi’s friend from the coal mine, baptized Levi at Rock Run, Pennsylvania and then confirmed him a member of the New England Branch four days later.[9]

After his baptism, Levi and Annie welcomed six more children into their family: Katie in 1914; twins Carrie Laura and Calvin in 1916; Helen in 1920; Henrietta in 1930; and William in 1931.[10] They purchased a home at 709 Ridge Avenue in Clairton, Pennsylvania where they raised their family.[11] While neither Annie nor the kids ever joined the Church, Levi faithfully attended weekly services often bringing his sons and daughters along for the meetings. Many years later, Levi’s grown daughter, Katie, fondly recalled her brother returning home after Primary class (an LDS organization for children) and asking their mother if it was alright for a white woman to take him in her arms and hug him.[12]

Local Church members later recalled one particular incident which they believed cemented Levi’s devotion. “Once, when Levi's son was gravely ill, he called upon Matthew Barnes to administer to him, promising that if his son should be spared, Levi would spend the rest of his life serving the Lord. Through the blessing given by President Barnes, the boy was healed. True to his promise, Brother Hamilton became active in the Church, faithfully serving the Lord and attending meetings every opportunity that he had.”[13] Tragically, Calvin later drowned in 1930 at the age of 14 while swimming in a creek near their home.[14]

Despite heartache, Levi remained a faithful member of the Church until his death. He spoke frequently in sacrament meeting, converted many to the LDS gospel, and was well-known by Church members in western Pennsylvania.[15] In 1955, Annie Hamilton succumbed to death at age 70 and was buried in Elizabeth Cemetery near their son.[16]

As a widower, Levi’s devotion to the Church remained undiminished. When his small congregation known as the Wilson Branch eventually grew into the Monongahela Ward and required a larger meeting space, Levi, in his 80’s, helped build the new church. He wielded a pick and wheelbarrow for three hours a day until the building was complete.[17] According to a local church history, “Hamilton was dearly loved by all members of the Church who knew him. General Authorities also loved him and he had special blessings pronounced upon his head.”[18]

When Levi reached his 90’s, he decided to move to Sacramento, California to live with his daughter, Katie. Church members from Pennsylvania visited him there shortly before his death. Levi gave them a message for his beloved fellow congregants at home in Pennsylvania. “Tell them that I am still a Latter-day Saint,” he said.[19] Levi died at age 94 on September 23, 1977.

Levi’s obituary declared that before his death, he may have been the oldest Black member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time and he likely was.[20] According to a local history, “When President Spencer W. Kimball announced the revelation extending the priesthood to all worthy males in 1978, members who had known Brother Hamilton called from all over the nation inquiring about doing ordinance work by proxy for him. The necessary work was performed by former ward member Donald Hare in the Washington Temple.”[21] Levi’s body was returned to Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, for burial.[22]

By Jessica Guynn

Primary Sources

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection. New England Branch. CR 375 8, box 5298, folder 1, image 366, 371. Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Hamilton.” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914-1935. CR 4 311. Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1967. Certificate Number Range: 054501-057500, 055801-058650. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Register to Include All Prisoners Tried and Sentenced to Hard Labor Books. Series 197m.16. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

United States. 1900 Census. Tennessee, Montgomery County, Clarksville, 12^th District.

United States. 1920 Census. Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Clairton.

United States. 1930 Census. Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Clairton.

United States. 1940 Census. Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Clairton.

United States. Pennsylvania. Allegheny County. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Levi Hamilton. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

Secondary Sources

Aston, Ralph R., Matilda Lux Aston, and Duane R. Aston. From These Hills and Valleys, A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Wilkinsburg, PA: Anderson, Lynn Matthews, 1986.

Burt, Marilyn P. Reminiscences about Levi Hamilton, 1977-2007. MS 20485, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Draper, Venus DeAnn Hare. “George Barnes and the New England Branch.” Accessed 1 August 2020.

“Cumberland Furnace,” Wikipedia, last modified March 20, 2020.

“Levi Hamilton,” The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA), 23 September 1977, 18.

Monongahela Ward, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Stake. Physical Facilities Department photograph collection, circa 1890-1988. PH 211. Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah. .

[1] Venus DeAnn Hare Draper, “George Barnes and the New England Branch,” accessed 1 August 2020.

[2] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, New England Branch, CR 375 8, box 5298, folder 1, image 366, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.NewEngBranchCR375_8box5298_fo6

[3] “Cumberland Furnace,” Wikipedia, last modified March 20, 2020.

[4] United States, 1900 Census, Tennessee, Montgomery County, Clarksville, 12^th District.

[5] Register to Include All Prisoners Tried and Sentenced to Hard Labor Books, Series 197m.16, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[6] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, New England Branch, CR 375 8, box 5298, folder 1, image 371, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[7] Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1967, Certificate Number Range: 055801-058650, Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[8] Ralph R. Aston, Matilda Lux Aston, and Duane R. Aston, From These Hills and Valleys, A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Southwestern Pennsylvania (Wilkinsburg, PA: Anderson, Lynn Matthews, 1986), 60.

[9] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, New England Branch, CR 375 8, box 5298, folder 1, image 366, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[10] United States, 1920, 1930, 1940 Census, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Clairton.

[11] United States, 1920, 1930, 1940 Census, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Clairton.

[12]Marilyn P. Burt, Reminiscences about Levi Hamilton, 1977-2007, MS 20485, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[13] Aston, From These Hills and Valleys,  60.

[14]Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1967, Certificate Number Range: 054501-057500, Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[15] Marilyn P. Burt, Reminiscences about Levi Hamilton, 1977-2007.

[16]Pennsylvania (State), Death certificates, 1906–1967, Certificate Number Range: 055801-058650, Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

[17] Marilyn P. Burt, Reminiscences about Levi Hamilton, 1977-2007.

[18] Aston, From These Hills and Valleys,  60.

[19] Marilyn P. Burt, Reminiscences about Levi Hamilton, 1977-2007.

[20]“Levi Hamilton,” The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA), 23 September 1977, 18.

[21] Aston, From These Hills and Valleys,  60.

[22] “Levi Hamilton,” Sacramento Bee, 23 September 1977, 18.

Documents

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