WILLIAM HAMMOND
ORIGIN: Lavenham, Suffolk
MIGRATION: 1631
FIRST RESIDENCE: Watertown
OCCUPATION: Husbandman.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Watertown church prior to 25 May 1636 implied by freemanship.
FREEMAN: 25 May 1636 [MBCR 1:371].
EDUCATION: His inventory included "one great Bible and 3 other books" valued at 13s.
OFFICES: Watertown selectman, 8 November 1647 [WaTR 1:10]. With Isaac Stearns, arbiter in dispute between John Wincoll and Benjamin Crisp [WaTR 1:14]. "Old Goodman Hammond" was appointed to a committee to assign seats in the meetinghouse, 17 November 1656 [WaTR 1:47].
ESTATE: On 26 February 1629/30 William Hammond was declared a bankrupt in England and "the 20th of November after that date he departe[d] the land and fleeth into New England [NEHGR 106:83, citing a 1656 law suit against William Hammond]. (This would place him on the Lyon which sailed from Bristol on 1 December 1630 and arrived in New England the following February [WP 2:317].) In the "year 1645 Rose his mother dyeth ... but now in the year 1647 his son Thomas come from New England to be admitted to the land" [NEHGR 106:83]. On 22 November 1647 "W[illia]m Hamond granted a letter of attorney unto Thomas Hamond his son to ask & demand of the lord of the manor the possession of certain lands in Lavenham in Suffolk which were the possession of Rose Steward his mother" [Aspinwall 112].
On 25 July 1636 William Hammond was granted forty acres in the Great Dividend [WaBOP 5]; granted eight acres in the Remote Meadows, 26 June 1637 [WaBOP 8]; granted a farm of one hundred fifty-five acres, 10 May 1642 [WaBOP 12].
In the Watertown Inventory of Grants William Hammond held six parcels: homestall of forty acres; three acres of meadow; forty acres of upland being a Great Dividend; eighteen acres of upland beyond the Further Plain; eight acres of Remote Meadow; and four acres of upland [WaBOP 108]. In the Inventory of Possessions he held three parcels: three acres of upland; two acres of meadow; and another two acres of meadow [WaBOP 146]. In the Composite Inventory he held six parcels: homestall of thirty-four acres; three acres of meadow; forty acres of upland being a Great Dividend; eighteen acres of upland beyond the Further Plain; eight acres of Remote Meadow; and a farm of one hundred fifty-six acres [WaBOP 61].
In his will, dated 1 July 1662 and proved 16 December 1662, "William Hammond of Watertowne ... now about ninety years of age" bequeathed to "my loving & dear wife Elizabeth Hammond my whole estate" for life, and after her death to "my son John Hammond all my houses & lands"; to "Thomas Hammond son of my son Thomas Hammond deceased" £40 when twenty-one, but if he dies before that then "the £40 to be equally divided between the children of my daughter House & daughter Barnes [i.e., Barron's] children"; to "daughter Barnes" £30; to "the four children of my daughter Elizabeth House deceased" £5 apiece; to "Adam Smith son of my daughter Sarah ... one mare colt" and to "my daughter Sarah Smith" £5 [MPR 2:88-90, Case #10262].
The inventory of the estate of William Hammond totalled £467 16s. 9d., including £318 in real estate: "one dwelling house & an orchard," £24; "23 acres of pasture land," £69; "11 acres of broken-up land," £48; "15 acres of meadow," £90; "8 acres of meadow remote," £15; "18 acres of land in lieu of township," £6; "1 Great Dividend, 40 acres," £40; "1 farm, 160 acres," £20; and "a part of a barn," £6 [MPR 2:90-93, Case #10262].
BIRTH: Baptized Lavenham, Suffolk, 30 October 1575, son of Thomas and Rose (Trippe) Hammond.
DEATH: Watertown 8 October 1662 "aged about ninety-four [sic]" [WaVR 25].
MARRIAGE: Lavenham, Suffolk, 9 June 1605 Elizabeth Paine, baptized Lavenham 11 September 1586, daughter of William and Agnes (Neves) Paine. Elizabeth arrived in New England in 1634 on the Francis with her three youngest children [Hotten 279]. She died Watertown 27 September 1670 "aged about ninety years [sic]" [WaVR 33].
