By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Researcher
Steve Hammond is a regular visitor at the Geary County Historical Society Museum and has many stories to share about his family’s contributions to our community. Family members worked as teachers, lawyers, ministers, law enforcement officers, musicians, farmers, and businessmen. Some had PhD’s.
The following is some background information on the Hammond’s. Pascal Hammond was freed black man from South Carolina, who was born in 1842. He married Elizzie (last name unknown) and they had four children, who were born before the move to Junction City after the Civil War. Pascal worked as a sorghum maker who evaluated the readiness of the sorghum syrup for use in other products and as a truck farmer, who raised vegetables, strawberries and pigeons. He sold these to the officer’s families and soldiers at Fort Riley.
Susan Franzen wrote in her book Beyond the Facade of Fort Riley’s Hometown: The Inside Story of Junction City, Kansas that “The marriage of Mary Johnson and Joseph C. Hammond in 1889 marks the real beginning of the Hammond dynasty in Junction City. They were the parents of fourteen children. The children also raised large families. Whites knew them primarily as reliable workers or businesspeople, talented musicians and skilled athletes. In the 1930s Robert Hammond, one of Joseph and Mary Hammond’s sons, shined shoes in the Bartell House lobby.”
According to Franzen, “Blacks were more likely to be aware of the Hammond’s activities through the Church of God Chapel at 117 East 3rd Street, just a block from the Hammond home.
Mervyn recalled that his great grandfathers, Alex Johnson and Pascal Hammond built the first black church in Junction City. Then around 1902, his grandmother Mary Hammond, who had a gift of healing started a mission on 3rd Street, which late became the First Church of God.”
The Hammond quartet, consisting of Howard, Bob, John and Paul sang gospel songs on the radio station in Abilene and around town on Christmas Eve. Loretta Hammond had a gospel hour on the radio. Other Hammonds who shared their music with our community in the 1950s were Mervyn, Gilbert, Robert Lee, Mervyn Sr., Laren Dale, Joseph, Roger, Buford and Selwyn Hammond. Gilbert recalled that people would say “It isn’t Christmas Eve until the Hammonds come by to sing Christmas Carols.” In the 1960s John, Carl, James and Ronald Hammond sang together in a variety of performances.
Gaylynn Childs wrote in Set In Stone, that in 1984 the vast and expanded Hamond family began the practice of returning to Junction City every three years for a family reunion. Mervyn Hammond attributed the family values instilled in each of the children to those who came before when he stated that “They taught us about the Lord, and they taught us how to respect work. We couldn’t get into college very easy at that time, but we all learned to maintain. We learned that contentment and peace are the most important things in the world.”
Picture left to right: John, Carl, James and Ronald Hammond taken c.1960. Picture provided by Steven Hammond.