Wedding Day Portrait of
Willis Lonnie & Pearl Catherine BANDY Hammett
17 Nov 1910, Commerce, Hunt Co, TX

     Our Grandfather, William Alonzo "Lonnie" HAMMETT, was born in 1886 in Conway, Faulkner County, Arkansas, the eldest son of Charles Othello HAMMETT, born 18 Jan 1856 in Tennessee, and Louisiana Alabama "Lucy" HAMMETT, born 10 Apr 1862 in Searcy, White County, Arkansas.

Lucy HAMMETT was the daughter of John Robert HAMMETT, born 1818 in Georgia, and Mary HAMMETT, born 1827 in Georgia, who married in 1843 in Talladega Co, Alabama. In other words, we share no less than Three HAMMETT lines... ()>:)

     On 12 Sep 1967, our grandfather Lonnie wrote the following letter from Wayne, Oklahoma,  to his cousin, Miss Mary Hammett, Claremore, Okla:

"Dear Mary
     No doubt you will be surprised to receive a letter from some one like me. Your brother Richard that lives at Wagones (?) gave me your address a few years ago. I intended to write to you, but somehow I neglected it. We are distant cousins. Your father and my mother was own cousins. Your grandfather Richard Warner Hammett was my grandmother's brother. My grandmother's name was Mary. She married Robert Hammett. I never knew anything about any of his family. My mother's name was Lou Hammett and my father's name was Charlie Hammett. Mother always said that her parents one from Louisiana and the other from Alabama so they named her Louisiana Alabama. So you can see that I have a lot of Hammett about me. Your brother told me that you knew a lot about the family history. We would like very much to know you, and your family. We would love to have a letter from you.
                                                 Sincerely yours
 

                                   s/Lonnie Hammett
                                                                      W. L. Hammett
                                                                        Rte 1 Box 32
                                                                       Wayne, Okla

On 17 Sep 1967, Miss Mary Hammett responded to Lonnie's letter. The first part of the copy of her letter is difficult to decipher fully, but was non-genealogical, and we have, therefore, begun with the part of her letter where the genealogical data began:
 

"...my grandfather, Richard Warner [HAMMETT], a younger brother of Mary, came to Batesville with Mary and her husband, Robert, after his mother died. His father, James, married again & they had children. Nancy, the youngest daughter by the 2nd wife [Nancy TAYLOR], was a correspondent of mine. I started research on the family when just a child. Aunt Nancy died about 1927 and was about 85 years old then. She sent me her grandfather William's family Bible. It had records of the family during the Revolution. Also it was printed in England in 1770. William (of whom I write) my grandfather's grandfather was a captain in the Revolution, also in the War of 1812. He was sent from Georgia (where the family lived) to Biloxi at the time of the Louisiana Purchase as a Government Land Agent. William's son James and wife Sarah [HEAD] went to Mississippi with him. (His  wife [Martha WARNER] had died in Georgia). They lived on a plantation on the Pearl River and not far from Biloxi. They had 1000 acres there. They had their own cotton gin, ??? .. a comfortable home and all that goes with a plantation. My grandfather Richard was born there in 1829. Later they moved to a farm in Taladega County, Alabama. Sincerely, Mary Elizabeth."

Note! We do not have a transcript or copy of the actual bible pages referred to above -- we very much wish we did, of course, so if anyone knows where a copy exists and/or where the bible now is, we'd very much appreciate hearing from you. A number of years ago, the above Miss Mary Elizabeth HAMMETT sent Patty HAMMETT, granddaughter of Lonnie HAMMETT, the following, apparently based on the above-referenced Bible Record:

Lou's children were - Lon, Jim, Tom, Nora, Gertie & Mayette.

 Please correct me if I am wrong -- you will know I'm sure.

Patty's grandfather was Lonnie Hammett
1. Patty's great grandmother was Lou Hammett
2. Patty's great great grandmother was Mary Hammett whose husband was [John] Robert Hammett
3. Patty's great great great grandfather was James Hammett & Sarah Head Hammett
4. Patty's great great great great grandfather was William Hammett & Martha Warner Hammett
5. Patty's great great great great great grandfather was Robert Hammett and Setha Bethel Hammett of Virginia. (Original in possession of Patricia HAMMETT Lawrence)

Robert (Setha BETHEL) Hammett was the son of William HAMMETT II who died in 1777 in Culpeper Co, VA. Robert and Setha BETHEL Hammett were married 7 Feb 1748/9 in Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, VA; both died in Wilkes Co, Georgia.

