Contra
Costa County
Biographies
JAMES
W. HAMMOND, M.D.
JAMES
W. HAMMOND, M.D. By reason of his
intimate connection with the professional interests of Byron and his
association with movements tending to promote the progress of the place,
Dr. Hammond is recognized as one of the influential citizens of this
growing village of Contra Costa county.
Although the greater portion of his life has been spent in California,
and he is a true and patriotic son of the state, he is
of eastern lineage and Wisconsin nativity.
His father, William P. Hammond, who was a man of superior
mechanical ability, was born at Haddam, Conn., March 20, 1811, and grew to
manhood in New York and Indiana. At an
early age he displayed the possession of inventive genius and his natural
tastes led him into mechanics. While
working as a cabinet maker he manufactured a unique and handsome table, which
was presented to Daniel Webster, and highly appreciated by that statesman. Among the various patents which he secured or
endeavored to secure was one on a revolver of his own invention. This he entrusted to a man to take to
Washington, D.C., for the purpose of taking the necessary steps for a
patent. On his return the man claimed to
have lost the model on a boat. Shortly
afterward the now celebrated Colt revolver was patented, and it proved to be an
exact reproduction of his model.
However, he was unable to prove his claim and so lost a patent that
would have brought him fame and fortune.
For some years he made his home in Wisconsin, and from that state came
to California during the excitement caused by the discovery of gold. After his arrival in Sacramento in 1850 he
conducted a saddlery and also became financially interested in mining. Success came to him in sufficient measure to
justify the establishment of a home of his own.
Returning to Wisconsin he there married Miss Emily Barrett, who was born
August 30, 1835, in the state of New York.
The
Hammond family came to California in 1860 and settled in Napa City, where
Mr. Hammond conducted a gunsmith’s shop and also did considerable work as
a cabinet-maker. During his residence
there he invented and patented an ore-crushing machine known as the W. P.
Hammond ore crusher, the patent for which is now owned by Dr. Hammond, his
brother, Harry T., and his sister, Mrs. P. T. Turner, of
Stockton. Until his death, which
occurred June 23, 1888, Mr. Hammond maintained a constant interest in
mechanical devices and patents, especially such as were similar in purport to
his own inventions. The death of his
wife occurred August 30, 1891. They
were the parents of five children, namely:
James W., of Byron; Oliver P., deceased; Harry T., of San
Francisco; Frederick R., who died in infancy; and Mrs. Lydia R.
Turner, whose husband is a dentist in Stockton.
At the time of coming to California Dr. Hammond was a child of only
four years, hence he entertains but vague
recollections of his Wisconsin home and the long journey across the
plains. As a boy he attended the public
schools in Napa, receiving such advantages as they afforded. With a broad grasp of mind, he constantly
endeavored to expand his scope of learning.
The acquirement of knowledge was his ambition. With a decided leaning toward the medical
profession he earnestly desired to enter upon its study, but the way did not
seem clear for some time. Meanwhile he
became a professional nurse, studying for eighteen months in the
St. Helena Sanitarium. From that
work he entered upon the study of materia medica, graduating in 1897 from the California Medical
College of San Francisco. His thorough
knowledge of nursing proved helpful to him in his professional studies and
earlier work as an active practitioner.
Immediately after his graduation he engaged in his profession in San
Francisco, but in 1898 came to Byron, Contra Costa county,
where he has since made his home. The
practice that he has established extends into all the surrounding country. Necessarily it entails upon the doctor a
large amount of driving, frequent night trips, and other hardships that test
even a robust physique, but he shrinks from no hardship that will bring relief
from pain to a suffering patient.
Professional zeal is one of his leading characteristics, and the science
of therapeutics has no disciple more devoted than he.
There
being no drug store in this part of Contra Costa county, Dr. Hammond
carries in his office a complete stock of drugs and medicines and fills all of
his prescriptions. It is a matter of
importance to him to keep driving horses able to endure long drives, and with
this object in view he has raised a number of standard-bred roadsters, both for
sale and for his own use, that have no superiors in the entire county. In his stables he now has the finest type of
brood mare, stallion and standard bred colts.
During the period of his residence in San Francisco he was actively
identified with the San Francisco County society of Physicians and Surgeons, in
which he still holds membership. At this
writing, in addition to the management of his large private practice he acts as
medical examiner for the local lodges of Ancient Order of United Workmen and
Native Sons of the Golden West, also examiner for the Prudential and New York
Life Insurance Companies. By his
marriage to Ida Hiserman, who was born and reared in
California, he has one son, William Theodore, a lad of fine mind and great
promise.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 386-389. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.
Contra Costa County Biographies