John Curtis Hammer ⁷

  General Notes:

On July 25, 1909, John Curtis Hammer was born at the family home in Elba, Nebraska, to John K. and Nora M. Hammer. At this time, father, John K., owned and operated a pool hall and bowling alley in Elba. He also ran a jewelry store for a while where he specialized in cleaning watches. Two years later, on July 4, 1911, a sister, Dorothy Dolores, was born.
When John K. Hammer's father died March 28, 1912, John moved his family to the family homestead near Upland to help his mother operate the farm. Dorthe, John's mother, was set in her old-country ways, and Nora found living there difficult. In 1913, Nora took the children to Michigan to visit her relatives. She was followed a few months later by John.
After moving to Michigan, the family first lived in an apartment in Millington and later on the Fred Welsh farm southeast of Vassar while John worked at carpentry with his brothers-in-law, Fred and Glenn Welsh. During this time, Curtis started school at the Crampton school near Fred Welsh's.
Late in 1914, John's mother, Dorthe, became critically ill, and John and his family returned to the farm near Upland, Nebraska, to take care of her. After Dorthe died on November 15, 1915, John and the family stayed on the farm for two years. Curtis remembers that they had a couple of mules that were used for farming, and they were pretty ornery! They had two or three milk cows and chickens. They had a big corn crib for storage with space between the slats so the air could get in. They would have people come in to help pick the corn they raised. It was picked by hand, and they were paid by the bushel. They had a hand grinder which they used to grind feed for their animals.
Curtis went to the country school there for two years, and Dorthy went there one year. They had a mile and a half walk to school, and of course, they took their lunch with them. It was a quarter-mile walk out to the road because the house and barns were right in the center of the 160-acre farm. This was a typical farm layout as it made the shortest possible distance to all parts of the farm for the horses. A fiddle is still in the possession of Curtis, which his father owned since before he was married. His father enjoyed playing that fiddle, and Curtis remembers having to sit at the old pump organ and "chord" for his dad while he played the fiddle. He said he didn't enjoy doing that!
In 1917, John Hammer sold the family farm and moved into town. In Upland, John worked at carpentry, painting and paper-hanging for several years. At one time, he worked in a shop and built the doors and windows to go into houses. Curtis started third grade in the school in town. He said he liked it because he could walk to school and come home for lunch. The Upland school had all the grades from one through twelve.
After they moved into town, Curtis had a special dog of which he was very fond, but unfortunately, someone poisoned him. They always had a garden. He said most city lots had a back alley, and the garage faced out onto the alley. That left a big back yard for the garden. In Upland in those days, all of the young people had to be off the street by 9:00 PM. There was a curfew bell which was rung at that time each night, and any youngster found out after the bell rang would have to answer to the constable. On November 11, 1918, the end of World War I, they rang the bell so hard in celebration that they broke it. That was the end of the curfew for the town!
On May 18, 1919, Curtis' younger brother, Frederick Cleon Hammer was born. At the time, they were living in the Broderson house in Upland, Nebraska, which was across from the railroad tracks.
Hunting was a favorite pastime with Curtis. He said he had a .22 rifle and a 410. His dad had a 12-gauge shotgun and they had a 20-gauge pump that he would use when they went prairie chicken hunting up near Kearney. He said he would just go out in the pasture with his .22 and watch the gophers stand up beside their holes and pick them off. Walking through the pasture, he would often see jack rabbits running and would shoot them with .22-long shells. When he was in high school, he took his friend, Cuba, out to Sand Creek. She wanted to shoot a shotgun because she had never shot one before. She asked him to hold her back so it wouldn't knock her down. He said that wasn't a good idea, but he would stand behind her and catch her if she fell. She found it wasn't as bad as she had thought. Cuba was older than Curt and had a nice Dodge car. Her folks owned the post office.
Curtis got started in music quite young. He started playing the clarinet in the church orchestra when he was eight. He had a piccolo, but he said, "there were too many jokes about the piccolo." His dad played the clarinet, so he decided to play that instrument, and they got one for him. Cuba taught piano lessons at her parents' home in town. Curtis started taking piano lessons from her when he was quite young, but he found he didn't like that. Cuba also played the saxophone, clarinet and violin, so as Curt got older, they played together quite a bit. They worked up some clarinet duets. "Clarinet Marmalade" was one that he remembers. Curtis played in a group called "The Imperial Five". His mother made the costumes for the five players in red and white material. He made a white light stand with their band's name on it in cutout letters and the light showing through the red paper.
While in high school, he worked at a garage repairing automobiles. Someone brought in a 1914 Ford with a brass radiator. The owner offered to sell it to him for twenty-five dollars. He said he didn't like those old heavy cast-iron pistons. The boss said, "Well, why don't you fix it up? You can get some experience." He put in lightweight pistons and rings and got in all in good shape. Then the boss said, "Now do you want it for twenty-five dollars?" Of course he said yes, and that is how he got his first car. He said he used to overhaul it every fall before winter came on. He had it several years before he sold it when they went to Michigan. He drove it around playing for dances all four years when he was in high school.
