Bio: Hamm, John (1881)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Hamm, Pfeffer, Thielmann

----Source: History of Northern Wis. (Wood County, Wis.) 1881, page 1205

JOHN HAMM, merchant, Grand Rapids, was born in Hiddesheim, Prussia, May 1, 1837. His parents were also born here, the father in 1796, and the mother in 1798. The family emigrated to the United States in the Summer of 1860, settling at Waukesha, Wis., in August of that year, and engaged in farming. Here the father died in 1876 and the mother in 1878. John spent the years, from five to fifteen years of age, in the schools of his native place, and from fifteen to twenty-three, was employed in one of the government offices. Alter his arrival at Waukesha, he spent the Winter of 1860 in school, learning our language, and in the Winter of 1862, attended one term at a commercial college in Milwaukee. He soon after commenced clerking for H. Pfeffer, of Richfield, Wis. and remained with him nine years. He was married to Miss Barbara Thielmann, of Richfield, in 1871. They have four children — Maggie, Frank, Mary and Clara. Mr. Hamm commenced in the mercantile business for himself, at Grand Rapids, in 1874, where he is engaged in the same business still.