John became a merchant and entered the family's timber business, started in Canada by his grandfather, George Hamilton.
At some point, Hamilton gained the degrees of Master of Arts (MA) and of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL).
He had been active in the affairs of the university for over forty years and was a generous contributor to the financial campaigns of 1913 and 1924.
The John Hamilton Building at Bishop's was named for him in 1963, and the interest from his estates were still accruing to the university in 1979.
[1] He was President of the Champlain Society and a member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec In 1877, he married Ida Mary Buchanan, daughter of Alexander Carlisle Buchanan (1808-1868), Immigration Commissioner at Quebec, and Charlotte Louise Caldwell Bowen, daughter of Chief Justice Edward Bowen, the 2nd Chancellor of Bishop's University.