The Hammer family lived in several different houses in Upland. Curtis says he can remember at least four. His dad never wanted to buy - just rent. His mother always wanted a house of their own. The Nelsens owned the garage in town and had three girls - triplets who lived near the Hammers. He had a cousin named Clarence Nelsen, but they weren't related. Curtis was a good student in school. In the eighth grade, he had eight subjects and an average of 97%. In high school, he took two years of Latin. He played in the high school band, but that was after school. In the eleventh grade, the Superintendent of the High School offered to give Curtis his diploma at the end of that year if he would go to his college in Hastings. Curtis turned down this offer and graduated from Upland High School the next year on May 23, 1927. He now thinks that he would have been wiser to have taken that offer and gone to college. His graduation night was to be on Friday night in the Upland Theater, but there was such a bad storm that it was postponed until Saturday night. Saturday, he was supposed to be playing for a dance up at Hartwell. When he got through the graduation ceremony, he said he threw the diploma to his folks and headed out the back door where he had two guys waiting for him and they drove as fast as they could to Hartwell. He arrived wearing his flower and everything and they all applauded him. They were mostly Irish there. It was an upstairs dance hall. He played there for quite a while. He said, "They were a good bunch of people. They all called me 'Bud'." He was the youngest one in the group.
Early in 1928, Nora and her youngest son, Cleon, went back to Michigan to help care for Nora's mother who was ill. In October of that year, John and the other two children the family started out for Michigan in their car, an Essex Four, pulling a trailer loaded with all their belongings. They were going to Minden to get new tires, but had a couple of flats on the way. John decided not to try to make the trip by car, so they went home, sold the car for a racer. They stored most of their things on third floor of Osterman furniture store, which belonged to a friend. After they left, the building burned down and they lost everything they had stored there. They took a train from Upland to Chicago, then to Detroit, and got into Vassar on the midnight train. Glenn Welsh met them. Curtis's father worked at carpentry with Fred and Glenn Welsh in the summer and in the pool hall in the winter.
Curtis talked about some of the things he might have done at this time in his life when his direction in life was somewhat unclear. Leta Welsh's brother, Fleming Barbour, wanted Curtis to go to Michigan State University with him. Fleming later became an eye specialist. He told Curtis he could pay his way by playing for dances, which he says he could have, playing six nights a week at Round Lake at Lansing, but he decided not to do that. One of his musician friends also wanted him to go to Lansing to play in a band with him, and he said he could get him a job in the railroad shop there as a machinist's apprentice. A snowstorm prevented him from making a planned trip to Lansing to see about the job and he never did go.
Fred Welsh had a house in town across from the taxidermist shop where they lived for awhile. He said that they lived a couple of other places (maybe four or five). He lived at home until he was married.
These were depression years. Curtis worked at a variety of employment. He worked with his father and others at painting and paper handing. The year The Pioneer Times burned, he went in to clean up, and Mr. Smith hired him to work at paper for a while. His job was to clean up and melt old lead - a messy job. He then worked at the Saginaw Tribune putting new blankets on the rollers of the press. He worked for a photographer in Saginaw doing darkroom work. He painted with a German painter in Richville. They painted some big barns, houses and other buildings in the area. He played in the Vassar-Richville band during this time. They played weekends and for county fairs. They didn't get paid but they got in free. Sometimes they played for the acts, too.
Playing all night and working all day finally took its toll. In 1935, Curtis entered the hospital at Howell, Michigan, for a year and a half to be treated for tuberculosis. He went to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor for surgery a couple of times. That was where he met his wife to be, Catherine Bellamy, at a party.
A December 27, 1941 article in the Vassar Pioneer Times tells of a serious accident that Curtis and his brother were involved in. "Young Men Recovering From Injuries - Cleon and Curtis Hammer Injured in Collision Near Watrousville Sunday": Two Vassar young men, Cleon and Curtis Hammer, were injured, one of them seriously, when their car collided with another Sunday at 3 p.m. two miles east of Watrousville at Coleman Corners. The injured, both employed by the Pioneer-Times are brothers, and were enroute to Caro.
A clerk with hospital authorities today disclosed that Cleon Hammer was returned to his home Tuesday and that Curtis, while still in a serious condition, was recovering from a possible fractured skull and jaw, sever lacerations to the face and bruises to the body. Cleon suffered sever lacerations to the hands and body bruises. The accident occurred when a car driven by Robert Wisnowski moved east across the main highway directly in front of the Hammer vehicle. Deputy Sheriff Orville Wilson, who investigated the accident, said he believed Wisnowski failed to stop at the highway. The Hammer car hit Wisnowski's auto directly in the center. Wisnowski was sent home after being treated for minor cuts and bruises. According to Wilson, Curtis was thrown head first through the windshield by the impact. It is believed he received his face lacerations as a result of his head being withdrawn back through the windshield. Both young men were taken to the Caro Community Hospital following the accident. Their sister, Mrs. Dorothy Petrie, a nurse at Hurley hospital, was called and is caring for them." Curtis said he was cross-eyed for about three weeks after he got out of the hospital.
