Charles W. Ham Biography from History of Rockingham County, NH From: Bill Prokasy - wprokasy@arches.uga.edu Surname: HAM Source: History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1915 Page 1159 CHARLES W. HAM, of Portsmouth, N. H., is proprietor of Ham's Restaurant and Cafe on High Street, an establishment which needs no intro- duction to the people of this city nor its visitors. The excellence of its serv- ice, the quality of food served, the absolute freshness of its vegetables (these coming direct from Mr. Ham's own truck garden) have given to it a fore- most place among the eating places of this section of New England. Mr. Ham was born in Portsmouth, N. H., January 22, 1864, and is a son of George H. and Josephine (Gray) .Ham, both of whom were born and lived their lives in Portsmouth. The father was a mason by trade and was a good home-loving man, devoted to his family. The children of this family were Charles W ., Addie S., deceased wife of Charles E. Willey; and Eliza- beth, wife of Frank Parsons. Charles W. Ham attended the common schools until he was fourteen years old. He made his start learning the restaurant business when sixteen and his career since has been interwoven with that of the hotel and restaurant business. May 23, 1914, marked his twenty-second year in his cafe on High Street. A man of ability and foresight, he early realized that in his business quality and good service, combined with careful management, were the at- tributes essential to success. His success has been merited. Mr. Ham was in 1888 joined in marriage with Cecelia Salmon of Ports- mouth, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Carey) Salmon. Her father fol- lowed the trade of boiler maker. She was one of seven children: Thomaas, deceased; James, deceased; Mary, wife of E. S. Vail; Cecelia ( Mrs. Ham ); Margaret, widow of J. H. Kirvan; Esther, wife of C. S. Pike; and Kitty, wife of Frank Tilton. Mr. and Mrs. Ham have the following children: Wesley, who married Gladys Broett; Harold, who married Helen L. Shan- non; Cecelia; George and Charles. Mr. Ham is a member of the B. P. 0. E., the Knights of Pythias, and the Portsmouth Athletic Club. Religiously, the family is Catholic. Mr. Ham resides on his country estate of five acres, which is located on Page 1160 Middle Road, Portsmouth, N. H. This farm has been in the Ham family over 200 years. Mr. Ham's residence, one of the finest in Portsmouth, is an old Colonial homestead, but Mr. Ham completely remodeled it and it is now one of the finest and most comfortable in the city. Mr. Ham devotes considerable of his time to the farm. He, however, does not slight his cafe, but directs the management of the cafe. ********************************************************************** * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * *The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.