[2] It was named after Jim Hamilton, an African American man who settled there as a squatter on the east end of the Rancho Pauba in the later 1860s.
The 1870 census of Temecula showed James Hamilton was a 49-year-old widower, living on a 160-acre farm with his four children.
Eventually Hamilton lost this land in a lawsuit over ownership of the Rancho Pauba in the early 1880s.
Hamilton Creek, originating east of Anza, still bears his name.
Two became U. S. Marshals, and one was killed in the line of duty at San Jacinto, California.