The Black Voice News
California has a history steeped in Black people who were formerly enslaved, freed, and during and after slavery expanded to the West Coast. The mountains were formidable barriers to travel and many came by sea. Those who came into Southern Calif. by land came through the Cajon Pass.
James Hamilton (1823-1897), part African American, was the first non-Indian settler in the Cahuilla (Anza) Valley area, arriving about 1873. His ranch was at the eastern edge of the valley. Bible-toting Uncle Jim was highly respected and loved. His sons and grandsons continued as cattlemen in the Anza and Garner valley country. -- Photo, property of Dolores Arnatz
According to the "San Jacintos" by John F. W. Robinson and Bruce Risher, Hamilton was sometimes called "Uncle Jim" or "Nigger Jim" even the downgrade rode to Anza was known as "Nigger Jim" Grade. After traveling west from Ohio with an 1847 Mormon wagon train, he lived with Sioux Indians and in the early 1850s he arrived in San Bernardino.
Hamilton School named in honor of James Hamilton
Hamilton and his sons, Joe, Henry, and Frank suffered discrimination living in the area. In 1897 two years before his own death, his son Frank, who was a lawman, was murdered.
The family remained in the area. Several sections of the land homesteaded by Hamilton included the area of Kenworthy, Cahuilla Valley and Anza Valley. Lincoln the last of the Hamilton cowboys died in 1976.
Hamilton Creek
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