Blair County PA Archives Biographies.....Hammond, William S. February 24, 1851 - ????
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Judy Banja http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000757 January 13, 2025, 6:43 pm

Source: Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Philadelphia, 1892.
Author: Samuel T. Wiley

WILLIAM S. HAMMOND, 
The law as a profession has many able representatives in Pennsylvania, and in
the central part of the State has drawn to its ranks men of education and
ability, and among those in Altoona who have made a life study and a life
work of the profession of law is William S. Hammond.  He is a son of Henry K.
and Jane (Davis) Hammond, and was born on the farm of his paternal
grandfather, William Hammond, opposite Cove forge, in Catharine township,
Blair county, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1851.  The Hammond and Davis
families are among the old and early settled families of the county, and
while the former is of
English-Irish lineage, the latter is of English blood alone. William Hammond
and William Hammond, Jr., the grandfather of William S, Hammond, were natives
of Virginia and became early settler on the territory of Blair county. 
William Hammond Jr. was a forgeman by trade, but was engaged chiefly in
farming during the latter part of his life.  He was a republican in politics
and died in 1871, aged seventy one years.  His son, Henry K. Hammond
(father), was born in 1822 and followed farming in Woodbury township until
1890, when he came to Altoona, where he has been living a retired life ever
since.  While a resident of Woodbury township, in addition to farming, he was
manger of Franklin forge for ten years and in 1855 and 1856 was in the
mercantile business with Adolphus Patterson, at Williamsburg.  He was a
republican in politics and a member of the Presbyterian church, and married
Jane Davis, a native of this county and a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, who died in 1866 in the forty-fourth year of her age.  She was a
daughter of George Davis, who was native of Huntingdon county, afterward
became an early settler of this county, and served as a soldier in the
American army along the northern frontier during the war of 1812.
      William S. Hammond was reared on the farm, and received his education
in the common schools, Wil1iamsburg academy, and Dickinson seminary, of
Wil1iamsport, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in a classical course at
commencement, in June, 1874.  Leaving school he entered the employ of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and was appointed clerk in the motive power
department, which position he held until 1877, when he resigned.  At the same
time that he entered the service of the railroad company he also registered as
a student of law with Neff & Clark, who were the solicitors at Altoona for the
Pennsylvania railroad and gave all of his spare time to the study of his
profession.  When he had completed the required course of reading he resigned
his position on the railroad, and in March 1877 was admitted to the Blair
county bar.  Immediately after admission he opened an office in Altoona,
where he has built up a good law practice.  From 1884 to 1890 he was in
partnership with W. P. Mervine, under the firm name of Mervine & Hammond, but
since the last named year has continued by himself, and now practices before
the different courts of this and other counties, in which he tries
successfully a large number of important and intricate cases.  Mr. Hammond is
a republican in political sentiment and a member of the Presbyterian church. 
He is also a member of Cresson Council, No. 108, Junior Order of United
American Mechanics, which was organized in Altoona on September 21, 1870.  In
the political field he was always yielded a cheerful and hearty support to the
nominees and principles of his party, and served in 1888, as a delegate from
the twentieth congressional district to the National republican convention at
Chicago, which nominated Benjamin Harrison as a candidate for the presidency
of the United States.
      On June 20, 1875 Williams S. Hammond was united in marriage with Annie
M. Hileman, of Altoona.  To their union have been born six children, five
sons and one daughter: William S. jr., Mary J., Paul, James Blaine, George
Davis, and John.    

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2001. Transcribed by Esther McDermott emamcd@erols.com

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