Source
Source for: Rezin R Hammond, 1828 - 1897
Index
Birth source: S90Page: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45922752
Birth source: S16Text: Rezin Hammond
Property source: S254Page: pages 13 & 16
Text: The Indianapolis Sunday Newspaper--- March 5, 1922
Perfect Example of Old Farm House, in Midst of Modern Homes, Carries History of Century
Property of Miss Anna M. Wright, Forty-Second Street and Central Avenue, Contains Many Rare Pieces of Furniture, of Priceless Value, From the Antiquarian's Viewpoint.
By Edith S. Dorsey
We find at Forty-second street and Central avenue a perfect example of the old farmhouses which were built seventy or eighty years ago (written in 1922), standing now flanked on either side by two of the most modern of houses. The beautiful old house, painted a dark green that blends well with the elms and maples that line the drive leading up to it, stands well back in the yard, guarded in front by two tall pines. It is built after the fashion of many Pennsylvania and New York farmhouses, with double porches across the front and side.
This house, which is now the home of Miss Anna M. Wright, was bought by her family thirty years ago from Rezin R. Hammond. In 1823, the Rev. Rezin Hammond, whose home was in Jeffersonville, entered this ground for his son, at Brookville, which was the land office of the state at that time. There were 240 acres which extended from Pennsylvania street to the Monon tracks, and from Thirty-eighth to Forty-sixth street. All these parts were known as Sugar Grove flats on account of the large number of sugar maples with which the woods abounded.
Cosidered Pretentious Place.
There was only a small cabin on the estate until 1850, when Mr. Hammond built the present house. It was considered one of the most pretentious places in aa this part of the country, and was the scene of many gay parties, people going out from town to "sugaring-off" parties, and to enjoy the skating on a pond that covered the low part of the farm.
All the original appendages that went with a farm of that day, were still standing when Miss Wright took possession of the house—the woodshed that contained a furnace with three great
iron kettles used for making maple sirup, a smokehouse built of walnut logs, milkhouse, and all the rest. The whole place was surrounded with a walnut fence made from wood off the place. Ferd Hollweg and Thad Baker, who have the adjoining properties, have been interested enough to preserve this old fence as their boundary line. It was a foible of Mr. Hammond's to build his fences inside his property line, so, for many years, all along the Pennsylvania street side, there were two fences within a foot or so of each other, his and the next property owner's who had built on the propery line. He lived in this place until 1882. It was rented during the intervening years and passed into the Wright family in 1892.
There were only six houses between the Wright house and Fall creek, two of which were the Hasselman and Hanaway farms, the rest small tenant houses. At that time Thirty-eighth street was called Lovers lane, and was a favorite drive, being a beautiful country road shaded by a line of lovely old thorn trees. Going out Central avenue one had to pay toll at Thirty-eighth and again at Forty-sixth street.
In 1891, a group of men bought sixty acres, which with the twenty immediately surrounding the house, was all that was left of the original farm. They made these sixty acres into what was called Washington park, planting the Norway maples now bordering that stretch of Washington boulevard.
The house itself is charming in its rambling simplicity. It contains sixteen rooms, all with low ceilings, and white painted woodwork. There are nine outside doors on the first floor, a curious way they built in those days. The living room has six doors, no two of which are of the same height, or of the height of the window casings. In the view taken from the top of the stairs, one may see through the series of halls the three levels at which additions had been built. The same irregularity goes throughout, but it adds to the homelike atmosphere, with which the old house is brimming over.
House a Real Museum.
The south windows full of geraniums, the old mahogany furniture, most of which has descended to Miss Wright from her grandmother; the family portraits on the walls, all tend to give a rare quaintness to the rooms. The only change that has been made is the substitution of fireplaces for the wood stoves that were in every room, and of electricity for the lamp or candle light, the latter seeming more in keeping with the house.
There are many rare pieces of furniture in the house. One bedroom, unfortunately too small to be photographed, is filled with lovely Fenny Lind mahogany, of priceless value, from an antiquarian's point of view, and old prints bearing the mark "Lieber 1860." In the front room downstairs is some wonderful French colonial furniture, a Seth Thomas clock and two interesting portraits painted by Cox, an early portrait painter. In an adjoining room is an old square piano, made in 1860 by an Indianapolis piano factory, long since out of existence, for the first exposition and bought by Miss Wright's father at that time. Another curious relic is a brass three-cornered lamp which burned lard, with a twisted rag stuck in to serve as a wick. This lamp had a hook on top which could be fastened on a chairback for reading or hung on the wall for more general lighting. These antiques and many more make the house a real museum.
It Is to be hoped that this old home may remain untouched for many years to come amidst its modern surroundings, and that if it ever should be dismantled, there may be some place to preserve all its interesting contents, that have so much of the history of the last century connected with them.
Residence source: S11Text: Rezin Hammond
Death source: S43Page: http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.hammond/1634/mb.ashx?pnt=1
Text: I am researching Rezin R. Hammond 1828-1897 who married twice Ancestry.com Message Boards, http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.hammond/1634/mb.ashx?pnt=1.
Death source: S90Page: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=45922752
Residence source: S14Text: Rezin Hammond
Residence source: S16Text: Rezin Hammond