San Francisco County
Biographies
VALENTINE C.
HAMMACK
In the history of the San Francisco legal profession, the success which may be attained through one’s own industry and determination may be cited in the case of Valentine C. Hammack, who is now engaged in law practice at 111 Sutter street. He is a native son of California, his birth having occurred in Kelseyville, Lake county, February 14, 1896, and he is a son of the late George Washington and Minnie (Specht) Hammack.
The Hammack family is of English descent, and those bearing the name were pioneer settlers of the state of Missouri. There the grandfather of Valentine C. Hammack, named Levy Hammack, was born. He served in the United States Army during the Mexican war, and in the early ‘50s he came to Lake county, California, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. In that county, George Washington Hammack was born, reared, and educated. During his active career he was, like his father, a farmer and stockraiser, and was widely known as a stanch worker for the democratic party, although he never sought or filled public office himself. He died in 1918. His wife, Minnie (Specht) Hammack, was likewise a native of Lake county, California. Her father was a contractor and builder, and erected many of the early houses and barns which are yet standing in a good state of preservation. Mrs. Hammack resided in her home county until her death in 1907. By her marriage, she was the mother of five sons and one daughter, of whom Valentine C. was the fifth in order of birth.
The public schools of Lake county supplied Valentine C. Hammack with his first educational training, and after his service in the United States Army overseas he took up the study of his profession at St. Ignatius College, from which institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1925. Until he was sixteen years of age, he lived upon the home farm. He then came to San Francisco, and here secured employment in the wholesale dry-goods firm of Balbi-Hay & Company. He received a very nominal salary, but it was sufficient to pay his expenses, and he was encouraged by the ambition he possessed to be a lawyer, toward which goal he was striving. It is interesting to note likewise, that in his boyhood he aspired to be a soldier, and eventually it came to pass that he should be both a soldier and a lawyer. When the United States declared war upon Germany in 1917, Mr. Hammack enlisted in the United States Army, and was assigned to the Sixty-second Coast Artillery Corps. After completing his training period, and having received his commission as sergeant, he was dispatched overseas with his outfit, and there remained for ten months. He received his honorable discharge March 17, 1919. He thereupon returned directly to San Francisco, where he obtained a position as manager of the wholesale department of the Pacific Motor Supply Company, and here remained during the entire time he studied law at St. Ignatius, from 1920 to 1925. By his earnings, he paid his college expenses and his living expenses, an achievement in itself typical of the persistence and energy he has manifested in the law. Immediately after having received his diploma, he entered the practice, and has so continued, with growing clientage and fast-developing repute and prestige in his residence city.
Mr. Hammack was married in San Francisco, September 24, 1919, to Miss Helen Elizabeth Theis, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a daughter of A. J. and Anna (Gruehn) Theis, who are old residents of Ohio, but have lived in San Francisco for the past thirty years. A. J. Theis is superintendent of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company in this city. Mr. and Mrs. Hammack have four children, namely: Helen Louise, Virginia Marie, Valentine Ann and Therese Bernadt.
In politics, Mr. Hammack is a democrat, and he is a communicant of St. Ignatius parish of the Roman Catholic Church. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, to the Young Men’s Institute, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Aside from his legal work and the companionship of his family, he has been an earnest devotee of hunting as a diversion. He has established himself well in San Francisco, and has won friends wherever he has made contact.
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 387-389.
© 2007 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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