Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin County - Hammond Biography 1925 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 7, 2004, 12:40 pm p. 351-354 THE HAMMOND FAMILY In Baldwin County The Hammonds came to Georgia, from Virginia, during the Revolutionary War. The immediate occasion was the destruction of their property in Virginia by the Tories. Charles Hammond, who before the war was secreary of the Virginia House of Burgesses, brought his family for safety to his plantation in Georgia. He was accompanied by his brother, Col. LeRoy Hammond, who settled in South Carolina. The first of the family to come to America was John Hammond, post captain of the British navy. He was a son of Charles Hammond, of Hampshire, England, and was grandfather of the Charles Hammond who came to Georgia. He was a member of an old English family. Tradition says that the first to come to England, came with William the Conquerer and that his name was Robert the Hammer, because of his fighting qualities. The members of the family have been good fighters and good patriots always. Besides Col. LeRoy Hammond, who commanded a regiment in both the Indian War and Revolutionary War, there were four sons of Charles Hammond in the Revolutionary War. Three of these were officers; and the fourth and youngest, Charles, gave his life for the cause. One son, Col. Samuel Hammond, served after the war for nineteen years as military governor of Missouri, and later served South Carolina as Secretary of State. Baldwin County is more concerned with the history of Captain Abner Hammond, a younger brother of Col. Samuel Hammond. It was he who brought the state papers from Louisville to Milledgeville. And it was he who founded the family in Milledgeville. He served Georgia as Secretary of State for a number of years, until his death in 1829. Born in Farmington Parish, in Virginia, in 1762, he had come to Georgia when a mere boy with the family of his father, the Charles Hammond, first, mentioned above. An old family servant who was brought from Virginia, and is said to have lived to have been over a hundred years old, is responsible for the following story of him, Abner Hammond: Left at home because of his youth, he ran away, raised a company of volunteers and joined his brother's regiment. And official records show that he joined his brother's regiment at the seige of Augusta, and that he was captain at twenty years of age. Abner Hammond was married twice: first, to Anne Jones; and second, to Sarah Dudley, of Richmond, Va. The children of the first marriage were: Sarah, William, George, and Daniel. Sarah married William Wright, and their son, General Ambrose Ransom Wright, was distinguished in the Confederate army. His son, Captain William A. Wright, has served Georgia for forty years, as Comptroller General. Nine children of the second wife, Sarah Dudley, lived to be grown: Anne, married Peter Stubbs; Eliza married Baradel Stubbs; Charles married a Miss Pound; Abner died unmarried; John married Caroline Fort; Martha married Rev. Charles Stillman, famous Presbyterian minister; Eleanor married a Mr. Woods; Catherine married Mr. Edwards; Mary married Evander McIver, Chief Justice of Alabama. John Hammond, the last of his name in Baldwin County, served his county as Ordinary for many years. Although, except for the period of Radical rule, his service was continuous, after he was once in office he never made an active campaign for re-election. Election day was as quiet as any other with him. The people's knowledge of his good service and high character kept him in service. He was an earnest Christian, for over fifty years a steward in the Methodist church, of Milledgeville. On the completion of his fiftieth year as steward, a handsome Bible was presented to him by the church. He was born in Louisville, Ga., in 1811, and died at "Midway" in 1885. He married Caroline Fort, daughter of Judge Moses Fort and niece of Dr. Tomlinson Fort, and great-niece of George Walton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. They had six children who lived to maturity. John LeRoy Hammond was president of the First National Bank, of Savannah. He died in 1891, leaving a wife, Marion Morrell of Savannah, and three children. Frances Martha married George W. Hollinshead. She has six children now living. James Polk Hammond married Mary Ella Hull, of Savannah. He died in Griffin, Ga., in 1902, leaving five sons. Caroline Fort married Chauncey Wright, of Milledgeville. She died in 1898, leaving one son. Eudosia Moore married Robert Adams, a Presbyterian minister, formerly president of the Presbyterian College of South Carolina. They have six children. Sarah Ellen married Irby Adams, of Eatonton, Ga. They had five children, four of whom are still living. There are no members of the Hammond family by that name now living in Baldwin County. The grand-sons of John Hammond who bear his name are: John LeRoy Hammond, of Savannah, Ga.; Henry Hammond of Motts, Ala.; J. Woods Hammond, of Griffin, Ga.; Grattan Hammond, of Macon, Ga.; and Arthur Hammond, of Atlanta, Ga. The only descendants now living in Baldwin County are Mrs. Frances Martha Hollinshead, a daughter and second child, and her children and grandchildren, and one great-grand-daughter, Elizabeth Ann Bell, who is the fifth in line from Abner Hammond, and the ninth in line from the post Captain of British navy, John Hammond, who chose America as his home about two hundred and fifty years ago. Additional Comments: From: Part V HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK ILLUSTRATED ANDERSON. S. C. Keys-Hearn Printing Co. -1925— File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/baldwin/history/other/gms290historyo.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.2 Kb