San Francisco County
Biographies
WENDELL
COOPER HAMMON
Numbered among the business executives of prominence in San Francisco is Wendell Cooper Hammon, who is vice president of the Hammon Engineering Company, and is also affiliated as an officer or director in a group of other notable organizations. He was born in Oakland, California, February 23, 1890, and is a son of Wendell P. and Mary Augusta (Kenney) Hammon.
Mr. Hammon is descended directly from old English stock, and progenitors of his family settled in Providence, Rhode Island, about the year 1726. His father, Wendell P. Hammon, was born May 23, 1854, in Conneautville, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, a son of Marshall M. and Harriett S. (Cooper) Hammon. He received his education in the grammar schools of his birthplace and at the State Normal School in Edinboro, Erie county, Pennsylvania. In 1875, he came to California and settled in Butte county. He first engaged in the nursery business there, and soon became widely known as an expert horticulturist. His orchards in the vicinity of Oroville became the most extensive in the northern part of the state. However, while laboring in this vocation, he discovered shining particles of gold in the loose gravel, and thereby the whole economic course of his career changed. He immediately began mining operations, which grew steadily, and soon there were several dredging companies organized in the Oroville field and likewise a system of placer mining was started on the Yerba river. This became the largest consolidated gold field and the largest mining corporation in this section of the state. W. P. Hammon is a member of the Episcopal Church, and is a republican in politics. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and belongs to the Bohemian Club.
Wendell C. Hammon and his brother, Glenn A. Hammon, are the surviving members of the family of four children born to their parents. He began his educational career in the public schools of Butte county, California, then attended the Lowell high school in San Francisco, and finally completed his studies in Stanford University in Palo Alto, which institution conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1913. During his collegiate career he majored in geology, having in mind the nature of his work in subsequent years. After receiving his sheepskin, he became associated with his father in the latter’s various and extensive enterprises. He became vice president and general manager of the Hammon Engineering Company; and he is also vice president of the Hammon Estate Company; vice president of the Yuba Manufacturing Company, and the California Sansome Corporation; and a director in the Portuguese-American Tin Company; in the Oroville orange and olive groves, in the Spanish Peak Lumber Company, and in various subsidiary companies. He maintains his headquarters in San Francisco at 351 California street.
Mr. Hammon has been twice married, first to the late Franc Pierce on January 10, 1918, and to this union there were born two sons, Wendell P. (II) and Frank Pierce Hammon. On June 28, 1929, Mr. Hammon was married secondly to Mrs. Lola (Lee) Hunkin, a daughter of John and Mary (Golder) Lee, members of an old and prominent San Francisco family. Mr. and Mrs. Hammon have one son, John Lee Hammon, and their residence is situated at 1000 Chestnut street.
The religious affiliation of Mr. Hammon is with the Espicopal Church, and he has always given his political support to the candidates of the republican party. He belongs to the Olympic Club and the Bohemian Club of his residence city, and has been an interested and public-spirited cooperator in local activities of worth. During the period of the United States’ participation in the World war, Mr. Hammon’s service extended from September 23, 1929, [Mr. Hammon was married secondly to Mrs. Lola] (sic) Division Engineers of the American Expeditionary Forces. He was on the Somme sector, and engaged in action at the second battle of the Marne, in the St. Mihiel offensive, and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. After the armistice was signed, he accompanied the army of occupation into German territory. He was honorably discharged with the rank of captain on the date previously mentioned.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of San Francisco 3 Vols”, S.
J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1931. Vol. 2 Pages 367-369.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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