Psychic research in a Winnipeg family: reminiscences of Dr. Glen F. Hamilton.(Gazette)(Reprint)

I first learned of Dr. Glen Forrester Hamilton through the psychic research of his father, Dr. Thomas Glendenning Hamilton. TG, as Glen's father was affectionately known, engaged in a wide variety of studies in the psychic area during the 1900s. I obtained a research grant from the Archives & Special Collections at the University of Manitoba in order to interview Margaret, TG's only daughter, as to her recollections and reminiscences about her father and her father's psychic work. Margaret was eager to participate, so an interview was scheduled for 27 October 1986. When I returned from an extended trip to Churchill, however, I was told the heartbreaking news that, on 18 October, Margaret had died.

The death of Margaret left Dr. Glen as the sole surviving offspring of TG Hamilton. I suggested to several persons who knew Dr. Glen that, perhaps, I might contact him to see if he would agree to the sort of interviews I had planned for his sister. Unfortunately, I was always told that it would be a waste of time, because Dr. Glen never gave interviews about his own beliefs or his father's psychic research. With completely unwarranted confidence that Glen would agree to videotaped interviews and after a sufficient time interval had elapsed following his sister's death, I telephoned Glen on 8 May 1987. To my relief, he was most gracious, and immediately agreed to our working together. Our first face to face meeting was 11 June, at which time he proudly gave me a tour of his home at 123 Greene Avenue in Winnipeg, and showed me the family scrapbooks, his bagpipes, his figurines, and his models of ships and trains. Glen and I worked together taping interviews during July. To my knowledge, Glen's recollections and views of his family history, his father's psychic research, and his own beliefs have never been made public before. What follows is a summary of the reminiscences of Dr. Glen, much of which is presented through photographs as well as in his own words. (1)

Dr. Glen always presented himself as a proud Scot. His favourite song was "Road to the Isles," played on bagpipes. He also was a dedicated physician. He graduated from the Medical College of the University of Manitoba in 1934. After a brief post-graduate experience in Edinburgh, Scotland, he returned to Canada to practice medicine in Huntsville, Ontario in 1938. The next year he was back in Winnipeg, practicing from the family home in Elmwood. Between 1939 and 1944, he served with the Army Medical Corps, retiring as a Major. He became Chairman of the Medical Staff at Concordia Hospital and was for a time on the staff of St. Boniface Hospital.

Dr. Glen, like his parents, believed in personal survival after death. Though his beliefs were held with strong conviction, he came across to me as exceedingly tolerant of those whose beliefs did not coincide with his own. He approached life scientifically, though he believed in things not yet verified or perhaps even testable by the scientific method. He was fiercely independent, a sort of rebel or loner. He was a brutal realist. He confronted life simply, directly, and honestly. Yet, despite this sometimes cold, pragmatic, and practical side, I found him to be sensitive, warm, and even vulnerable with a great sense of humour and hope and optimism. Dr. Glen admitted to being a very private and shy person, shunning most celebrations and personal recognition. When I suggested that the videotaped interviews might be titled, "Psychic Research in a Famous Winnipeg Family," he modestly asked that the word, "Famous," be left out. His unique background, his broad-based expertise, and his personal charm made my meetings with him both informative and enjoyable.

According to Dr. Glen, his father was a highly principled, Presbyterian Scot physician, born to James Hamilton and Isabella Glendenning on 27 November 1873, in Agincourt, Ontario. Nine years later, TG's father and oldest brother, Robert, left their Agincourt farm as members of the Temperance Colonization Society and traveled west to homestead on the west side of the South Saskatchewan River near Saskatoon. The following year, Isabella, TG, and the other four children joined the family in Saskatchewan, living for a time in a sod house. Unfortunately, the family suffered severely through farming problems as well as the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. It was in this year that James Hamilton died. Calamity struck once more when in the next year, James' only daughter, Margaret, also died. Because of these devastating events, the family left the Saskatchewan farm, dispersed briefly, but finally reunited in Winnipeg, in 1891.

TG and his siblings attended school in Winnipeg. TG taught school in order to put himself through medicine. In 1903, he obtained his MD degree from the Manitoba Medical College (now the Medical School of the University of Manitoba). He was the first physician in Elmwood, specialized in internal medicine and obstetrics, and did his rounds by bicycle, then by horse and buggy, and only later by an open-topped touring car. Soon, TG met Lillian May Forrester, who was born in Belleville, Ontario, lived on a farm, served for a while as a school teacher, and in 1905 graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing (now the School of Nursing of the University of Manitoba). In 1906, TG and Lillian married, and TG was elected to the Winnipeg School Board. Their first child, Margaret Lillian, was born on 23 February 1909. In 1910, the family moved into "Old One Eighty Five," a large two storey house at 185 Kelvin Street (now Henderson Highway). Soon it became known throughout Winnipeg as "Hamilton House." Offices were on the main floor, surgery in the basement with its own entrance from the street, and living quarters upstairs. Glen Forrester Hamilton, whose recollections form the basis of the present article, was born on 16 August 1911. According to Margaret, "Glen Forrester soon grew to become my playmate, my opponent, and my best friend." (2) In 1912, Isabella, who had been living with the …