John Hays Hammond
Encyclopedia
John Hays Hammond was a famous mining engineer, diplomat
, and philanthropist
. Known as the man with the midas touch, he amassed a sizable fortune before the age of 40. An early advocate of deep-level mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Cecil Rhodes' mines in South Africa
and made each undertaking a financial success. But after the dismal failure of the Jameson Raid
, Hammond, along with the other leaders of the Johannesburg Reform Committee
, was arrested and subsequently sentenced to death. The Reform Committee leaders were released after paying large fines, but like many of the leaders, Hammond left Africa for good. He returned to the United States, became a close friend of President William Howard Taft
, and was appointed a special U.S. Ambassador. At the same time, he continued to develop mines in Mexico
and California
and, in 1923, he made another fortune while drilling for oil with the Burnham Exploration Company. His son, John Hays Hammond, Jr.
, became famous in his own right, patenting over 400 inventions, and is widely regarded as the father of radio control.
of the Texas Rangers. The family moved to California in 1849 to prospect in the California gold rush
, and young John was born in San Francisco. After an adventuresome boyhood in the American Old West
, Hammond went East to attend Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, where he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1876, and later attended the Royal School of Mines, Freiberg, Germany, 1876–1879, and there he met his wife-to-be, Natalie Harris Lum.
. In 1882, he was sent to hostile country in Mexico
, near Sonora
, to become superintendent of Minas Neuvas. When a revolution broken out, Hammond barricaded his family in a small house and fought off the attacking guerrillas.
From 1884-1893, Hammond worked in San Francisco as a consulting engineer for Union Iron Works, Central Pacific Railway and Southern Pacific Railway. In 1893, Hammond left for South Africa to investigate the gold mines in Transvaal for the Barnato Brothers. In 1894, he joined the British South Africa Company to work with Cecil Rhodes and opened mines in the Rand, in Mashonaland
(territory which became Rhodesia
(now Zimbabwe
). In 1895, he was managing Rhodes' property in Transvaal
, with headquarters at Johannesburg, South Africa. An early advocate of deep-level mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Rhodes' gold and diamond mines and made each undertaking a financial success. While working for Rhodes, he made his world-wide reputation as an engineer. He continued to work for Rhodes until 1899, but events in Africa would go on to change Hammond's life forever.
When Hammond arrived in the Transvaal, the political situation was tense. The gold rush had brought in a considerable foreign population of workers, chiefly British and American, whom the Boers referred to as "Uitlanders" (foreigners). These immigrants, manipulated by Rhodes, formed a Reform Committee
headed by Colonel Frank Rhodes
(brother of Cecil), Hammond, and others. They demanded a stable constitution, a fair franchise law, an independent judiciary, a better educational system, and charged that the Government under President Paul Kruger
had made promises, but failed to keep them. These demands were orchestrated by Rhodes, knowing that Kruger would never accede to them, justifying subsequent intervention by the British government to protect the supposed interests of British miners, the vast majority of whom had no desire to vote or settle in the Transvaal. Civility finally collapsed when Leander Starr Jameson
, the British South Africa Company
's Administrator General for Matabeleland
, prematurely invaded the Transvaal with 1 500 troops in the ill-fated Jameson Raid
and was captured by the Boers in December 1895. Shortly thereafter, the Boer government arrested Hammond and most of members of the Reform Committee and kept them in deplorable conditions. The U.S. Senate petitioned President Kruger for clemency.
