Scope and Contents:
This collection contains correspondence from and about Robert Hammond Sr., typescript of and notes relating to those correspondence, and family history information about the Hammonds. The Hammonds were an Irish family that immigrated to the United States through New York City in 1859. Members of the family would go on to live in Illinois, Iowa, New Jersey, the Dakota territory, and Alabama.
Robert Hammond Sr. emigrated from Castleblayney, Ireland to New York City in 1859 with his wife Nancy Anne Nelson and their first four children, Matthew, John, Robert Jr., and Sarah. Their fifth child, George, was born following the family’s arrival to New York. Hammond Sr. served in New York units during the Civil War, first for three months and then for three years. During this time, his wife died. Following her death, their three younger children, Robert Jr., Sarah, and George, were put in the New York Juvenile Asylum orphanage. Robert Jr. and George were bound out (sent as indentured servants) to Jacob L. and John Smith, farmers near Duncan Mills, Illinois. Sarah was sent to live with a family in Iowa. Following the Civil War, Robert Hammond Sr. was stationed in the Dakota Territory. Later, he worked on a plantation or engaged in garden farming in Whitesburg, Alabama, a town near Huntsville. Towards the end of his life, Robert Hammond Sr. was cared for by I.C. Underwood in Huntsville, Alabama, where Hammond Sr. died on April 30, 1874.
This collection contains correspondence to and from Robert Hammond Sr. from 1867 -1874. The letters from 1867 include correspondence between Robert Hammond Sr. and John Smith regarding Hammond’s “bound out” sons. Robert Hammond Sr. also writes to his elder sons, Matthew and John, in 1867 about paying Hammond Sr.’s New York creditors, and the harsh weather and conflicts with Native Americans that Hammond Sr. faced on the Dakota frontier. The correspondence from 1872-1874 is primarily comprised of letters between Robert Hammond Sr. and his sons Robert Jr., Matthew, and John. The final two letters from 1874, written in May and October, are from I.C. Underwood to Matthew Hammond. These letters reference Robert Hammond Sr.’s death and are requests for payment for Underwood’s service in caring for Hammond Sr. prior to his death.
This collection also contains materials relating to the family history of the Hammonds including typed transcriptions of the correspondence included in this collection, family background notes, and a DVD copy of Robert Hammond’s letters, transcripts, and other materials.
This collection also includes miscellaneous papers relating to the Hammond family. Such papers include a letter written by Sarah Packard Andrew, Robert Hammond Sr.’s daughter, sent to Robet Hammond Jr.’s widow correcting information from a newspaper obituary of Robert Hammond Jr.; envelopes for letters sent to Matthew and Robert Hammond Jr.; a copy of Robert Hammond Sr.’s army recruitment form; copies of photographs; and a report of the New York Juvenile Asylum from 1881.
The collection was donated to the Library in 2012 by Robert Hammond Sr.'s great-grandson, Dr. Charles Hammond Jr. of Key West, Florida, who received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
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