Cherry pickin'...

Fred Hamm

Because I knew so little about my great grandfather Fred Hamm, I have spend an inordinate amount of time over the years trying to figure him out. In the course of my search into the details of his life I have filled in quite a few gaps. My latest foray in this endeavor was trying to learning a little about his life in his last years.

Fred is buried in Bailey’s Harbor, Door County, Wisconsin. According to one of his obituaries he had been working at Martin Orchards before his illness. This was the, if not one of the, largest cherry orchards in the world. The cherries were definitely world renowned in the early to mid 1900s. Martin Orchards is located about 4 miles outside of Sturgeon Bay and covers over 700 acres, (or at least did in the early part of the 1900s). Fred had been in Door County for about 11 years before his death, maybe he had answered one of these ads that was placed in the local paper:

While Fred was working at the orchard in the mid 1940s World War II broke out, and after the US became involved German prisoners of war started arriving in Wisconsin. One of the places they were sent was Martin Orchards.

Here is a picture of prisoners arriving at the train depot in Sturgeon Bay. They were going to be harvesting cherries, apples, and potatoes and helping out with other field work. Apparently the POWs picked a little over half a million pails of cherries in Door County during their stay. 

I wonder what Fred thought about these Germans and if he ever spoke with them.

Dale and I took a trip up to Bailey's Harbor a few years ago in the hopes of finding Fred's grave, but we had no luck. It appears that there is no headstone for him at the cemetery.

Where's a copper when you need one...

Frederick William Hamm was a cop. Well he was one for at least 2 years in Duluth. His hiring occurred when a 15 year veteran of the department decided to retire.

October 1906, Duluth newspaper article. William H. Hamm is actually Frederick William Hamm. I know this because the address is the same as my great grandparents in Duluth in 1906.

Duluth Police Department image from 1900. This was the closest I could get to Fred's time in service. But I doubt the uniforms changed much by the time he was hired.

The above newspaper article was printed the day before he was hired which occurred on October 13, 1906. When he became a patrolman they took his statistics which appeared thus in the record:

Fred W.  Hamm, born at Plymouth, Wis., Aug. 16th, 1876, height, 5ft. 11 3/8 ins; weight, 166 lbs.; chest expansion, 3 ins.; occupation, carpenter. Oct. 13th, 1906, appointed patrolman.1

Barely a month after he hit the streets he was wounded in the line of duty:

November 1906, Duluth newspaper article

Possibly because he was a lousy shot, although the newspaper copy is pretty bad there could be a number missing. Well, I certainly hope that is the case:

July 1908, Duluth newspaper article.

November 1907, Duluth newspaper article

There was another entry in his service record at the archives:

Jan. 13th, 1908, by order of Mayor Cullum, suspended from duty for (15) fifteen days without pay for neglect of duty on early morning of Jan. 5, 1908, in not arresting Richard W. Thoreson, Mabel Cullen and Anna O’Hara for drunkenness and disorderly conduct on Raleigh St. in West Duluth, to take effect Feb. 1st, 1908.1

According to his record he was discharged on Nov. 1, 1908, but it must be an error because when he was in court on November 19 for non-support of his family, it was indicated that he was discharged from service at that time. Either way he was definitely no longer a police officer by the end of November and by 1910  he had run away to Montana and was working in the woods there for a few years before heading back to Minnesota.

Fred was possibly using this paddy wagon by 1908. Before that they had the horse pulled wagons.

1 Northeast Minnesota Historical Center Collections, Archives and Special Collections, Library University of Minnesota Duluth. S2272 Duluth Police Department records, Box 4, Personnel Record 1894‐1920, p.213.

That tiny 5%...

Not too long ago I posted an entry talking about the results of my Dad's upgraded DNA tests. In it I mentioned the fact that his FamilyFinder results (ethnic background) indicated 95% Western European and 5% Palestinian, Adygei, Bedouin, Bedouin South, Druze, Iranian, Jewish, Mozabite.

Wow that's a mouthful.

As I heard nothing from anyone in the family about this information, I can only assume that no one really understood the significance of this find. So let me clear the matter up in layman's terms. Here is a simple chart:

The 'SELF' in this particular case is my Dad. The chart shows what percentage of DNA he is inheriting from each generation of grandparent. So this means that he inherited his 5% from somewhere in the 2nd to 3rd generation back in the family tree.

So if I look at the family tree chart, some lines can automatically be eliminated: Irish, Norwegian, in America for 200 hundred years. Basically it boils down to either someone in the John/Deadrich line or someone in the Hamm/Isserstedt line. My money is on George Hamm's unknown father. Remember, he was illegitimate, his surname at birth was his mother's KNOBLOCH. So we do not know who his father is, and probably never will. (Unless I can find a George Hamm descendant willing to contribute to the DNA pool.)

My theory, admittedly it is pretty sketchy, is that Elizabeth Knobloch had a romantic love affair with a Jewish gentleman and they were not allowed to marry because of the religious differences. But theories aside folks, what this means is that my siblings and I, and my cousins on the John side of the family have 100% Jewish/Palestinian ancestors.

The surname lines of interest are: JOHN, DEADRICH, SCHULE, SCHULZ, ISSERSTEDT, SACHS, NEHRBOSS, KNOBLOCH, Unknown father of George HAMM

This map shows the areas of origin for Dad's results.

I hope folks will now appreciate the significance of this information. I myself am fascinated and look forward to more refined tests in the future.

Fun facts...

Just before the holiday I thought I would share a few fun HAMM family facts that I found in the Taylor County (Wisconsin) history book. For those who don't know, the Hamm's lived just outside of Medford:

In 1878…At this early date Main Street looked more like a country road, with its stumps, and a slab and saw dust fill on the north end. This side walks for years were made of planks; and the ones in front of stores were on different levels…The appearance of Main street, then, was anything but citified. Among the new arrivals this year, were T.H. Fredricks, Jos. Hirsch, J. Hirsch, George Hamm, Mrs. John Kuse, C.J. Boeckler, Peter J. Olson, and John Raths. A school was built at Whittlesey, with Miss Whippler finishing the first term in June. [pg33] 

The roads out of town were possibly usable two or three miles each way but the one south in the vicinity of the Hamm farm, was muddy even in summer. [pg39] 

Rev. B. Ungrodt came here from Cape Colony, South Africa in 1881, and served for many years as the first pastor of the Immanuel Lutheran church. Chas. Faude, Henry Schoeplke, George Hamm, Wm. Thielke, F. Krueger, and Daniel Schief were among his early parishioners. [pg49] 

The first man to make a business of delivering milk was Geo. Hamm who was followed for many years by Mrs. Carl Kuehn. [pg123]

Emilia

It was early summer in 1904, Mrs. Hilda Shallman the local Swedish midwife heard a hurried knock on her door. She grabbed her bag, that was always ready for just such an occasion, and opened the door to an out of breath neighbor, who rushed to give her the news, and then Mrs. Shallman headed out the door to get to the apartment of Fred and Kari Hamm that was just a couple of blocks away.

Sometime during the day of 3 June Kari gave birth to a daughter. She was named Emilia after her husband Fred's mother.

Sadly Emilea contracted gastroenteritis, or what is more commonly known as stomach flu. She died at the age of 1 year 2 months and 15 days on 18 August 1905. Myrtle never knew her sister.