Almost Famous: Thomas Lyon Hamer, the Congressman Who Made Ulysses Simpson Grant: Book I

By Lonnie Brett Griffith

The name Thomas Lyon Hamer only brings puzzled looks when spoken today. Even in Georgetown, Ohio, Hamers home and place of burial, only a handful of local historians have any knowledge of the man whom U. S. Grant believed would have been president of the United States had he not died prematurely and unexpectedly.

I have said before that Hamer was one of the ablest men Ohio ever produced . . . I have always believed that had his life been spared, he would have been president of the United States during the term filled by President Pierce . . . his partiality for me was such there is but little doubt I should have been appointed to one of the staff corps of the armythe Pay Department probablyand would therefore now be preparing to retire. Neither of these speculations are unreasonable, and they are mentioned to show how little men control their own destiny (Grant, 53).

Yet if the man had lived even another year or two, he would not only be in all United States history textbooks; that history would likely be quite different. The national events in the decade leading up to the American Civil War and possibly the outcome of the war itself would have been significantly altered. Fate is a fickle mistress.

Hamer was very well-known in his day, and it is perplexing to try to understand how someone so influential while alive was virtually forgotten, even locally, by the turn of the twentieth century. Perhaps it is because he was eclipsed by another very important individual from Georgetown, Ohio, who did become president. Perhaps it is because Hamers sons died young and childless, leaving no direct heirs to carry his name and fame into the future.


Hamers Mexican War flag, a gift to him from the people of Brown County, Ohio (photo courtesy of Ron Bulow)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546240785

Lonnie Brett Griffith

Lonnie Brett Griffith is a history professor and trustee for the U.S. Grant Homestead Association in Georgetown, Ohio. In his spare time (which is not very often these days) he also helps give tours of both Grant museums in Georgetown. His special interest is military history. He enjoys participating in historical re-enacting and living history. His family has lived in historic Brown County, Ohio for several generations and has helped write its history. This is his first book on Thomas Lyon Hamer, but not the last, which is already in the works. The second upcoming book will focus on Hamers personal life and correspondence with family and friends in Georgetown, Ohio.

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© 2018 Lonnie Brett Griffith. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/25/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4079-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4078-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018905292

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Early Life

Living in Georgetown

Hamer’s Position Regarding Slavery

Personal Life

A Mason in Georgetown

Chapter 2 The Ohio Legislature

Chapter 3 Return to Private Life in Georgetown

Chapter 4 U.S. House of Representatives

Chapter 5 Hamer and the Mexican War

The Battle of Monterrey–20th-21st September 1846

The Battle of Monterrey–22nd-23rd September

The Generals’ Reports on the Battle of Monterrey

The Hamer Flag

Chapter 6 Death and Funeral in Mexico

Thomas Lyon Hamer’s Eulogy Before the Ohio General Assembly

Funeral in Georgetown, Ohio

Chapter 7 Hamer’s Grave and Memorial After His Death

Conclusion

Works Cited

About the Author

This book is dedicated to my mother, Judy Ann Griffith, from whom I gained a love of Reading and of History, from my earliest memories.

CREDITS:

(This book would not have been possible without the contributions, advice, and assistance of many others)

Dr. Ned Lodwick: President of the Brown County Historical Society and Vice President of the U.S. Grant Homestead Association

Stan Purdy: President of the U.S. Grant Homestead Association

Nancy Purdy: Site Director for the Grant Boyhood Home and Grant Schoolhouse Museum

The Georgetown Methodist Church: for assistance in helping me find old records and for the photo of the old Methodist church

Georgetown Masonic Lodge No. 72: for providing the lodge’s history

The Bailey House Bed and Breakfast: for allowing me to use a photo of the house and for providing a meeting place for the U.S. Grant Homestead Association

The Brown County, Ohio Libraries in Georgetown and Ripley

The Brown County, Ohio Historical Society

The U.S. Grant Homestead Association Trustees

Sue McKinley: for helping with Hamer family research (she is a Hamer descendant)

The Ohio Historical Connection: for the Hamer marker and Hamer artifacts on display at the Grant Boyhood Home

Dolores Berish: librarian, who ordered multiple obscure books for me to do research

Doug and Norma Green: for help with the Hamer portrait in Columbus, Ohio.

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Hamer’s Historical Marker Today (The official Ohio Historical Society marker to Hamer today in Georgetown, Ohio. Author’s photograph)

INTRODUCTION

The name, Thomas Lyon Hamer only brings puzzled looks when spoken today. Even in Georgetown, Ohio, Hamer’s home and place of burial, only a handful of local historians have any knowledge of the man who U.S. Grant believed would have been president of the United States, if he had not died prematurely and unexpectedly.

I have said before that Hamer was one of the ablest men Ohio ever produced…I have always believed that had his life been spared, he would have been President of the United States during the term filled by President Pierce..his partiality for me was such there is but little doubt I should have been appointed to one of the staff corps of the army—the Pay Department probably—and would therefore now be preparing to retire. Neither of these speculations is unreasonable, and they are mentioned to show how little men control their own destiny. (Grant 53)

Yet, if the man had lived even another year or two he would not only be in all United States History textbooks, but that history would likely be quite different. The national events in the decade leading up to the American Civil War, and possibly the outcome of the war itself would have been significantly altered. Fate is a fickle mistress.

