Royal Cornelius Hammond

		b. October 19, 1843 

bp. Delaware, Ohio 

m. ca. 1866, Susan Irwin 

d. October 22, 1870 

pd. Rome, Georgia 

Royal Cornelius Hammond was born as the ninth child of Sophronia Hale and Ward K. Hammond during a year or more spent in Delaware, Ohio, before making the long river boat trip to Knox Co., Ill., where many Hammond relatives had already moved for new lands and opportunities. About a year later the family traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Ohio River and then had steamboats to help them down the Ohio and up north again on the Mississippi River to the Illinois River above St. Louis, Mo. and thence up the Illinois River as far as Peoria. From there they traveled overland to Galesburg and Ontario township where Ward K's mother and brother Royal Hammond and wife Emeline Rogers Hammond lived. Ward took out settlement papers on a farm in or near Ontario township and they lived two years in Knox Co., where several Hammond and Burt kinfolks lived. They were hard years for the family and by late 1846 they moved on to a more settled area in Jo Daviess Co., Illinois, but kept in contact with these families.

Royal C. Hammond's story has been difficult to discover. It may be that the family did not care to write or talk much about him. In searching for his Army records, we found that he was not among the Illinois Volunteer Regiments. Instead, he joined the 92nd Infantry Regiment, U.S. Regular Army, in Chicago in 1861, about the time other relatives and friends were joining the Illinois Volunteer Regiments. Charles N. Hammonds letters and diary (on page ) tell us most of what we know about his military service, as they served in separate units under General Rosecran's command in Kentucky and Tennessee, before joining the battle for Atlanta in 1864-65. The Hammond brothers appeared to keep in contact with home and one another while in service. They were literate soldiers and mature men from educated families.

After the war he married Susan Irwin and settled in Rome, Ga., where he had served during the Civil War. Looking for records of this marriage, we found nothing. What we did find was an earlier marriage by a Royal Hammond to another person in Jo Daviess Co., about 1861, which could be Royal C. We did not pursue this, for there was no family acknowledgment of this early marriage. Perhaps this is why there is no official record that we can find of Royal C. and Susan's later marriage, and why he chose to settle in Georgia near where he had been in 1864-65. There were Irwin families in Jo Daviess Co. at this time.

Figure 2.21: Susan Irwin Hammond

Royal C. and Susan had two daughters, Rolla (Rollie) and Una S. The included photograph of Rolla was taken in September, 1872 in Belleview, Iowa, when she was three years old, which may be where Susan's family was living at that time. The photograph of Una included taken in September, 1873 in Rome, Georgia. Susan and the girls remained in Georgia and her daughters later lived in Chattanooga, Tenn., where they operated a boarding house in the mid 1930s. Una and Rollie were remembered by Othello W. Hale in his letter of 1906 from Ohio (see page ), but little more is known of them. One of the family genealogists, Ralph Hammond, recalls rooming with them: ``I roomed in Chattanooga at this old colonial mansion of two sisters, and one was named Rolla Hammond -- I don't remember the other's name. They were around sixty back then in 1936. They owned an old home on 5th Street, it seems to be the location. I have never heard from them since then. They were two old maids.'' Una S. Hammond died on Jan. 25, 1947, at her home in Chattanooga (502 E. Fourth St.), and was buried in Myrtle Hill Cem. in Rome, Georgia. Rolla was still alive on this date.

Figure 2.22: Rolla Hammond

Figure 2.23: Una S. Hammond

We do not know any details concerning Royal's sudden death in Oct., 1870. In Charles N. Hammond's letters there are intimations of Royal being in a hospital near Nashville, Tenn., as if he may have been wounded or sick at that time. Then before Atlanta, Charles feared for Royal's life as he heard of the fierce battle scenes there. He was wounded there -- a flesh wound as Charles describes it. Some of his earlier wounds or illnesses may have contributed to his early death at about thirty-five years of age.