DEACON
JOHN HAMMOND
A paper read by C.A. Hammond, Esq.
at the annual Hammond picnic
held at Marathon, August 31, 1877
Cortland, N.Y.
We have assembled to keep alive the memory of our
common ancestor, Dea. John Hammond, who came to this town
from Suffolk county, L.I., in April 1813. He was then 47
years of age, and had quite a large family consisting of
ten children, one of whom was married and remained on
Long Island.
At that early day the emigrant came, not by cars in a
few hours' time but by sailing vessel on the Hudson river
to Catskill, thence by ox-team and several days toilsome
journey through the woods and over the primitive roads to
Marathon. He came in company with an old friend, Dea.
Gerhard, who had already purchased a farm with a house on
it, near the spot on which our ancestor settled.
The farm on which we are now assembled was his first
residence, but he afterwards removed to the farm now
occupied as a residence by one of his youngest sons,
Samuel Hammond, 1 ½ miles above Marathon Village. On
this farm he lived until his death, Feb'y 2, 1843. He was
widely known and universally esteemed for his sterling
integrity, his practical good sense, and his devoted
self-denying christian spirit. Although his official
position was only that of a Deacon in the Baptist church,
he was regarded with much of the veneration and respect
which is bestowed on a worthy Minister of the Gospel. I
well remember that when, as a boy, I attended the old
Baptist church at Freetown Corners, Dea. Hammond, when
occasionally present, used to be often called upon by the
pastor at the close of the sermon to make the closing
prayer, which he did, with a simple fervor, fluency, zeal
and capacity which interested and edified all who heard
him. He was a downright good man, in the true sense of
the word. Not simply pious and Godly, but a good and true
man in all the relations of his life. He loved his fellow
men whom he had seen, as well as his God whom he had not
seen, and aimed in all his dealings with others to do as
he would be done by. He was no fawning office-seeker,
ready to change his opinions to suit the popular
currents, but he held his opinions conscientiously and
earnestly, and would have yielded up his life sooner than
his integrity and uprightness. His habits were simple and
wholesome. Through not what is called now-a-days a
tetotaler, as few in those early days were, he was always
temperate in all things, never giving loose rein to any
of his appetites, in passion, but making them obey what
he deemed to be the voice of reason, conscience and God.
His devoted christian wife was every way worthy of
him. From the time when, before she was fifteen, she
became his true and loving wife, until seventy-six years
later, she died on the old farm at Marathon, she was the
same honest-hearted, clear-headed, noble, christian
woman. My recollections of her are uniformly pleasant, as
undoubtedly those of most of us are, as she died so
recently most of us remember her. Her favorite books were
the Bible and Pilgrim's Progress and her quotations from
both were copious and generally correct. She cared
comparatively little for religious forms, but she
appreciated and was possess by the true religious spirit
of love to God and love to Humanity. May we, their
descendants, long remember and emulate the solid virtues
of such progenitors.
Dea. John Hammond lived to a good old age,
seventy-seven, and had the medical skill of the present
day been at hand, perhaps he might have lived much
longer. His honored wife lived to be ninety-one, and many
of their offspring have attained advanced age.
Lengths of days is spoken of in the Bible as one of
the rewards of a righteous life, and there is a natural
connection between longevity and virtue. As passion, vice
and crime tend to shorten, so do temperance, virtue and
honesty tend to lengthen human life.
These worthy ancestors of ours were the parents of
fourteen children, six of whom are now living.
JOHN lives in Michigan, at the advanced age of
eighty-six, and retains his faculties of mind and body to
a remarkable degree, and spends much of his time in
reading the Bible without glasses. His descendants,
living and dead, number seventy, viz: ten children,
thirty-one grand-children, and twenty-nine
great-grand-children, nearly all of whom are living.
CALVIN lives in Marathon, aged eighty, still retaining
to a remarkable degree, considerable vigor of body and
mind, taking an interest in public affairs, healthy,
temperate, honest and sensible, a worthy son of a noble
sire. He has three living children, and six living
grand-children; one child and four grand-children having
died.
SILAS, aged seventy-eight, lives in Freetown and is
still full of vigor and activity, mental and bodily,
having been for many years actively engaged in the
benevolent and reformatory movements, as well as having
been in the early part of his life an active and
successful man of business. He has three children and
three grand-childred now living, have lost four
grand-children by death.