The Reform Committee case was heard in April. Hammond, Lionel Phillips
, George Farrar, Frank Rhodes
and Percy Fitzpatrick
, all of whom had signed an incriminating document found with Jameson's raiders, were sentenced to be hanged, but Kruger commuted the sentence the next day. For the next few weeks, Hammond and the others were kept in jail under deplorable conditions. In May it was announced that they would spend 15 years in prison, but by mid-June Kruger commuted the sentences of all, Hammond and the other lesser figures each paying a ₤2,000 fine. The ringleaders had been shipped off to London to be dealt with by the imperial Government, paying fines of ₤25,000 each. All fines, amounting to some ₤300,000, were paid by Rhodes. Shortly hereafter, Hammond left for England.
as a highly-paid general manager and consulting engineer for the Guggenheim Exploration Company.
and he remained present of the club until it disbanded in 1928. Hammond was also active in the Republican Party
and he became a close friend of President William Howard Taft
whom he had known since his student days at Yale. In early 1908 it was announced that Hammond was a candidate for Vice-President for the Republican party, but he did not receive many delegates at the national convention. Nevertheless, he became acquainted with many prominent politicians at the convention and became the president of the League of Republican Clubs. He moved to Washington to be closer to the President and he accompanied President Taft on many excursions. In 1911, Taft then sent him to the coronation of George V
as a special U.S. Ambassador, and twice sent him to assist Nicholas II of Russia
on irrigation and other engineering problems. In addition to Taft, Hammond also befriended Presidents Grant, Hayes, Roosevelt, and Coolidge.
Hammond became chairman the U.S. Coal Commission, 1922-1923. His close friendship and long time business associations with Frederick Russell Burnham
, the highly decorated Scout who he knew from Africa, led Hammond to became a wealthy oil man when Burnham Exploration Company struck oil at Dominguez Hill, near Carson, California
, in 1923.
In May 1926, an organization called "The Company of Friends of John Hays Hammond" sponsored eleven dinners around the world (Manhattan
, San Francisco, London
, Paris
, Tokyo
, Manila
, etc.) in honor of Hammond. Over 10,000 people wrote tributes to Hammond, including: Hearst whose father gave him his first job, Woolf Barnato
whose father (Barney Barnato
) took him to South Africa, Sir Lionel Phillips
who was condemned to death with him, the Guggenheims who employed him at a fabulous salary, former President Taft who offered him an ambassador position, and President Calvin Coolidge
who consulted with him on the coal situation. The event was so extraordinary that Time magazine put Hammond on the cover of the May 10, 1926 issue and ran a biographical sketch on him called "Unique".
He died of coronary occlusion on June 8, 1936, in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
He married Natalie Harris Lum, of Harris, Mississippi (near Vicksburg) on January 1, 1881, in Hancock, Maryland. Together they had three sons and one daughter.
John Hays Hammond, Jr.
(1888 - February 12, 1965) was born in San Francisco, California. In 1893 he moved with his family to South Africa, and five years later the family moved to England. The family returned to the United States in 1900, and Hammond attended Lawrenceville School, started inventing, and went on to study at the Sheffield School of Yale University, graduating in 1910. He established the Hammond Radio Research Corporation in 1911 and eventually developed a radio controlled torpedo system for the navy, which he successfully demonstrated in 1918. Between 1926 and 1929, he built a medieval-style castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts
.
Natalie Hays Hammond
(1904–1985) was born in Lakewood, New Jersey. Her estate in North Salem, New York
was converted into the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in 1957.
Harris Hays Hammond, a financier, became president of Dominguez Oil Fields Company, which earned him $2 million in 1936, and president of Laughlin Filter Corporation, a small New Jersey company which manufactures centrifuges. In 1928, he and Anthony "Tony" Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr.
were among the directors of Acoustic Products Co., which later became Sonora Products Corp. of America.
Nathaniel Harris Hammond, died 1906, and Richard Pindle Hammond, born in London, England, were the two other children.
John Hays Hammond died in 1936 at the age of 81 in an easy chair in his showplace at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He left an estate estimated at $2.5 million, mostly to his four surviving children: inventor John Hays Hammond Jr.; artist Natalie Hays Hammond; composer Richard Pindle Hammond; and financier Harris Hays Hammond.
