James Monroe Hammond, Jr.

1917-1983

When I married, my imaginary, genealogy village expanded greatly. This gentleman was my husband's paternal uncle.  I only met Jim a few times. He was a quiet, reserved man. As is too often the case, I only learned his story long after his death.

James, or as known to family, Jim, was born in Los Angeles, CA February 26, 1917 to James Monroe and Vivian Claire Winter Davis Hammond. 

Vivian married Fred L. Davis in 1908 in Fulton County, GA. They moved to Dallas, Tx where he was employed as a salesman in a dry goods store.  Vivian was widowed in September 1915 when Fred died during a stay at Piedmont sanitarium, Atlanta, GA. Family tradition relates that he suffered some sort of mental anxiety and possibly jumped from a hospital window.  He had been visiting Atlanta on business.  The death certificate gives cause of death as cerebral embolism. He was twenty-eight. His sister in law, Madeline Winter Hebert, arranged the funeral and burial and then went to Texas to break the news to her sister, help her pack, and move back to Atlanta.

Vivian Winter Davis married James Hammond in September 8, 1916 in Fulton County, GA. At the time of Jim’s birth, they were living at 2829 E. Fourth St., Los Angeles. This was a residential area of homes, just east of the city, where they may have rented rooms. James, a salesman, was 31 and Vivian, a housewife, was 27, as listed on Jim Jr’s birth certificate. She was already mother to Fred Louis Davis, Jr. and Madeline Winter Davis, children with her deceased husband, Fred Louis Davis.

Jim presumably lived with his parents in Atlanta, GA from at least January 1919 because his sister, Theresa Vivian, was born there. He is shown in the 1920 and 1930 U. S. Censuses as still living in his parent’s home in Atlanta, GA. For a short time in 1923-1924, the family lived in Powder Springs, GA where his father worked at the general store.  Jim’s brother, Jack, was born here May, 1923.

           There are baptismal records for Vivian and Jack showing their conversion to Catholicism in 1933. It is probable that Jim was baptized at the same time. Vivian's sister, Madeline, provided financial support and is likely to have encouraged this.

Jim attended Saint Stanislaus, an all-boys, Catholic, boarding school in Bay St. Louis, MS, from 1934 until 1935. His step-brother, Fred Davis, Jr., was graduated from there in 1928. (It is likely that Madeline Hebert, widow of well-to-do Paul O. Hebert, paid their tuitions as she is listed in the Saint Stanislaus records as a contact person.) School records and newspapers show that Jim was on the boxing team in the 126-pound weight class in 1934-1935. There is no record of his graduation. A family story relates that he got angry because one of the priests gave away his only suit, and Jim hit the priest, and was expelled.  He would have been seventeen years old. The school was forty miles east on New Orleans, on the coast.

He married Jeannette Olivette Roberts on December 31, 1939 in Fulton County, GA. She is shown on the 1940 census as 21, married, last name Hammond, living with her stepfather, George T. Roberts, 49, salesman; mother, named Mamie, 40, born in Georgia; a brother, R. Jack Barnes, 22, single, photographer; and, stepsister, Mamie Lou Barnes, 9.  Jeannette had two years high school and was employed as a saleslady at a 5 and 10 cent store. Jim is listed in the 1940 census as 25, living with his parents and brother, Jack, at 598 Dunn Street, Fulton County, Ga. Also, in this household were Jim’s sister, Theresa, her husband, William, and their infant son, William Jr. Jim is shown as single, with ten years education and with the code “U” designating unable to work.

On December 18, 1940, Jim registered for the first peacetime draft in U S history. The country was preparing for WWII. His D.S.S. Form 1 shows that he registered at Gordon Street, West End. He was white, 5' 6", blue eyes, brown hair, light complexion, weighed 125 lbs.  Listed as born in Los Angeles, CA April 14, 1916. (A conflicting date with his birth certificate.) He lived at 588 Dunn Street, S. W. He was unemployed. A note included on back said "Registered in order to get discharge from National Guard."

Jeannette and Jim had two sons: James Paul Hammond was born August 1, 1941 and Robert Hammond was born March 16, 1943.

In early 1944, Jim was employed at Bell Bomber in Marietta, GA as a fireman.

In March 1944, the U.S. changed the Draft deferment regulations, now allowing the drafting of fathers, and Jim became eligible for the WWII Draft. His youngest son had just turned one. Sometime in late March or early April he was inducted and sent to Camp Peary in Virginia.  His father died April 29, 1944. On the train, returning to Camp Peary from his father’s funeral, early in May, he suffered a nervous breakdown. He was a patient at the Veteran’s Hospital in Augusta, GA from 1944 through 1949.

Jim and Jeanette were divorced in 1944.

In 1949, he was released to his brother Jack and lived with Jack, his wife Jacqueline, and three young children in a small home on Bambi Lane, Chamblee, GA. Jack became his legal guardian.  Jim lived with them until the family moved to Tobey Road, Chamblee, late 1951.

In 1953, James married Georgia Lavonia Gann. They lived in East Point and Atlanta over the next several years. From 1953 to 1959, he was employed as a zookeeper with the City of Atlanta at the Grant Park Zoo. He lived in the Grant Park area during this time so that he could walk to work.

James died November 30, 1983 from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He is buried at Hillcrest Cemetery, East Point, GA.