CHILDREN:
i WILLIAM, bp. Lavenham 20 September 1607; killed by Indians June 1636 [WP 3:270-71, 276, 284-85], apparently unmarried.
ii ANNE, bp. Lavenham 19 November 1609; d. there 7 June 1615.
iii JOHN, bp. Lavenham 5 December 1611; d. there 16 August 1620.
iv ANNE, bp. Lavenham 14 July 1616; m. (1) by 1637 Timothy Hawkins (eldest child b. Watertown 10 June 1637 [WaVR 4]); m. (2) Watertown 14 December 1653 Ellis Barron [WaVR 6; TAG 20:135-36].
v THOMAS, bp. Lavenham 17 September 1618; returned to England 1647/8 to reclaim his grandmother's lands; m. by 1655 Hannah Cross of Ipswich [Bond 270]. (Their only child, Thomas, was born at Watertown on 11 July 1656; Thomas Hammond, the father, had died on 10 December 1655 and Hannah, the mother, died on 24 March 1656[/7] [WaVR 18].)
vi ELIZABETH, b. about 1619 (aged fifteen on 30 April 1634 [Hotten 279]); m. about April 1636 Samuel House of Scituate (see COMMENTS below).
vii SARAH, bp. Lavenham 21 October 1623; m. by 1640 Richard Smith of Long Island [NYGBR 121:19-22; WJ 4:231-32].
viii JOHN, bp. Lavenham 2 July 1626; m. (1) by 1653 Abigail Salter (eldest child b. Watertown 3 February 1653/4 [WaVR 17]; in her will of 1 December 1660 Abigail Salter of Dedham, Essex, made a bequest to "Abigail Hammond, my daughter, of New England" [NEHGR 55:107-08]); m. (2) Charlestown 2 March 166[3/]4 Sarah Nichols [ChVR 1:44; Wyman 706]; m. (3) Rowley 7 November [1686?] Prudence (Wade) (Crosby) Cotton, daughter of Jonathan Wade and widow of Anthony Crosby and Seaborn Cotton [Rowley Fam 90; NEHGR 33:35].
ASSOCIATIONS: Elizabeth Paine, wife of William Hammond, was sister of the following immigrants: William Paine of Watertown and Ipswich; Dorothy (Paine) Eire, wife of Simon Eire of Watertown and Boston; and Phebe (Paine) Page, wife of JOHN PAGE of Watertown [NEHGR 69:248-52; 79:82-84, 101:242-45].
On 10 November 1633 "Rose Steward of the County of Suff[olk] widow" made her will, but it was not probated until 27 June 1649 [Archdeaconry of Sudbury Wills, 247 Ashton]. Among her many bequests were the following: to "my wellbeloved daughter Elizabeth Livermore in the county of Essex widow"; to "Matthie Livermore my beloved grandchild daughter of the said Elizabeth"; to "William Hammond the younger the son of William Hammond my son"; to "Elizabeth Hamond daughter of the said William Hamond my son my beloved grandchild"; to "Hanna Hammond another daughter of my son William Hamonde my beloved grandchild"; to "Thomas Hammond another child of my son Hamond's"; to "Sarah Hammond another daughter of my son Hammond's"; to "John Hammond another of my son Hammond's children"; to "Daniell Livermore my well beloved grandchild & the son of my daughter Elizabeth"; to "John Livermore her son"; and to "Sara her daughter." She also made a bequest to the poor of Lavenham, and asked to be buried in Lavenham churchyard.
There is no apparent connection between the widow Hammond of Lynn and the Hammonds of Watertown.
COMMENTS: The Hammond family came to New England in at least three stages. In late 1630 or early 1631 John Winthrop Jr. noted receipt of £7 5s. from "Goody Hammond to send her husband" [WP 3:6]. This supports the conclusion that William Hammond was a passenger on the Lyon when it sailed from Bristol in late 1631.
On 26 September 1633 Governor John Winthrop wrote to Sir Simonds D'Ewes, informing him that "Yours by young Hamond I received," indicating that William Hammond Jr. probably sailed for New England in one of the ships that arrived in the fall of 1633 [WP 3:139]. His sister Anne and brother Thomas may also have come at this time, for they are not included a year later in the passenger list of the Francis, which sailed from Ipswich in the spring of 1634 with Elizabeth Hammond (aged 47), Elizabeth Hammond (aged 15), Sarah Hammond (aged 10) and John Hammond (aged 7) on board [Hotten 279].
On 6 November 1660 Watertown selectmen sent the constables to "Old Hamond to let him know, that contrary to order of town, he had entertained into his family such a person as is likely to prove chargeable, do therefore desire him to rid the town of such an encumbrance or otherwise to bear the burden thereof himself" [WaTR 1:66].
In his record of admissions to Scituate church Rev. John Lathrop entered on 14 April 1636 "Elizabeth Hammon my sister having a dismission from the church at Watertown" [NEHGR 9:280]; Lothrop's first wife, Hannah House, was sister of Samuel House; since Lothrop refers to her by maiden name but also calls her sister, the admission to Scituate church may have taken place after the contract of marriage, but before the marriage itself (note, however, that the first child of the couple was baptized on 23 October 1636 [NEHGR 9:281]) [NEHGR 66:356-59]. Various sources give John Lothrop of Scituate a second wife who was a Hammond; this is based on a false deduction from the entry discussed above.