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. Known as the man with the midas touch, he amassed a sizable fortune before the age of 40. An early advocate of deep-level mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Cecil Rhodes' mines in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and made each undertaking a financial success. But after the dismal failure of the Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
, Hammond, along with the other leaders of the Johannesburg Reform Committee
Reform Committee (Transvaal)
The Reform Committee was an organisation of prominent Johannesburg citizens which existed late 1895/early 1896.The Transvaal gold rush had brought in a considerable foreign population, chiefly British although there were substantial minorities from other nations, who the Boer referred to as...
, was arrested and subsequently sentenced to death. The Reform Committee leaders were released after paying large fines, but like many of the leaders, Hammond left Africa for good. He returned to the United States, became a close friend of President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, and was appointed a special U.S. Ambassador. At the same time, he continued to develop mines in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and, in 1923, he made another fortune while drilling for oil with the Burnham Exploration Company. His son, John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr. was an American inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control" and son of mining engineer John Hays Hammond, Sr..-Biography:...
, became famous in his own right, patenting over 400 inventions, and is widely regarded as the father of radio control.
Early life
Hammond was the son of Major Richand Pindell Hammond, a West Point graduate who fought in the U.S.-Mexican War, and Sarah Hays Lea, sister to the famed Captain John C. HaysJohn Coffee Hays
Col. John Coffee "Jack" Hays was a Texas Ranger captain and military officer of the Republic of Texas. Hays served in several armed conflicts, including the Indian and the Mexican-American War.-Biography:...
of the Texas Rangers. The family moved to California in 1849 to prospect in the California gold rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, and young John was born in San Francisco. After an adventuresome boyhood in the American Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
, Hammond went East to attend Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, where he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy in 1876, and later attended the Royal School of Mines, Freiberg, Germany, 1876–1879, and there he met his wife-to-be, Natalie Harris Lum.
Mining career
Hammond took his first mining job as a special expert for the US Geological Survey 1879-1880 in Washington, DC. He returned to California in 1881 to work for Senator Hearst, the mining magnate and father of William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
. In 1882, he was sent to hostile country in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, near Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, to become superintendent of Minas Neuvas. When a revolution broken out, Hammond barricaded his family in a small house and fought off the attacking guerrillas.
From 1884-1893, Hammond worked in San Francisco as a consulting engineer for Union Iron Works, Central Pacific Railway and Southern Pacific Railway. In 1893, Hammond left for South Africa to investigate the gold mines in Transvaal for the Barnato Brothers. In 1894, he joined the British South Africa Company to work with Cecil Rhodes and opened mines in the Rand, in Mashonaland
Mashonaland
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. It is the home of the Shona people.Currently, Mashonaland is divided into three provinces, with a total population of about 3 million:* Mashonaland West* Mashonaland Central* Mashonaland East...
(territory which became Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
(now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
). In 1895, he was managing Rhodes' property in Transvaal
South African Republic
The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
, with headquarters at Johannesburg, South Africa. An early advocate of deep-level mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Rhodes' gold and diamond mines and made each undertaking a financial success. While working for Rhodes, he made his world-wide reputation as an engineer. He continued to work for Rhodes until 1899, but events in Africa would go on to change Hammond's life forever.
Reform Committee of Transvaal
Reform Committee (Transvaal)
The Reform Committee was an organisation of prominent Johannesburg citizens which existed late 1895/early 1896.The Transvaal gold rush had brought in a considerable foreign population, chiefly British although there were substantial minorities from other nations, who the Boer referred to as...
headed by Colonel Frank Rhodes
Francis William Rhodes
Colonel Francis William Rhodes, CB, DSO , better known as "Frank", is perhaps the best known member of the Rhodes family after his brother Cecil. Trained as a soldier from his youth, he participated in a considerable amount of conflict in different parts of the world...
