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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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JUDGE LEWIS HAMMACK, a prominent and well known attorney of southern Illinois, now living in Pinckneyville, claims Tennessee as the state of his nativity. He was born June 25, 1825, and is a son of Benjamin Hammack, a native of Virginia. The grandfather, Lewis Hammack, Sr., was also born in the Old Dominion, and came of an old family that was founded in that state at an early day. He was a farmer and local Methodist minister, and his last days were spent in Tennessee. He had one son who served in the War of 1812.

Benjamin Hammack was the youngest in his father’s family. After his marriage, he removed with his family to Missouri, in the latter part of the year 1825, when the Judge was a child of six months. By trade he was a wheelwright, and in his shop on his farm he not only repaired wagons, but made tables, chairs, spinning wheels and looms. In fact he was handy at all kinds of mechanical work. After two years spent in Missouri, he removed to Jackson County, Ill., and in 1829 came to Perry County, settling two and a-half miles northwest of the place where the town of Tamaroa now stands. In 1838, he removed to Holt’s Prairie, where he lived for a number of years, and then went to Coon Hill, where he died in 1873, at the age of seventy-three years. He had been honored with the office of County Commissioner, Assessor, Justice of the Peace and County Treasurer, and was a man of more than ordinary ability, being highly respected by all.

The mother of our subject, who was formerly Sarah Hull, was born in Kentucky. She was a daughter of Richard Hull, a native of New Jersey, who when a young man went to North Carolina, thence to Tennessee, and later to Kentucky. He served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father was a Revolutionary soldier. Mrs. Hammack died in January, 1891, at the age of eighty-two years. The Judge was the second in the family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all of whom grew to mature years. Four brothers are now living, William, Thomas, Benjamin and Lewis. The first went to California in 1849, but returned with impaired health, and now lives in this county. Richard also went west during the gold excitement and died in California. Zebede, a lawyer, entered the army as a member of Company C, Eighty-first Illinois Infantry, was wounded at Vicksburg, and died from the effects of his injury. Thomas is a farmer and local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, residing in Union County, Ill. Benjamin is a farmer and local minister of Franklin County.

On the old home farm Judge Hammack was reared, while in the common schools he was educated. He entered the army for service in the Mexican War, and on his return in 1848 he was elected Circuit Clerk, holding the position four years, during which time he read law. Having made a fight against the open saloon, he was on this account defeated for a second term as Circuit Clerk. Soon after leaving office he was admitted to the Bar, and has since been successfully engaged in practice, winning an enviable reputation as a lawyer. In 1863, he was nominated as Circuit Judge, but lost the election by twenty-six votes.

In 1851, Mr. Hammack wedded Cordelia M. Edwards, a sister of Captain Edwards, the present law partner of Judge Lewis Hammack, and a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of southern Illinois. To them were born three children, Elizabeth J., wife of Benjamin Wood, of Pinckneyville; William, who is engaged in the stock and dairy business near Pinckneyville; and Charles Lewis, a traveling salesman of St. Louis. The mother of this family died in 1872, and the present wife of Judge Hammack was Maria J. (Rigg) Guthrie, daughter of Alexander Rigg. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and socially is a demitted Mason. From the beginning he has had a good practice, and his high reputation as a lawyer is well deserved.

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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 Perry County, Illinois family biographies here: Perry County, Illinois Biographies

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