Curtis began seriously courting Catherine. While she was going to business school in Bay City, he would often pick her up at her aunt's house where she was staying and take her to her home in Mayville and then take her back again Sunday evening.
On Saturday, June 12, 1943, John Curtis Hammer and Catherine Bellamy were married at 5:00 p.m. at the Lutheran parsonage. Rev. A. W. Voges performed the ceremony. Keith Dalby was the best man and Mary Dalby, Keith's wife, was maid of honor. Present at the wedding were Mr. And Mrs. Roy Petrie of Flint and William Bellamy and daughter, Lois, of Mayville. Following the ceremony, the wedding party went to Frankenmuth for dinner. At the time of the wedding, Curtis was employed at the Tribune office in Saginaw and Catherine was in charge of the office at the High School in Vassar. They had to use gas ration stamps for fuel to drive to work. He shard rides with a couple of other people to conserve gas.
In 1939, Curtis's father suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed. On Jan. 15, 1944, his father, John K. Hammer, passed away at his home in Vassar, Michigan after an illness of five years. The funeral was held on Tuesday, January 18th at the Johnson Funeral Home in Vassar. The Rev. H. E. Duttweiller of Port Huron, Michigan, officiated at the funeral. John was buried in the Riverside Cemetery of Vassar next to the parents of his wife. At the time of the funeral, Curtis's brother, Cleon, was in a hospital in North Africa. On August 15, 1946, their only child, Valerie Kay Hammer was born at Saginaw General Hospital. In April 1947, Catherine required hospitalization for further treatment for tuberculosis, which had become active again. This put a special burden on Curtis, which was shared by his mother, Nora Hammer. Catherine decided not to undergo at that time the risky surgery that had been recommended by the doctors, so she returned home. In the fall of 1947, the little family made a trip to New Mexico to consider the possibility of living there. They thought perhaps the dry, warm climate would be good for Catherine's health. Curtis looked into the possibilities of employment there, but after a few weeks, they returned home to Michigan. He then began working at the Saginaw News in Saginaw, a fifteen-mile drive, which he made every day until he retired in 1974.
In 1948, his wife returned to the hospital, had the necessary surgery and was forced to stay there for a lengthy recovery. Curt's mother lived with him during this time and cared for Valerie. It was while Catherine was recovering at Howell that she received a letter from Curtis that came as a wonderful surprise:
"Hello Honey,
Surprise! You are now a homeowner! Yes, I bought us a house. It was awfully sudden and didn't have time to see you about it but know that you will approve. It is the old Mert Stevens home on the hill by Glenn's. Across from the old Bauer house. You won't be too crowded there. 3 lots. Will sure be a place for Val to play & for you to enjoy too. Oh yes, & for me to keep clean & the grass cut. The house has 6 rooms & bath down & 2 large rooms upstairs. Gas furnace, electric hot water heater, a large one. It will take some changing to suit us, but is very livable now, & you can help plan any changes we make. They all think I got a buy, & I really do too, considering all others. $8,500. Am paying $3500 down, $53 a month for 10 years. Can pay as much as we wish at any time. Seems a wonderful location, so close to town and school & everything. I like that gas heat, too.
Val is really enthused about it all. Planning the moving. Am going to stay here this month anyway until Alice gets out & then I can move our junk & odds & ends first in my spare time & then just the main things at last. At last, we will have our own, when it is paid for.
Believe it or not, Glen & Leta very heartily approve. So does Frank Tinglan.
Well, now you have something else to come home to & plan for.
Will be seeing you. I can use those two days the fellows owe me to move. Sorry I couldn't consult you, but it came up in a hurry & Clayton Atkins wanted it, so I had to step on it. You will love it, I know. Love, Curtis"
She did love it. Over the years Curtis completely remodeled it and they turned the over-grown yard into one of the garden showplaces in the town. The ten-foot ceilings in the rooms were sagging in the center, so Curtis put in standard eight-foot ceiling below them. He insulated, papered, wallpapered, and put in new linoleum. He tore out the old cupboards and the icebox and built new, modern ones. He replaced a small window in the kitchen with a picture widow. It was a pleasure to sit at the table beside it and watch the birds in the bird feeder and enjoy the fruits of their labors in the yard.
The storage room off the kitchen did double duty as Curt's darkroom for his photography work. A business sideline of portrait and wedding photography that he had started continued to grow. Valerie had one of the two large upstairs rooms for her bedroom, but the other one was fixed up as a portrait studio. Catherine helped with the posing of the subjects and the business details. Curtis took the pictures and did the developing and printing. When color pictures were desired, he made the pictures in sepia tone and Catherine "tinted" them with transparent oils. As Catherine became stronger, they often did weddings on the weekends.
After they were married, Curt played in the Shrine band and also in the Vassar town band. (There must have been an agreement that he wouldn't be playing for the all night dances any more!) At one time, both he and his daughter, Valerie, were playing in the town band. All summer long, the band provided Monday night concerts in the park. There was a wooden band shell and lots of benches. This was a popular event throughout the years.
