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Below is a family biography included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published by Biographical Publishing Co. in 1894.  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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LOUIS HAMMER, Alderman from the Fourth Ward, and a prominent clothier of Murphysboro, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., December 19, 1855. He is the son of Monroe Hammer, an European, who came to America and resided for a time in New York. About 1857 he came to Illinois and settled in Chester. Thence, about three years later he went to Memphis, Tenn., and in that city carried on a store during the war. He died there of the yellow fever in 1873. His wife, Rosa David, who was born in Posen, died in Little Rock, Ark.

There were three children in the family, two of whom attained mature years. The other beside our subject is Carrie, the wife of L. Pahotski, a grocer of Ft. Smith, Ark. Louis was reared in Memphis, where he received his education in the common schools and the commercial college. After his father’s death, in 1873, he took charge of the mercantile business, which he conducted until 1874, and then disposing of the store, came to Murphysboro. Shortly afterward he opened a store at Du Quoin, where he engaged in the dry-goods business for two and one-half years. Then selling the establishment he returned to Murphysboro and bought an interest with Samuel Desberger in the dry-goods and clothing business.

The establishment of Desberger & Co., was located on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, and was widely and favorably known as one of the centers of trade in the town. In the year 1886 the firm name was changed to L. Hammer & Co., Mr. Desberger still retaining his connection with the enterprise. For a time they conducted two stores, the “Famous” and the “Union.” In 1891 Mr. Hammer consolidated the two stores into one large establishment, located in the Logan Block. Here he has a double store, 45x80 feet in dimensions, and stocked with a full line of men’s furnishing goods, hats, caps and clothing. The stock is the largest and most complete in southern Illinois, and the firm justly enjoys an enviable reputation for reliability of dealings and courtesy to customers. They have the exclusive agency in southern Illinois for Schloss Brothers, merchant tailors, of Baltimore, Md.

In Murphysboro, in April of 1879, Mr. Hammer married Miss Jennie Hammer, who was born in Germany, but grew to womanhood in Boston. One child, Manning, has blessed their union. Mr. Hammer is a charter member of the Board of Trade. In the spring of 1893 he was elected Alderman from the Fourth Ward on the Democratic ticket, a fact which shows his popularity with the people, as that ward is strongly Republican. He has served as Chairman of the Cemetery Committee and the Committee on Appropriations, and is also a member of the Finance Committee. Socially he affiliates with Mt. Carbon Post No. 434, I. O.O. F., belongs to the encampment, and is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias, belonging to the Uniformed Rank.

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This family biography is one of 679 biographies included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published in 1894.  View the complete description here: The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois

View additional Jackson County, Illinois family biographies here: Jackson County, Illinois Biographies

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