Hamer was very well known in his day and it is perplexing to try to understand how someone so influential while alive was virtually forgotten, even locally, by the early twentieth century. Perhaps it is because he was eclipsed by another very important individual from Georgetown, Ohio who DID become president. Perhaps it is because Hamer’s sons died young and childless, leaving no direct heirs to carry his name and fame into the future.

My primary intent when embarking upon this project was to gather as many still extant records on Hamer as possible and to amalgamate them into a single manuscript. In this way, I hope to reverse the obscurity that his memory has descended into and revive some of the fame that he enjoyed in life.

The humble work that follows is this author’s best effort to produce the first comprehensive book on the life and significance of Thomas Lyon Hamer. The amount of research required was immense; many records no longer exist (if they ever did) and the ones that do are scattered far and wide. Few were written by Hamer, himself. Unlike a far more famous individual from Georgetown, Ohio, Thomas Lyon Hamer did not have the luxury of living long enough to write his memoirs. We will never know what he would have said about himself, as he was cut down in his prime. I have endeavored to base everything in this little work on verifiable facts, but in some instances that was simply impossible to do and in those cases best guess was necessary.

Any errors in this work are mine alone. May an abler writer come along one day and build upon what is written here. Now let us begin…but not in Ohio.

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Hamer’s Home (Hamer’s abandoned residence in Georgetown, Ohio circa 1920-1930. Photo courtesy of the Brown County Historical Society)

CHAPTER ONE

Early Life

Thomas Lyon Hamer was born in July of 1800, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania; the exact date of his birth has been lost to time. It is unlikely that even he knew what day he was born (see Spalding’s eulogy). He came from a family of relatively modest farmers. His grandfather was Thomas Hammer, Sr., born on December 31st, 1730, In England. His grandmother was born Eleanor Lyons, on May 15th, 1750; his grandparents married in 1765, in England. (Northumberland County, PA Historical Society)

Thomas Hammer was listed in 1798 tax records as owning a log house and barn, and 107 acres in Chillisquaque Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He had surveyed this land on the 13th of August, 1797, by virtue of his warrant dated the 4th of April, 1786. Thomas Hammer, Sr. died in 1806, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He had served as a private in the Pennsylvania Militia, during the Revolution. Eleanor Lyons died on September 17, 1826. (Northumberland County, PA Historical Society)

Thomas Lyon Hamer’s father was William Hammer/Hamer, born January 22nd, 1769, in Pennsylvania. He was the second of ten children. He died on May 4th, 1831, in Butler County, Ohio. Hamer’s mother was born Isobel Vanderhof, in New Jersey, in 1780; she died in 1820, also in Butler County, Ohio. (Northumberland County, PA Historical Society)

Thomas Lyon Hamer was the oldest of three children. He had two younger brothers: Joseph V., born in 1807, and William F., born in 1819. In 1812, William Hammer/Hamer moved his family to upper New York, near Lake Champlain. (Northumberland County, PA Historical Society) Supposedly Thomas Lyon Hamer, then 14 years old, witnessed the important U.S. naval victory of Mcdonough over the British fleet on the lake in 1814…which turned back an invasion of the United States from that direction. Ostensibly, this made the young Hamer yearn for martial glory for the rest of his life. (Beers 343)

In 1817, his father, William, moved the family to southwestern Ohio, in what is now Clermont County. After coming down the Ohio River, they stopped for provisions near Point Pleasant, Ohio, at Nine Mile Creek. (Beers 343) The Hamers did not stay long: after resupplying, the family, minus the young Thomas, moved further north to a farm in the Oxford area, in what would become Butler County, Ohio.

At the age of 17, Thomas Hamer, elected to stay in Clermont County and strike out on his own. He was almost penniless, with only the clothes on his back. With no friends, in a strange land, and being a mere 17 years old, he parted ways from his family.

Hamer had a solid, if basic, education, but was skilled at English and grammar. He began to support himself by taking up teaching in Clermont County subscription schools, first in Withamsville, then Bethel. While at Withamsville, Hamer borrowed law books from Hezekiah Lindsey and general books from Dr. William Porter, two of the most educated men in the area. (Beers 343)

Hamer was teaching at a subscription school in Bethel, by at least October 16, 1820; records show him agreeing to teach seventeen students on that date. For $2.00 per pupil, he would teach reading, writing, and arithmetic for thirteen weeks. For $1.00 more, he would also teach grammar to any student. Subscribers were to also provide a room and fuel. (Beers 343)

During his time in Bethel, he lived with Thomas Morris and his family. Morris was a prominent attorney, abolitionist sympathizer, and future United States Senator from Ohio. Morris favored the young man and Hamer would study the law under him. Interestingly, Hamer and Morris differed greatly in their views on abolition.

In 1821, still four months shy of twenty-one years age, Thomas Lyon Hamer traveled to the county courthouse, in Williamsburg Ohio, also in Clermont County. After an examination and certifying statement by Morris, Hamer was admitted to the bar, despite it being the