Hamlin. Tunica County. (Ghost town)

Hamlin was located along the tracks between Lula and Dundee. It is easy to find even though not much is left of this village today. Hamlin was located in a curve where Old Highway 61 went over the railroad tracks. Today only a graveyard remains which was located behind an old church that was torn down years ago. One lone trailer house near an old farm headquarters by some trees is also located there.

Hamlin was established as a flag stop on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad in 1885 and according to the 1920 Y&MV track profile, it was located three miles south of Dundee.  In 1920, one business was located there and it was R.G. Dun and company.  It was named after a local landowner named John Francis Hamlin, Jr.  who operated a plantation there.  It was discontinued in 1897.

John F. Hamlin, Jr. was born October 15, 1860 and his father was John Francis Hamlin, Sr. who died in 1864 and his mother was Cornelia Ann Carnes who died in 1874.  Both are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.  In 1870, John was living in Memphis with his mother and a brother.  After his mother’s death, he moved south to Tunica County to live with his uncle named J.B. Carnes. Carnes had a large plantation in southern Tunica County and soon Hamlin was involved in farming.  J.B. Carnes was the founder of Dundee.  John Hamlin was married twice and had two children. His first wife Blanche died in 1894. They had one daughter named Blanche.  Both are buried in Elmwood.  His second wife was Pearl Porter. They had one child named John F. Hamlin III.  On November 30,1899, John F. Hamlin Jr. died and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.  The farm and community survived even though the land changed hands.  John Hamlin III died in 1930.  He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Tunica County along with his wife.  On a 1929 map of Tunica County, Hamlin still existed as a community.

As time  passed and technology was introduced, the community slowly moved away.  Today it is just another ghost town of Tunica county and the Mississippi Delta.