Yet additional old correspondence exists in reference to our HAMMETT ancestry. Carole Hammett rec'd the following in 1995 from our cousin, Coy H. Hammett:
 

Kanawa, Okla.
October 24, 1995
Dear Carole,
Sorry I don't have a lot of information on our family history but will do the best I can. Enclosed is a letter my grandfather (James Houston Hammett) wrote in May 1823 while visiting in our home. My father was Bob Hammett. He had a brother Jim & sisters Mary, Minnie, Tisshie, & Maggie. My mother was Bell Williamson. Our family was Ray, Effie, Minie, Coy, Dwight & Wilma Jean. One of these letters was written when Grandpa was applying for a Civil War Pension. He was wounded while fighting for the South but lived to be in his eightys. He had a bullet lodged in his skull & it was never removed. Give your Dad [Willis LeeRoy Hammett, born 1914] my regards.

 Sincerely,

 Coy Hammett
(Source: Letter from Coy H. Hammett, R. R. 2 Box 158, Konawa, OK, postmarked 26 Oct 1995, OKC, OK, to Carole Hammett, 1714 Walnut St, Boulder, CO 80302)

Transcription by C. Hammett of copy of letter to Bessie Hammett, Claremore, OK, May 13, 1923 from J. H. Hammett: Francis, Okla.:
 

May the 1st 1923

Dear Bessie Hammett
Claremore, Okla.

 I was somewhat surprised to get a letter from you. Did not know there was such a person living. Hardly knew how to locate you until you spoke about your uncle Ellis. Then I supposed you were James Warner Hammett's daughter. He was a son of my uncle R. W. (Richard Warner) Hammett, mother's brother. Her name was Mary Hammett. Her father's name was James Hammett. My grandmother's name was Head. I don't remember him. I was very small when my parents left Taledega, Alabama. Just a year old when brought to Batesville, Arkansas. My uncle Richard, your grand-father came with them. I never knew anything of my mother's people only what I was told by my mother and father. My mother died shortly after the Civil War broke out. I was in the army when she died. Never got to see her after I went into the war, and our records all got destroyed. All I know about them is what they told me and otheres. Both of my grandfathers were named James Hammett. My grand mother on my father's side was a Brooker. I never saw her. She died before I was born. My parents were both born and raised in Georgia, near Atlanta, I think they emigrated from Virginia. Our great grandparents were all Revolutionaries. My mother told me lots of times about her grandfather telling about the war and about how mad they got when they were talking about the tories. Of course I was glad to hear from you. I learned to love the name of Hammett, but it seems some time they are pretty thinly sown. But there is a right smart patch around in places. Some in every state nearly. I think we are mostly Scotch. My grandmother on my fathers side was French. Her name was Brooker. I have though [t] a great deal of Uncle Dick. We always called him and his family. I am now nearly as old as he was when he died. I think he was about 16 years older than myself when he came to Arkansas with us in 1845. I was born in 1844. I believe I will come to a close for this time until I hear further from you. I was sick all winter at Ocie, Mo. We have a daughter living there and one son here married & he has 3 little chaps, 2 girls and a boy. He is farming and living 6 miles East of Francis. We will stay til the crops are Good laid by. Then we will go back to Henryetta and Okmulgee where we have more folk than you could shake a stick at. I haven't been able to do much for a long time, Don't expect to any more. With best wishes to you all till I hear from you.

