FRANK HAMMOND SR., son of Oliver HAMMOND and Rhoda (THOMPSON) HAMMOND was born 8 May 1846 in German Flats, Herkimer County, New York. He later moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania when he was three years old. He married Luvina FULLER 1 March 1890. She was born 12 Dec 1873 near Saginaw, Michigan. Frank, with his parents joined the wagon train that gathered at Olean, New York to move West. In 1854 the train of thirty covered wagons started west. Part of the train stopped in Michigan and the others went on to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Franks parents settled in Laingsburg, Michigan but later moved to a farm three miles south of Elsie, Michigan. Frank went to a school three miles south of Elsie. His oldest sister was his teacher for a time. At the age of fourteen he moved into the woods eight miles north of Elsie to hunt and trap. That was the spring of 1860. He made a good income selling Partridges and other game birds to hotels, besides his income from the skins of animals he caught in the woods. He lived in this neighborhood during the great Chicago fire of 1860, which run from Chicago all the way across the State of Michigan. He had quite a fight to save his cabin from burning, as the fire was all around it. In 1864 he took up 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act. He being only eighteen years of age, his father had to sign the papers with him. This 160 acres of land was the southwest quarter of section 36, Hamilton Township, Gratiot County, Michigan. He later bought 80 acres of the west half of the southeast quarter of the same section from Hayes SINCLAIR for one dollar per acre. He would walk to Ovid and carry what groceries he needed fourteen miles home. The roads at that time were mere trails which followed the ridges, as the swamps were full of water most of the year. Some of the trails were made by the Indians. He farmed the land with a team of oxen. All the grain had to be cut by hand with a cradle and threshed with a flail. At that time, before the year 1900, eggs were 8 cents per dozen and butter was 10 cents per pound. 18 inch cordwood, split and delivered ten miles and piled in neatly was $1.25 per cord. Beef, Mutton, and Pork cost three to five cents per pound. Sugar was five cents per pound. White beans sold at sixty cents per bushel. The only tax we had was real estate tax and personal property tax to be paid once each year. No dog tax, no income tax, no sales tax, no inheritance tax, no union dues, no deer license, no hunting or trapping license, no fishing license, no automobile license (no automobile)! What little money we made was all our own. In 1896 the people of the neighborhood got together and had a logging bee and built the old log school house and founded district number six. It was built on the north half of section 36, Hamilton township, Gratiot County, Michigan. Those who helped to build the school were as follows; Frank Hammond, William Mitchell, William Fisher, Mr. Hood and Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. Hood furnished the land and most of the lumber. William Fisher was elected director and Mr. Chamberlain was elected treasurer. When school started there were thirty pupils. Frank Hammond Jr. was four years old and went to the new school the first year it was in operation. At that time the teacher got #25.00 per month and had to pay $2.50 per week board and room. The school was first called the Fisher school, but was later called the Hammond school district, in honor of Frank Hammond, he being the oldest pioneer in the district. After the pine timber was all cut off and the saw mills and shingle mills moved away, the school got down to six pupils; Frank, Oliver, Lester, Chester, Minerva Hammond, and Frank Albert Fisher. Frank served on the school board for many years. Luvina died 13 Dec 1921 and Frank died 30 June 1930, both at the old homestead. They had fourteen children. 1. Amelia Hammond b. 4 May 1891 d. 15 May 1891 2. Frank Hammond Jr. b 21 Apr 1892 3. Elizabeth Hammond b. 1893 or 94 (twins) 4. Margaret Hammond b. 1893 or 94 both died in infancy 5. Oliver A. Hammond b. 12 Mar 1895 6. Hector Hammond b. 1896 d. in infancy 7. Lester Hammond b. 21 Jly 1897 d. 1974 8. Chester Hammond b. 15 Mar 1899 d. 26 May 1979 9. Minerva Hammond b. 2 Nov 1900 d. 21 Sep 1962 10. Cecil Hammond b. 5 Feb 1903 11. Emerson Hammond b. 25 Mar 1905 12. Vadnew Hammond b. 4 Aug 1907 13. Charles Hammond b. 29 Mar 1910 14. Christy Hammond b. 9 Mar 1913 Written by Oliver A. Hammond, 1964. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~confido/hamm1.html