Person:Obediah Hammond (3)

The following is from FTM "The Ancesters of Richard Hammons"

The Hammons family has it's origins in England.(1) In the year 868 the Viking chieftain, Hamond, led his band over from Denmark to the eastern part of Norfolk, near present Norwich. He settled there and many of his descendants live in the same area today. About 800 years later, Ambrose Hammon sailed from England and settled in old Rappahannock County Virginia (1666). The family grew and spread over several of the frontier counties of 18th century Virginia. By the mid 1750' s our family was located in Prince William County. It was there that Obadiah Hammons and his wife Bettey, had at least two sons, Obadiah (let's call him Obadiah II) and Peter. According to papers he supplied in application for a revolutionary war pension, Obadiah II was born on December 5, 1756. Peter was born on November 25, 1759.(2) The family lived in this corner of Northeastern Virginia for several years. Obadiah stated that he "knew General Washington as a boy." He must have lived close to Washington's home at Mount Vernon.(3) Prior to the Revolutionary War, many people in Virginia were becoming dissatisfied with the relationship that the Anglican Church (the Church of England) enjoyed with the colonial government. Although the colonist were allowed to believe as they wished, they were required to pay taxes to support the established church. Various denominations began breaking away from the Church of England. Ever since Gutenberg had set the scriptures to type and people could read the Bible for themselves, the relationship between government and church was in trouble, especially in colonial America. The Baptists, desiring as they put it, "to worship God according to the best light we have in Holy Scriptures, and the dictates of our own consciences," applied to the government to be able to hold their own meetings.(4) They were refused and many families began to move from Virginia to the Carolinas. The Hammons family, led by Reverend William Hammon, moved to North Carolina about 1774. William was the great-great grandson of Ambrose. Although the exact link between Obadiah and William has not been established, it is known that Obadiah II and his brother Peter moved to the same area (near present Rowan County, North Carolina) at this time.{5) It is interesting to note an account of these early pioneers written by Reverend Jethro Rumple, over 100 years later.(6)

"Although Rowan was not settled by Cavaliers or Huguenots, or by the aristocracy of old world society, she has good reason to be proud of the early pioneers who laid here the foundations of their homes. They were men and women who had suffered for conscience sake, or fled from despotism to seek liberty and happiness unrestrained by the shackles of a worn out civilization."

By March of 1776, both Obadiah II and Peter were serving in the Militia near Salisbury, on the Yadkin River. They were involved in several skirmishes against the Tories. Many of the important battles of the last years of the war were fought in the Carolinas. Although Lord Cornwallis referred to the militia and guerrilla fighters who opposed him as "ruffians and common criminals," they played an important part in his defeat as he retreated across the Carolinas to Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. Obadiah II stated that he was discharged "a few days before Cornwallis was taken by Washington." Peter, in the meantime, had moved to Shenandoah County Virginia and re-enlisted in the militia. It is not known why Peter moved back to Virginia, or what happened to his parents, but after the war Obadiah II also went north. He married Elizabeth Skaggs at Linville Creek Baptist Church (near New Market), in Rockingham County; on the 23rd of January, 1787.(7) Obadiah II then returned to North Carolina, where several of his children were born.(8) He later moved to Claiborne County, Tennessee, somewhere along the Clinch River.(9) In 1805, he moved west through the Cumberland Gap, to Richland Creek, near present Girdler in Knox County, Kentucky.(10) Obadiah II was still living in March of 1848 when he applied for a new pension certificate, but died soon there after (He was probably 93). Peter later moved to Knox County and lived there until the 1850's. They both had very large families. Hammons is common name in Knox County today. Obadiah II is buried at Calebs' Cemetery in Knox County.(11)

Notes 1. SAGA OF JOHN HAMMON, REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO AND KENTUCKY PIONEER by Stratton Owen Hammon 1979 2. From birth records submitted in application for pension in 1833 (rev. war pension &# S2263) 3. Ibid. Also see THE FIRST HAMMON FAMILIES IN KENTUCKY by Neal Owen Hammon :Kentucky Ancestors; Vol. V, pg. 24, 81, 135. 4. ANOTHER BICENTENNIAL ; THE BAPTIST EXODUS FROM VIRGINIA THROUGH NORTH CAROLINA, TO KENTUCKY by Stratton Owen Hammon 1983 : Kentucky Ancestors; Vol. XVIII, pg. 220 5. The white population of Virginia by 1782 was only 300,000. The Hammon family had been in Virginia for over a hundred years. This coupled with the fact that they left the same area, at the same time, and went to the same place, indicate that they were part of the same family. Of course more research is needed to establish final proof. Both Obadiah and Peter appear on the 1805 Knox County tax list. 6. HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY by Rev. Jethro Rumple 1881 7. VIRGINIA VALLEY RECORDS by John Wayland 1930 8. U.S. Census; North Carolina, Burke Co., Morgan District, 12th Company 1790 9. EARLY TENNESSEE TAX LISTS compiled by Byron & Barbara Sistler 10. 1805 Knox County, Kentucky Tax Book. THE WILDERNESS ROAD by Thomas Speed 1886 Filson Club Vol. 2. Until 1793 the Wilderness road was a footpath through the Cumberland Gap, in 1796 (one year after statehood) it was opened for wagons. This led to a great flood of people migrating into Kentucky. The Hammons, Tatum, Moberly, Turner, Tudor, & McVey families were part of this exodus. The population of Kentucky in 1783 was just over 10,000 by 1800 it had exploded to 220,000. 11. Located off rt. 1304, 4 miles North of U.S. rt. 25 ; on a gravel road to the right.