Hamilton, Katherine Mills 1881-1963 First Home Bureau Agent

Hamilton, Katherine Mills 1881-1963 Oneonta, NY

Mrs. Katherine M. Hamilton

First Home Bureau Agent Dies

Mrs. Katherine M. Hamilton, 82, of 9 Potter Avenue, a New Lisbon native who became the first home Demonstration Agent in New York State and possibly in the nation, died Sunday, December 1, in Fox Hospital following a four months illness.

Funeral services for Mrs. Hamilton will be conducted at 2 p.m., Tuesday, December 3, at the First Baptist Church with the Rev. Reginald B. Watson, pastor, officiating.

Burial will take place later at Woodland Cemetery, Delhi.

Mrs. Hamilton was born January 22, 1881 in New Lisbon, a daughter of Frank L. and Anna (Sill) Mills. She was graduated from the Home Economics school at Cornell University in 1914 and in August of that year she became the first Home Bureau Agent in Erie County and probably in the United States. The name of the Home Bureau was later changed to Home Extension Service.

In 1917, 1918 and 1919, Mrs. Hamilton was a lecturer at Farmer's Institute in the State of New York.

While lecturing at a Farmer's Institute she met Dr. Melancthon Hamilton, a veterinarian who was also lecturing, and the couple were married June 17, 1915 in Garrattsville.

The couple first made their home in Delhi, coming to Oneonta in 1918 where they established Hamilton Farms which Dr. Hamilton operated producing and retailing milk. Hamilton Farms was sold to Meridale Dairy in 1936.

Dr. Hamilton died August 16, 1939.

Mrs. Hamilton had lived in Oneonta for 42 years. She was a member of the First Baptist Church where she had taught the Farley Philesthea Sunday School class for 30 years.

She was a member of the Upper Susquehanna Historical Society; of the D. A.R., and an honorary life member of the Otsego County Extension Service.

She had also been active in affairs of the Women's Club and had devoted much time to work with the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home at Cooperstown.

She was a direct descendant of Judge Jedidiah Peck, a prominent Revolutionary soldier of Burlington (N.Y.) who was later known as “The Father of the Common Schools of New York State.”

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Robert Guinane of Arlingt6on, Va., a granddaughter, Miss Ellen Guinane who is a student at Cornell Law School, and several cousins.

Friends may call at the Bookhout Funeral Home until 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The family will be in attendance from 7-9 p.m. Monday.

Published in the Oneonta Star, Monday, Dec. 2, 1963