Sep 26, 2019 - Sale 2517

Sale 2517 - Lot 195

Price Realized: $ 1,062
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(RHODE ISLAND.) Papers of the Hammond family of Wickford spanning 5 generations. Approximately 300 items in one box (0.4 linear feet); generally minimal to moderate wear with no dampstaining noted. Vp, 1740-1913
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Additional Details

The central figure in this family archive is Pardon Tillinghast Hammond (1792-1872) of Wickford, RI, the longtime cashier of North Kingston Bank. Among his papers are an 1847 draft letter to President Polk concerning a local customs house appointment; a pair of small daybooks from 1829 to 1834; a bundle of 38 documents relating to his work securing pensions for Revolutionary War veterans, 1835-44; and two folders of papers relating to his banking work.
Perhaps most notable are a group of 48 documents from Washington Academy in Wickford, which has been described as Rhode Island's first technical school. Included are the school's original minute book from 1800 to 1802, a minute book from its revival from 1833 to 1850, and numerous loose minutes, subscription lists and receipts. The collection also includes 4 documents from the Wickford Library Society: 3 subscription lists from 1829, and a slim but interesting volume of the library's purchases and loans from 1829 to 1835. It was apparently a modest operation, with only 19 volumes lent.
The archive also includes a single 1740 deed to the emigrant ancestor, great-grandfather Joseph Hammond (1690-1776); scattered papers from grandfather and father William Hammond Sr. and Jr.; and a few papers of his unmarried daughters Mary and Ruth, as well as a few related Stanton family papers and other Wickford material. It also includes 5 letters written by Pardon's son William P. Hammond from Cuba in 1861 and 1862; genealogical notes; a detailed labor and staff list for an unidentified textile manufacturer, 1856; and an 1814 letter by prominent Wickford man Daniel E. Updike describing his recent bout of "partial insanity." An interesting archive of considerable local interest.