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Below is a family biography included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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David R. Hammer, mayor of Siloam Springs, Ark., was born in Champaign County, Ill., March 10, 1840, and is a son of Daniel and Polly Ann (Childers) Hammer. The former was born in Tennessee in 1807, and was reared and educated in Ohio. He learned the cooper’s trade after he was grown, and moved to Illinois, where he was married about 1880. He removed to Iowa about 1849 and followed the occupations of farming and coopering. He died in Des Moines about 1869. His wife was born in Ohio, and died in 1843, having borne five children: Nancy Jane (deceased), Elizabeth A., Polly Ann, David K. and Charity A., wife of William M. Moore. After his wife’s death Mr. Hammer married Mrs. Mary A. (Shepherd) Littler. She was born in 1807 in Ohio and became the mother of five children by her first husband, and one by Mr. Hammer: John J., a minister living in Wisconsin, David, Laban (deceased), Henry, Anna (deceased) and Martha J. Hammer, the wife of R. E. Barrickman. David R, Hammer was taken to Iowa when he was about seven years of age and was educated in the common schools of that State. He was married in Warren County, February 18, 1860, to Phoebe A. Smith, a native of Belmont, Ohio, born November 27, 1840. Her grandparents were Georgians, and located in Ohio during the early history of that State. Mrs. Hammer is the mother of one child Alkanzer H., who is a barber, living in Siloam Springs. In 1861 Mr. Hammer enlisted in the Union army in Company B, Tenth Iowa Infantry, and after serving nine months was discharged on account of disability. He lived in Iowa until 1887, when he moved to Western Texas, where he was engaged in merchandising for two years; then went to Kansas, remaining the same length of time. Since that time he was engaged in merchandising in Siloam Springs for one year, and is now engaged in the real estate business. He has been elected mayor three different times. He is a Republican and Mason.

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This family biography is one of 240 biographies included in The History of Benton County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Benton County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

To view additional Benton County, Arkansas family biographies, click here

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