Hugh Barnette HAMMOND
1849 - 1921 (72 years)
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Name Hugh Barnette HAMMOND Buried SEC SE 1/4, LOT 27 Wymore Cemetery, Wymore, Gage Co, NE 
[1] Born 4 Mar 1849 Pike Co, MO [2] Gender Male Residence SINCE 1891 Wymore, Gage Co, NE [2] Residence 1891 Pine Bluff, Jefferson Co, AR [3] Census 1900, 1910, 1920 Wymore, Gage Co, NE Occupation train dispatcher [2, 4, 5] Residence (IN YOUTH) West Union, Doddridge Co, WV Died 7 Aug 1921 Wymore, Gage Co, NE Notes - Obituary, Beatrice Daily Sun (Beatrice, Nebraska), Sunday, 14 Aug 1921
WYMORE MAN HAD A VARIED CAREER
Death of Hugh B. Hammond Recalls Incidents of a Long and Interesting Life
Hugh Barnette Hammond was born March 4, 1849, at Timbuctoo Creek, Pike County, Mo.
While just a babe, his father joined a caravan bound for the gold fields of California. In crossing the state of Utah, they were attacked by the Mormons and Indians, at which time his mother was killed. He with his brothers and sisters were given by their father to members of the party who cared for them. A few years later his father reclaiming them returned east and settled in West Union, W.Va., where Mr. Hammond spent the early part of his life as a real mountaineer and always considered West Union his home.
While still in his teens, he began to shift for himself, at one time teaching a small mountain school. But not content to remain in one locality, he began to travel and plied up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers employed on steamboats, finally drifting back to Missouri where he worked on a farm near Joplin, which at that time was only a small frontier town.
One day while on his way to visit a neighbor, he came across a fellow traveler who was endeavoring to drive a stake near the side of the road for the purpose of tying his horses, but failing to penetrate through the hardness, passed on.
Mr. Hammond the next day on his return met people hurrying back and forth as if wild. Stopping to inquire, he was told of the rich lead strike which a prospector had just found, it having been disclosed where Mr. Hammond and his fellow traveler had been trying to drive the stake the day before. That was the beginning of Joplin.
From there he went back to West Virginia, and while loitering aimlessly around a small wayside railway station, the agent decided to put him to work and asked if he would watch the office while he went to town. At that time the messages were typed on strips of paper, it was only essential that one could send, as he could decipher the messages later. The agent very briefly lined the work and left, leaving Mr. Hammond in full charge.
The next day he failed to return. The click of the instrument began to fascinate him greatly, so he set about to work it out, and by that evening could send quite well. A few days passed and the agent failed to return. He knew that he had at least discovered his vocation and set in with full force to master telegraphy.
The deciphering of the messages from type seemed too slow to him, so he began to train his ear to catch the letters. In a remarkably short time, he had mastered the receiving of messages by ear. Several months passed before it was known by officials that the agent had gone and Mr. Hammond was in charge. Becoming restless in his wayside station, he began to hunt work in larger offices.
Knew Famous Men
His life at this time was very eventful, having much personal experience with Edison, Frick and Carnegie, Edison having worked in many of the same offices with him as telegraph operator. He delighted to tell of experiences the offices had with Edison, as invariably he (Edison) would keep the batteries and wires out of order trying always to work out some experiment or find something new. He also related many little incidents with Carnegie before he even began his career. At the time of the Centennial in Philadelphia, he was working in Pittsburgh when the call came for a competent man to handle the trains. Mr. Hammond was the one chosen and sent with high recommendations.
He became interested and applied himself to the study of chess, becoming very efficient and renowned, having won many honors in chess tournaments, playing several games blindfolded, at which he was successful. He also carried on many correspondence games with players of note.
Again he drifted west and went to Lincoln when it was just a small town and was employed as operator by the Burlington when that road was first beginning to extend their lines through Nebraska.
Finally he landed in Mexico, locating in the city of Old Mexico where he held the position of train master and assistant superintendent for some years. Returning to the states, he settled in Pine Bluff, Ark., where he met and married Anna Salome Braunig of Baton Rouge, La., in 1891.
The same year he came to Wymore as train dispatcher, which position he held until three years ago, when sickness forced him to retire in 1918.