(brother of Cecil), Hammond, and others. They demanded a stable constitution, a fair franchise law, an independent judiciary, a better educational system, and charged that the Government under President Paul Kruger
Paul Kruger
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger , better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Uncle Paul was State President of the South African Republic...
had made promises, but failed to keep them. These demands were orchestrated by Rhodes, knowing that Kruger would never accede to them, justifying subsequent intervention by the British government to protect the supposed interests of British miners, the vast majority of whom had no desire to vote or settle in the Transvaal. Civility finally collapsed when Leander Starr Jameson
Leander Starr Jameson
Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, , also known as "Doctor Jim", "The Doctor" or "Lanner", was a British colonial statesman who was best known for his involvement in the Jameson Raid....
, the British South Africa Company
British South Africa Company
The British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889...
's Administrator General for Matabeleland
Matabeleland
Modern day Matabeleland is a region in Zimbabwe divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers. The region is named after its inhabitants, the Ndebele people...
, prematurely invaded the Transvaal with 1 500 troops in the ill-fated Jameson Raid
Jameson Raid
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic carried out by a British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen over the New Year weekend of 1895–96...
and was captured by the Boers in December 1895. Shortly thereafter, the Boer government arrested Hammond and most of members of the Reform Committee and kept them in deplorable conditions. The U.S. Senate petitioned President Kruger for clemency.
The Reform Committee case was heard in April. Hammond, Lionel Phillips
Lionel Phillips
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a South African mining magnate and politician.-Early life:Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to a family of lower middle-class merchants, who formed part of a growing group of Jews set to play a major role in the commerce and politics of...
, George Farrar, Frank Rhodes
Frank Rhodes
Frank Rhodes may refer to:* Francis William Rhodes , British Army officer* Frank H.T. Rhodes , president of Cornell University 1977-1995...
and Percy Fitzpatrick
Percy Fitzpatrick
Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, KCMG , known as Percy FitzPatrick, was a South African author, politician, mining financier and pioneer of the fruit industry. He authored the classic children's book, Jock of the Bushveld ....
, all of whom had signed an incriminating document found with Jameson's raiders, were sentenced to be hanged, but Kruger commuted the sentence the next day. For the next few weeks, Hammond and the others were kept in jail under deplorable conditions. In May it was announced that they would spend 15 years in prison, but by mid-June Kruger commuted the sentences of all, Hammond and the other lesser figures each paying a ₤2,000 fine. The ringleaders had been shipped off to London to be dealt with by the imperial Government, paying fines of ₤25,000 each. All fines, amounting to some ₤300,000, were paid by Rhodes. Shortly hereafter, Hammond left for England.
Return to United States
About 1900, the now famous Hammond moved to the U.S., and reported on mining properties in the U.S. and Mexico. He became a professor of mining engineering at Yale University 1902-1909, and from 1903–1907, he was employed by Daniel GuggenheimDaniel Guggenheim
Daniel Guggenheim was an American industrialist and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer Guggenheim.-Biography:...
as a highly-paid general manager and consulting engineer for the Guggenheim Exploration Company.
Politics
In 1907, Hammond became the first president of the Rocky Mountain ClubRocky Mountain Club
The Rocky Mountain Club was incorporated in New York City as an "Eastern Home of Western Men." with the purpose to: "to create good-fellowship among the members and advance the interests of the Rock Mountain States."...
and he remained present of the club until it disbanded in 1928. Hammond was also active in the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and he became a close friend of President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
whom he had known since his student days at Yale. In early 1908 it was announced that Hammond was a candidate for Vice-President for the Republican party, but he did not receive many delegates at the national convention. Nevertheless, he became acquainted with many prominent politicians at the convention and became the president of the League of Republican Clubs. He moved to Washington to be closer to the President and he accompanied President Taft on many excursions. In 1911, Taft then sent him to the coronation of George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
as a special U.S. Ambassador, and twice sent him to assist Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
on irrigation and other engineering problems. In addition to Taft, Hammond also befriended Presidents Grant, Hayes, Roosevelt, and Coolidge.
Hammond became chairman the U.S. Coal Commission, 1922-1923. His close friendship and long time business associations with Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham
Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO was an American scout and world traveling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.Burnham...