Curtis enjoyed bowling and was a valuable member on his team. He was a member of the camera club in Saginaw, and he and Catherine often enjoyed activities with them. A favorite family outing was to Sleeper State Park on Lake Huron. For two summers, they rented a cottage on Higgins Lake for Curt's two-week vacation. Other vacations included trips to Niagara Falls, Taquamenon Falls, the Upper Peninsula, and a ferryboat ride across Lake Michigan to Marinette, Wisconsin, to visit Catherine's brother, Wayne Bellamy, his wife Alice and their children. An old friend of Catherine's, Lela Kelly, had a summer home on Lake Michigan and they went there on occasion. Lake Michigan has beautiful white sand beaches. Once they brought home a load of that sand for Valerie's sand box.
Curtis did everything he could to make his wife and daughter's lives pleasant and enjoyable. In addition to hauling home sand for the sand box he had built, he hauled home many rocks from locations for his wife's rock garden. He put up a wonderful swing and then a trapeze at his daughter's request (and put up with the grass always being worn out under it.) He was precise in his work and careful with his tools. It took a lot of love to let Valerie use them (especially considering she didn't always put them away!). His neat, orderly nature must have been greatly offended by her many projects, including the complete refurbishing of a boat on the front porch in full view of all the neighbors (it was covered and out of the rain). He was proud of both his wife's and his daughter's accomplishments and didn't hesitate to share his feelings with others. Teaching Valerie to drive and letting her use the car must have been another trial for him. He was VERY particular about his automobiles and their use and care. He even put a trailer hitch on his car so she could haul a friend's trailer and sailboat to Murphy Lake. When Valerie got married in 1965, he let them take his only car on their honeymoon for a week while he got rides to work and they walked other places they needed to go.
In 1969, his wife Catherine was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. It progressed rather slowly and was treatable, so they still were able to carry on many of the activities that they enjoyed. They took several vacations to the Florida Keys and enjoyed driving through the Great Smoky Mountains. One year, they went to New Orleans and Curtis got to hear lots of his favorite Dixieland jazz. Another frequent destination was Toronto, Ontario, where their daughter now lived with her ever-increasing family. Visits were made for the birth of each new child and also on other occasions (as often as Catherine could talk him into it!). On June 25, 1974, Curtis retired as a printer from the Saginaw News. He had started out setting type by hand on the old linotype machines. When major advances in technology were made, they sent him to school to learn the new offset printing. He was adaptable and continued to valued as an employee.
As Catherine's health continued to decline and the burden of caring for such a large house and property fell more and more upon Curtis, they began to consider selling their house and joining their daughter and her family, who now lived in Cave Junction, Oregon. This finally took place in late 1979, and in January 1980, they moved into their new doublewide mobile home in Ol' Joe's park in Cave Junction, Josephine County, Oregon. At first Curt was relieved to be free of the huge burden of yard work and proclaimed that he wanted to cover their whole lot with bark so he wouldn't have to do a thing. It wasn't long, though, before he was turning the rocky soil into a beautiful lawn and planting flower beds, roses and even putting in a small vegetable garden and strawberry patch.
Catherine underwent surgery to stop her tremor, which had become unbearably violent. She recovered at her daughter's home and then returned to her own home. Curt assumed full responsibilities for all of the household duties. As she regained her strength, she did what she could, but he became a good cook and housekeeper under her supervision. They often enjoyed going out for dinner at the local restaurant, and Curt made his regular pilgrimage for his morning coffee and social hour at the restaurant. He was known by many people in town, who often commented at how kindly he treated his wife. They often referred to him as "the gentleman," which he was in every sense of the word.
Curtis cared for Catherine at home until her death on June 28, 1991. His daughter and her husband invited him to come live with them at that time. However, he preferred to continue on in his own home, which he did until the end of 1993. Just before Christmas that year, he entered the hospital with pneumonia. Upon his release, he stayed with his daughter and family in their house in O'Brien, Oregon (about 10 miles from Cave Junction). He gradually regained his strength but found that he liked being part of the family and having someone else do the cooking and take care of the other necessities. He made the decision to sell his home and stay on with Jack and Valerie Brown. He did regain his strength and independence, as he was able to drive again and go about as he pleased.
In August of 1994, the family moved into a new home at 230 Mesa Verde Drive, just south of Cave Junction. He continued his daily trips into town for morning coffee and socializing and to pick up the mail at the post office. He also continued attending Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cave Junction. When he was no longer able to drive, Valerie and Jack helped him continue these daily excursions as long as he had strength to do so.
In addition to having pneumonia on three occasions, he started having what the doctors described as mini-strokes, which gradually took their toll as they became more severe. On August 14, 1997, John Curtis Hammer passed away peacefully in his sleep. Funeral services were held Friday, August 22nd at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and burial was in Hawthorne Memorial Gardens beside his wife of so many years. He is missed by all who knew him, and we look forward to seeing him again in the next life. ⁹

