John Hanmer

  General Notes:

Research of Brian Fortier on www.rootsweb.com
JOHN HANMER, son of Joseph and Matilda (Hamilton) Hanmer, removed to Lincoln, Vt. about 1846, then to Elizabethtown, NY in 1855. His first wife, Elizabeth Hamilton, was a first cousin to his mother, Matilda Hamilton. Elizabeth and their children, Job and Martha, are buried in Black Brook NY cemetery. His second wife, Cornelia (Smith) Mcdonough died in Salisbury, Vermont, and is buried there. His third wife, Lucelia (Tubbs) Tubbs is buried in the Schroon Cemetery in North Hudson, N.Y. Their son, William, and daughter, Hattie, are also buried there. John joined the U.S. Army on May 1, 1863, and served 2 1/2 years in Co. I. 2nd Reg. N.Y. Cav. Much of his service was in the New Orleans and Red River area. He returned to the Salisbury, Vt. area in 1866, and worked in the iron industry as a "Hammer" man.
His first wife died in 1861, and he married Cornelia prior to leaving for military service.
Cornelia died in 1868 when their daughter, Cornelia, was 4 weeks old, and is buried in Salisbury, Vermont. John then took his children to Keene, NY, and his brother, Francis (Frank) took the daughter, Cornelia, and raised her as their own daughter. She was not told of her real parents until she was married to Nelson Hale at the age of 16. Cornelia Smith McDonough had three children by her previous union with McDonough. They were William, Helen and Martin.
John's third wife, Lucelia, (maiden name Tubbs) had been married previously to her cousin, Horatio Tubbs, and had three children by her first husband.
Following John's return from the war, he lived in Keene, NY for two years, Lincoln, Vt. for two years, Salisbury, Vt. for one year, North Hudson, NY, Ironville, N Y and Blue Ridge, NY.
In 1891 John received $1300 pension from the War Department, and used the money to buy property known as the "Old Curtis Place" in North Hudson, where he lived until the health of he and Lucelia required them to seek help. The property which he purchased included a horse, a cow, farm tools, a hen house, and 77 acres of land. The house on the land was good, and the barns were fair. He bought hens, wagons, harnesses and tools. In the yard stood a mountain ash tree and a large tamarack tree. The house and barns are gone, and little is left to show that a family lived there.
When the breakup of their home became necessary, John went to live with his eldest son, Joseph and family in Blue Ridge, where he remained until his death in 1910. Lucelia went to live with Minnie Potter and her husband, Will. In his last years John was deaf and quite blind, and his grandson, John, cared for him, and became his eyes and ears.
It is of interest to note that this remarkable man married three times, raised a family consisting of half-siblings, step-siblings and siblings. His youngest daughter, Lillian, died in 1977 in her 97th year, and he, himself, was seven years old when Thomas Jefferson died.

1880 Crown Point, Essex County, NY
John HAMMER M Male 58 NEW YORK Bloomer
Lucelia HAMNER M Female 38 VERMONT Keeping House
Minnie HAMNER S Female 2 NEW YORK

John married Elizabeth Hamilton. (Elizabeth Hamilton was born in 1826 in Clintonville, New York and died in 1861.)