More Early Pioneers: The Hammond Family

Elizabeth Hammond McDonel’s father was William Hammond. He was born in Hagerstown, Maryland on November 26, 1822. He married Miss Jane House, in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania on December 14, 1845. After their marriage they moved to Wisconsin for sixteen years then immigrated to the Deer Lodge Valley. In 1875 they moved to Philipsburg, where he owned and operated local stages. William died February 23, 1896, at the age of seventy three years and three months, after being an invalid for two years. His funeral cortege began at the family home on California Street and traveled to the Methodist church, where services were held by Rev. Wm. B. Coombe, assisted by Rev. Charles Quinney and Rev. C.H. Grabe. The gathering then moved to the Philipsburg cemetery where he was laid to rest beside his wife Jane. William’s, obituary stated he left a valuable estate that would be divided among the children that survived him. 

According to the Philipsburg Mail, the stages William operated were: From Philipsburg to Drummond which he operated with James McDonel. He bought this route from a man named Taylor; From Philipsburg to Anaconda which he operated with Giles Brownell; and the stage line between Philipsburg and Granite, which he operated under the name Wm. Hammond and Company. 

Research found the obituaries of Elizabeth’s mother Jane and brother George. Jane cared for William for eighteen months while he was too feeble to assist himself and was at his bedside until only a few days before her death. She was sixty seven years of age and the day she died was their fiftieth wedding anniversary, December 13, 1895. Survivors were: her husband, her four daughters in Montana (see George’s obituary below) and son Tuecer in Wisconsin. The funeral was held at the Methodist Church on December 14, with Rev. Wm. B. Coombe officiating. She was interred in the Philipsburg cemetery. 

According to his obituary in the Philipsburg Mail, George Hammond died at his parent’s home on March 22, 1890, after a lingering illness of five months, at the age of forty. He was an athlete and horseman with a world record for sprinting the 100 yard in nine and three-fourth seconds. He left a wife and daughter Maude; parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Hammond; sisters: Mrs. Joseph Hyde, Mrs. E McDonel, Mrs. Wm. Coleman and Mrs. W.J. Matthews of Philipsburg and brother Tuecer of Wisconsin. 

George’s daughter Maude, born in Philipsburg on January 31, 1884, graduated from the Philipsburg High School in 1901. She married Fred Geiger on January 30, 1904. Fred was also a Philipsburg native. After their marriage in Missoula, they took a short honeymoon and then established a home in Philipsburg. Maude gave birth to a baby boy on January 7, 1905, with puerperal fever developing shortly after birth. The baby died on January 11 and Maude died at 11 o’clock p.m., on January 12. A service at the home and graveside was performed by Rev. W.H. Pascoe on January 15. Survivors were her husband, Fred; mother, Mrs. M.O. Hankins and a number of aunts and cousins living in Philipsburg, Deer Lodge, Butte, Anaconda and Seattle. 

Fred then married Josephine Eiger in Butte in 1906. Although Maude’s obituary stated Fred was a Philipsburg native, he actually immigrated from Germany in 1885 at the age of seven. Fred will be discussed in another article. 

Elizabeth’s uncle, James Hammond was another prominent person in the community. He was one of the original locators of the famous Golden Sceptre group of mines in Quigley and received $10,000 for his share. He died while on a train between Fargo and Bismarck, North Dakota, on July 7, 1896. His physician had advised him to attain treatment at a Philadelphia hospital, after being in poor health for about one year. His brother-in-law W.P. Ketchum, from Milwaukie had come west to help James with his business interests and attended to his estate, as James still owned one-third interest in valuable mines adjacent to the Golden Sceptre mines. Born in West Newton, Pennsylvania in 1828, he came to California in 1850. By the mid fifties he had moved to Nevada where he made and lost a fortune in mining. In 1864 he came to Alder Gulch and then moved on to Henderson Gulch and Bearmouth. Next, he partnered with a man named Sloss in Arasta Gulch, near Georgetown, when Cable was in full swing. The August 6, 1896, obituary, in the Philipsburg Mail, does not state any survivors or the disposal of his remains. There is no record of burial in the Philipsburg cemetery. Research fails to find any Federal Census records of James. He must have always been busy prospecting when the census was taken!