Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
Lawrence County Pennsylvania 1897
[p. 258] yard conductor for the Pennsylvania R. R., residing at No. 258 West North Street, New Castle, was born in the neighboring county of Beaver, near Freedom, Oct. 11, 1857. His boyhood days were spent in Beaver County until his tenth year, when his parents moved to New Castle, where he continued to attend school for about four more years. When a boy he began a railroad life, first carrying water on the gravel train, and then on the section. He was very strong and well-built for his age, and it was not long before he was doing a full day's work as a laborer on the section. After three or four years on the section gang, he became a brakeman, and continued as such until 1885, since which time he has held the position of yard-conductor with proficiency.
His mother, Nancy (Nealey) Hammond, was born in Beaver County, and was a daughter of John and Betsey (Nealey) Nealey. Grandma Nealey possessed a remarkable memory for names and dates, and for facts she had heard or come across in her reading; this happy faculty was preserved to an extreme old age, and proved of service to her in more than one instance in recalling bygone events. John Nealey, a farmer by choice of occupation, was an esquire for a number of years; his death occurred in 1868, when aged eighty years. Our subject's father, James Hammond, was born in Allegheny County, at Woods Run, Pittsburg; he was a farmer, and lived to be seventy-six years old. In 1866, he began working for the Pennsylvania R. R. in the yards at Lawrence Junction, living in the meanwhile in Mahoningtown. He was in the War of the Rebellion as a member of Co. I, 140th Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf., and saw abundant service in the battles of Bull Run, Gettysburg, etc., and other engagements in which the Army of the Potomac was numbered among the participants. He was a son of William Hammond, who was born in Ireland. Ten children made up the parental family, as follows: John, a yard conductor for the Pennsylvania R. R.; Grace, deceased, James, deceased; William, deceased; Harvey C., our subject; Sadie, the wife of John Cain, a brakeman on the Pennsylvania R. R.; Susan, the wife of John Jones, a painter; Nora, the wife of Charles Davis, a car inspector for the Pennsylvania R. R.'s lines; and Joseph, deceased. Grace, James, and William died in childhood.
Harvey C. Hammond was married in New Castle, in May, 1880, to Hattie Shira, a native of Butler County, and a daughter of William and Margaret Shira. William Shira is a carpenter and contractor of Croton. Mr. and Mrs. Hammond have been blessed with five children, namely: James B., who is in the employ of J. C. Fulkerson, a coal dealer of New Castle; William; Harvey; Carl L.; and Nancy Margaret. Mrs. Hammond is a member of the M. E. Church. Our subject is a Republican in his politics, and socially is a member of Protected Home Circle, New Castle Lodge, No. 5, and Knights of Pythias, Western Star Lodge, No. 160.
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens Lawrence County Pennsylvania
Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
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Updated: 16 May 2001