My Genealogy Hound

Hon. W. M. Hammock, lawyer, is the son of Capt. L. and M. J. (Gammon) Hammock; was born in Texas in 1856. Of the three children, he and a sister are now living. The father was of Scotch-Irish extraction, and born in Virginia, about 1812; removed to Smith County, Tenn., with his parents when a child; reared there, when thirty-seven years of age he married, and in 1855 resumed farming until 1858; he then returned to Smith County, where he died in 1859. In early life he spent several years as captain on a river steamer. He was a stalwart Whig. The mother was born in Smith County in 1823 and died in 1858, a member of the Baptist Church. Left an orphan, our subject was cared for by W. Martin, of Smith County, until twelve years of age, when he had to do for himself. Attending the common schools, and a session in the Tennessee University, Knoxville, in 1871-72, he finished by attending in 1876-77 the law department of Cumberland University at Lebanon. Since then he has practiced at Hartsville, and has become one of the best attorneys in this section, and a self-made man. When twenty-one he was elected mayor of Hartsville, serving two years, and in 1886 elected to represent Trousdale and Sumner Counties in the Legislature. He has served as special judge on several occasions in these two counties. He also owns considerable real estate in Hartsville. In April, 1877, he married Bettie, daughter of Arch and Francis Allen, of Hartsville. In politics an active and uncompromising Democrat, his first vote was for Gen. Hancock. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Hammock was born in Trousdale County in 1858; is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.