Since that time, he has been a constant sufferer of diabetes, yet through all his sickness he retained his keen mind and wonderful personality and delighted those who were fortunate enough to hear him relate some of his life's experiences, of which he had many and varied.
Mr. Hammond held the distinction of having one of the most efficient records of service in this division and was highly esteemed by all, whether they knew him personally or by wire.
He also was a great lover of music and was never happier than when he could have musicians gather at this home to play for him.
Early in life he associated himself with the Seventh Day Advents, taking up the study of the Bible, especially the Prophesies.
One of his most marked characteristics was his keen sense of humor.
Death came to him while asleep Sunday morning, August 7, 1921.
He leaves to mourn his loss, besides his widow, a daughter, Mrs. Harry J. Skow, of Beatrice, and a son Hugh D. O. Hammond of Holbrook, Ariz. Also one brother, John Hammond, of West Union, W.Va.
Person ID I67660 Doddridge County Roots Last Modified 23 Apr 2021
Father John Taylor HAMMOND, b. CA 1799, Winchester, VA , d. 25 Mar 1864 (Age ~ 65 years) Mother Hulda BAILEY, b. Virginia (now West Virginia) , d. California Family ID F15234 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Anna Salome BRAUNIG, b. 9 Feb 1857, Alsace, France , d. 3 Nov 1939, Grants Pass, Josephine Co, OR (Age 82 years) Married 5 Jan 1891 Pine Bluff, Jefferson Co, AR [3, 6] Notes - 1900 Census, Gage Co, Nebraska (City of Wymore), enumerated on Jun 8 1900:
Hugh B. Hammond, 55, b. Mar 1845 in WVa (parents' birthplaces blank), train dispatcher, married 9 yrs; wife Anna S, 43, b. Feb 1857 in France (father b. Germany, mother b. France), immigrated 1858, married 9 yrs, mother of 3 children (2 still living); dau Dora A, 8, b. Oct 1891 in Arkansas; son Hugh D, 7, b. Feb 1893 in Nebraska; sister-in-law Amelia Litty, 44, b. Oct 1855 in France, nurse, widowed, mother of 2 children (both still living); nephew Frederick S. Litty, 22, b. Aug 1877 in Louisiana, single, telegraph operator; nephew Joseph A. Litty, 20, b. Feb 1880 in Louisiana, single, messenger.
NOTE: Despite his entries in the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Hugh Hammond was not born in West Virginia. His obituary states his birthplace as Pike County, Missouri, but indicates that he spent much of his youth in West Virginia. His son Hugh's 1930 Census entry states his father's birthplace as Tennessee and his mother's as France.
1910 Census, Gage Co, Nebraska (City of Wymore), enumerated on Apr 18/19 1910:
H. B. Hammond, 58, b. WVa (father's birthplace "unknown," mother b. in U.S.), train dispatcher on railroad, married 19 yrs; wife Anna S, 52, b. German/French (both parents German/French), immigrated 1858, married 19 yrs, mother of 2 children (both still living); dau Dora A, 18, b. Arkansas, single; son Hugh D O, 17, b. Nebraska, single, office boy for railroad; sister-in-law Mrs. A. Letty, 53, b. German/French, immigrated 1858, nurse, married 34 yrs, mother of 2 children (both still living); nephew J. R. Letty, 29, b. Louisiana, single, telegraph operator for railroad; roomer Edward Dennett, 23, Irish, single, call boy.
1920 Census, Gage Co, Nebraska (City of Wymore), enumerated on Jan 9 1920 at 822 9th Street:
H. B. Hammond, 70, b. Missouri (father b. Va, mother b. WVa), no occupation; wife Anna S, 62, b. France (both parents b. France); dau Dora, 28, b. Arkansas, single, music teacher; 2nd head of household Joseph Litty, 39, b. Louisiana, single, railroad conductor; mother Amelia Litty, 64, b. France, widowed.
Children 1. Dora A. HAMMOND, b. 2 Oct 1891, Arkansas , d. 10 Aug 1966, Multnomah Co, OR (Age 74 years)2. Hugh Doras Ouida HAMMOND, b. 6 Feb 1893, Nebraska , d. 30 Apr 1966 (Age 73 years)Family ID F57606 Group Sheet | Family Chart
- Obituary, Beatrice Daily Sun (Beatrice, Nebraska), Sunday, 14 Aug 1921
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