ZOPHAR D. lives in Michigan, aged seventy three, and
is now in quite comfortable health, having been the
father of fourteen children, and the grand-father of
eighteen grand-children, nearly all of whom are now
living. He is a good man and a worthy citizen, having
been chosen by his neighbors to fill some responsible
position.
SAMUEL lives on the old homestead in Marathon, where
both of his parents spent their last days, and you all
know him to be a good citizen, and an honored and
honorable member of society. He has had five children,
three of whom, and one grand-child are still living.
JOSEPH lives in Kansas, a good and true man from his
youth up, and has six children and five grand children.
Of those who have departed this life, LUCRETIA and
OLIVER died in infancy. NOAH was killed by being
accidentally thrown from a wagon on September, 1856, aged
48. He had resided in Michigan many years and was a
reputable citizen. From him descended seven children,
twenty-eight grand-children, and six
great-grand-children. PHOEBE died November 15, 1862, aged
52, having spend her life mostly in Marathon, a faithful
daughter, and affectionate sister, a loving wife, a fond
mother, leaving one daughter, who has had two children
ELECTA died at Marathon March 14, 1866, aged 60, having
also nobly filled all the relations of daughter, sister,
wife and mother, and leaving four children and eight
grand-children. SALLY, who had always lived on Long
Island, died there July 8th, 1872, aged 78. She, too, was
a worthy daughter of such parents, and had nine children,
twenty-five grand-children and thirteen
great-grand-children. George W. died at Marathon July 27,
1874, aged 62. He had eight children and five
grand-children, and left behind him an honored name.
LUTHER died at McGrawville, N.Y., January 12, 1876. He
had twelve children and twenty two grand-children, and
was also an honest, industrious man, and a useful
citizen.
To Recapitulate: - Dea. John Hammond was father of
fourteen children, grand-father of eighty three
grand-children, great-grand-father of one hundred and
sixty three great grand-children, and
great-great-grandfather of forty-eight great
great-grand-children. Making in all descended from him in
the direct line, three hundred and eight persons.
His character and individuality have been, of course,
in a greater or less degree stamped upon all these human
beings. If he can look down upon us from the bright
abodes of the blest, with what varied emotions must he
behold our toils and struggles, our conflicts with
temptation, our victories or defeats! Let us live
continually as under his serene and fatherly eye! Let us
be thankful for whatever we have been able to accomplish
in the way of forming good and pure characters, and
developing strong and efficient bodies and minds.
:"Better is he that ruleth his own spirit than he
that taketh a city." Let us be thankful, too, for
whatever we have been able to do in the way of aiding our
fellow men in the great conflict of life; for whatever we
have been able to do in resisting popular and powerful
wrongs, and in championing the cause of the oppressed and
the outraged.
The World and God have a right to expect more of us,
their posterity, on account of the virtues of our
ancestors. If we fall from the heights on which we are
placed by that ancestry, far greater will be our shame
than if we had sprung from a degenerate race. As our
noble ancestor hewed away the primitive forests which
covered the soil when he came to Marathon, let us hew
away the growths of ages of ignorance, superstition and
sensuality, and prepare the soil of public sentiment for
the growths of wisdom and purity. As he pioneered the way
physically to better conditions, let us pioneer the way
morally to higher planes of thought and life.
It is said that no descendant of Dea. John Hammond has
ever been a drunkard. Let all his living descendants
swear eternal hostility to the vice of intemperance and
to the infamous system of licensing the sale of
intoxicating poisons.
Our ancestor was a deeply religious man. Let us,
though differing in respect to dogmas and forms all be
permeated and vitalized by that high purpose to make the
world the better for our having lived in it, which is the
soul of all true religion.
Since our last annual gathering one of the youngest of
our members, one of the brightest and best, full of
youth, and hope, and promise, the hope and pride of his
parents and friends, has gone, suddenly and without
warning, from all that he held dear on earth, and from
all who loved him, like the morning star "that goes
not down behind the darkened west, nor hides itself,
obscured by clouds, but melts away into the light of
heaven."
Who shall next be called? Let us be also ready.
That when at length our summons come to join the
innumerable caravan that go to take their station in the
silent halls of shade,
We go not like the galley slave, scourged to his dungeon,
But sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,
Approach our grave as one that wraps the drapery of his
couch about him
And lies down to pleasant dreams.
Story provided by,
Maxine Buckman
March, 2000
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