Hammond family papers (2019.7)

The central figure in this collection is Pardon Tillinghast Hammond (1792-1872) of Wickford, RI, the longtime cashier of North Kingston Bank. Among his papers are an 1847 draft letter to President Polk concerning a local customs house appointment; a pair of small daybooks from 1829 to 1834; a bundle of 38 documents relating to his work securing pensions for Revolutionary War veterans, 1835-44; and two folders of papers relating to his banking work.

Also notable are a group of 48 documents from Washington Academy in Wickford, which has been described as Rhode Island's first teachers college. Included are the school's original minute book from 1800 to 1802, a minute book from its revival from 1833 to 1850, and numerous loose minutes, subscription lists and receipts. The collection also includes 4 documents from the Wickford Library Society: 3 subscription lists from 1829, and a slim volume of the library's purchases and loans from 1829 to 1835.

The collection also includes a 1740 bill of sale for an enslaved man to Joseph Hammond (1690-1776); a 1783 work agreement between Jeremiah Gardiner and Black man Lonnon/London Phillips; scattered papers from grandfather and father William Hammond Sr. and Jr.; and a few papers of his unmarried daughters Mary and Ruth, as well as a few related Stanton family papers and other Wickford material. It also includes 5 letters written by Pardon's son William P. Hammond from Cuba in 1861 and 1862; genealogical notes; copies of early Indian deeds; salary statements of North Kingstown port surveyor William Hammond; a detailed labor and staff list for an unidentified textile manufacturer, 1856; and an 1814 letter by prominent Wickford man Daniel E. Updike from the Little Rest jail, describing his recent bout of "partial insanity."