As ever
yours

 J. H. Hammett [James Houston Hammett, born 1844 Talladega Co, AL]

Note: James Houston HAMMETT married Frances Emma MASON according to Coy Hammett of Kanewha, OK who writes that the following form was included in James Houston HAMMETT'S Civil War Pension File:

Serial No. 1314 at Okla City

J H Hammett and F. E. Mason was mared August in 1878 at Point Peter, Searcy County Arkansas by Esqr Spurling, Hendrix, JP
Certfide by J H Hammett This the 31st day of March 1924.
s/J. H. Hammett
Pension 5386 Frances Emma Hammett Box 45 Francis Okla

Question:Was Frances Emma MASON descended from James MASON who married MaryBRODERICK, born 20 Oct 1745, Overwharton Parish, Stafford Co, Virginia, daughter of Christopher and Sarah HAMMETT Broderick?

The above letters are, of course, in reference only to the ancestors of Louisiana Alabama [aka "Lucy" or "Lou"] HAMMETT, and her parents, James and Mary HAMMET Hammett, with primary emphasis on the ancestry of her mother, Mary, a descendant of William HAMMETT of Stafford and Culpeper Cos, Virginia (he died Culpeper Co, VA in 1777) , the only of our three HAMMETT lines which we've been able to 'take back' to Virginia thus far (See add'l below).

Our third and most 'mysterious' HAMMETT line (mysterious because it is the one with which we are the most 'lost') is the ancestry of Charles Othello HAMMETT, son of Allen Fields HAMMETT, who was born on 25 Feb 1825 in Tennessee. Our earliest record for Allen Fields HAMMETT is the 1850 Carroll Co, Tennessee Census, 14th Civil District. He removed to Arkansas shortly thereafter, and served as both a private and later as a recruiting officer in Company C of the 10th Arkansas Infantry, Confederate during the Civil War. He died on 10 Mar 1917 in Formosa, Van Buren Co, Arkansas.

Allen Fields HAMMETT married (1) probably in Tennessee before 1850, Gillian Angelina TRAYWICK, born 1831 in Tennessee, who died in Clinton, Van Buren Co, Arkansas, shortly after the onset of the Civil War. Issue: Frances Mary, Charles Othello, Allen Fields (Jr.), James J., Rebecca, Susan A. Merrick, Arminta and Thomas Fields. We have no information about possible siblings for Allen Fields HAMMETT, nor have we been able to find any records of a genealogical nature in Carroll County, Tennessee, that would appear to tie him to any HAMMETTS there. According to his grandson, our grandfather, William A. "Lonnie" HAMMETT, his parents were not related and their families had not known each other prior to Charles Othello HAMMETT meeting Louisiana Alabama "Lucy" in Arkansas. That seemed somewhat improbable given that HAMMETT is not exactly a common surname; however, from what we've learned thus far, Grandpop was absolutely correct (not unexpected actually -- Grandpa was always precise, correct and a perfectionist in everything).

The 1830 Carroll Co, TN Census includes a John HAMET (00001-10001) on Page 179, Line 11. On Line 17 of that same page is a John TRAYWICH, but we have not yet followed up on that 'slim clue.' In 1840, two HAMMETTS appear on the Carroll Co, TN census, both on Page 74, a James and a Nathaniel HAMIT, whom we have not yet identified. Allen Fields HAMMETT married (2) bef 1910, Eliza FELLOWS, by whom he had issue, Violet HAMMETT, about which we have no further data. Eliza FELLOWS Hammett applied for a widow's pension after her husband's death in 1917. Allen Fields HAMMETT and Gillian Angelina TRAYWICK had the following children:

2 i. Frances Mary HAMMETT was born in 1849 in Tennessee.
3 ii. Charles Othello HAMMETT was born in 1856 in Tennessee or Arkansas.
4 iii. Allen Fields HAMMETT II was born in 1858 in Arkansas.
5 iv. James J HAMMETT was born in 1859.
6 v. Rebecca HAMMETT was born in 1863 in Arkansas.
7 vi. Susan A Merrick HAMMETT was born in 1867 in Arkansas.
8 vii. Arminta HAMMETT was born in 1867 in Arkansas.
9 viii. Thomas Fields HAMMETT was born in 1868.

Note: The above is incomplete -- the beginning of our planned HAMMETT postings. We hope you enjoy and would appreciate very much, of course, hearing from other HAMMETT researchers.

Sincerely, Carole Hammett and Patty Hammett-Lawrence
Email: carhammett@mindspring.com

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