, the highly decorated Scout who he knew from Africa, led Hammond to became a wealthy oil man when Burnham Exploration Company struck oil at Dominguez Hill, near Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
, in 1923.
May 1926: A Celebration of Hammond
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, San Francisco, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, etc.) in honor of Hammond. Over 10,000 people wrote tributes to Hammond, including: Hearst whose father gave him his first job, Woolf Barnato
Woolf Barnato
Joel Woolf Barnato was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.-Early life:...
whose father (Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato
Barney Barnato , born Barnet Isaacs, was a British Randlord, one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later gold mining, in South Africa from the 1870s.-Background:...
) took him to South Africa, Sir Lionel Phillips
Lionel Phillips
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a South African mining magnate and politician.-Early life:Phillips was born in London on 6 August 1855 to a family of lower middle-class merchants, who formed part of a growing group of Jews set to play a major role in the commerce and politics of...
who was condemned to death with him, the Guggenheims who employed him at a fabulous salary, former President Taft who offered him an ambassador position, and President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
who consulted with him on the coal situation. The event was so extraordinary that Time magazine put Hammond on the cover of the May 10, 1926 issue and ran a biographical sketch on him called "Unique".
He died of coronary occlusion on June 8, 1936, in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Family
John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr.
John Hays Hammond, Jr. was an American inventor known as "The Father of Radio Control" and son of mining engineer John Hays Hammond, Sr..-Biography:...
(1888 - February 12, 1965) was born in San Francisco, California. In 1893 he moved with his family to South Africa, and five years later the family moved to England. The family returned to the United States in 1900, and Hammond attended Lawrenceville School, started inventing, and went on to study at the Sheffield School of Yale University, graduating in 1910. He established the Hammond Radio Research Corporation in 1911 and eventually developed a radio controlled torpedo system for the navy, which he successfully demonstrated in 1918. Between 1926 and 1929, he built a medieval-style castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
.
Natalie Hays Hammond
Natalie Hays Hammond
Natalie Hays Hammond was the daughter and heiress of millionaire adventurer and philanthropist John Hays Hammond and was, in her own right, a painter, Broadway set and costume designer, author, and patron of the arts....
(1904–1985) was born in Lakewood, New Jersey. Her estate in North Salem, New York
North Salem, New York
North Salem is a town in the northeast part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The county ranks second for wealthiest counties in New York State and the seventh wealthiest county nationally...
was converted into the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in 1957.
Harris Hays Hammond, a financier, became president of Dominguez Oil Fields Company, which earned him $2 million in 1936, and president of Laughlin Filter Corporation, a small New Jersey company which manufactures centrifuges. In 1928, he and Anthony "Tony" Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr.
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr.
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. , also known as A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. or Tony Biddle, was a wealthy socialite who became a diplomat of the United States, and served in the United States Army during World War I and after World War II, reaching the rank of major general.-Biography:Biddle was the...
were among the directors of Acoustic Products Co., which later became Sonora Products Corp. of America.
Nathaniel Harris Hammond, died 1906, and Richard Pindle Hammond, born in London, England, were the two other children.
John Hays Hammond died in 1936 at the age of 81 in an easy chair in his showplace at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He left an estate estimated at $2.5 million, mostly to his four surviving children: inventor John Hays Hammond Jr.; artist Natalie Hays Hammond; composer Richard Pindle Hammond; and financier Harris Hays Hammond.
Books
- The milling of gold ores in California (1887)
- A woman's part in a revolution (1897)
- The truth about the Jameson raid (1918)
- Great American Issues: Political Social Economic (1921)
- The engineer (Vocational series) (1922)
- The Autobiography of John Hays Hammond, volumes 1 and 2, (1935)
Other works
- South African Memories: Rhodes - Barnato - Burnham, published in Scribner's MagazineScribner's MagazineScribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...
, vol. LXIX, January - June 1921 - Forward to, Scouting on Two Continents, by Major Frederick Russell Burnham, D.S.O., LC call number: DT775 .B8 1926. (1926)