  Noted events in his life were:

• moved to Upland, Nebraska, 1912, Upland, Franklin Co., Nebraska.

• moved to Michigan, 1913, Tuscola Co., Michigan.

• returned to Nebraska, 1914, Franklin Co., Nebraska. Returned to the family farm to care for his grandmother. After she died in 1915, they lived on the farm for two year until they sold it.

• moved into town, 1917, Upland, Franklin Co., Nebraska.

• worked at creamery, Aug 1927, Upland, Franklin Co., Nebraska. Worked at Farmers' Union Creamery in Upland

• Graduation, 26 May 1927, Upland, Franklin Co., Nebraska. Graduated from Upland High School

• moved to Michigan, Oct 1928, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan.

• worked at foundry, 1929, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. Worked in Erb-Joyce Foundry, Vassar, Michigan

• worked at painting, decorating, 1930, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan.

• worked at electrical const., 1931, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. Worked at L.E. Meyers, Electrical Construction

• worked at painting, decorating, 1932, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan.

• worked at printing office, 1933-1937, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. Worked at the Vassar Pioneer Times.

• worked in hardware store, 1938, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. Worked in DuBois Hardware.

• worked at printing office, 1940, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Worked at Saginaw Tribune in printing.

• worked for photographer, 1943, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Worked for Bosch Portrait and Seaman Peters Engraving.

• worked at newspaper, 1944, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Worked at the Labor News in printing

• worked at printing office, 1945, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Worked at The Valley Hournal of Saginaw.

• worked at printing office, 1946, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. Worked at The Pioneer Times.

• worked at newspaper, 1947-1974, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Worked at the Saginaw News as a printer.

• Bought home, 1950, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan. 115 W. Oak Street, Vassar, Michigan

• Retired, 25 Jun 1974, Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA. Retired from the Saginaw News

• Sold house in Vassar, 15 Dec 1979, Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan.

• moved to Oregon, Jan 1980, Cave Junction, Josephine Co., Oregon.

John married Catherine Mildred Bellamy, daughter of William Dewey Bellamy and Amanda Bertha Doering, on 12 Jun 1943 in Vassar, Tuscola Co., Michigan.¹ (Catherine Mildred Bellamy was born on 4 Nov 1919 in Fremont Twp., Tuscola Co., Michigan,³ died on 28 Jun 1991 in Cave Junction, Josephine Co., Oregon ⁸ and was buried on 2 Jul 1991 in Grants Pass, Josephine, Oregon.)