Letter from Judge Henry C. Hammond to Amy, June 14, 1940 (page 2)

A typewritten letter, page 2 of the June 14, 1940 letter from Henry C. Hammond to Amy. Continues directly from page 006 mid-sentence — the previous page ended with “very lit-”.

Page #2 — 6-14-40.

tle for formal education.) I will find out when from his tombstone. He entered business with an uncle who soon died. Here’s a missing chapter — what if anything did the uncle leave him? Anyhow in every way he went on with his money touch to become one of the four richest men in the U. S. A. Astor, Vanderbilt, Girard. As you say in your letter, he married Catharine Pritchard, daughter of William, dry dock and ship yard proprietor at Hob Caw in Charleston harbor. They brought into this veil of tears sixteen children, the last my grandmother Catharine — the eldest, twenty-three years old when grandmother was born — Mrs. Wade Hampton. Only a half dozen or so of this brood reached maturity — one your great grand parent — name I can’t recall — father of Dr. Fitzsimmons who married Susan Barker, sister of Theo. Barker, one of the most charming women I ever knew — five or were there six sons and your wonderful Aunt Ellen. Best known to me was your Uncle “Kit” to whom I was deeply attached. Sam, Tate, Gilly, Huger I knew slightly. Where the Hell you came in I don’t know. I have lost my mind, especially for names and family connections. Outstanding members of the family the first Christopher-[Auntrepere] [uncertain], his sixteenth child my grandmother — a saint, your Uncle Kit and Aunt Ellen. There was another worthy of men-

[The letter cuts off again at the bottom of the page; it continues onto the next scan. Several points worth flagging:

(1) Hammond ranks Christopher among the four richest men in America alongside Astor, Vanderbilt, and Girard — striking, even if Hammond’s memory is admittedly unreliable.

(2) He gives Catharine Pritchard’s father as William Pritchard, a “dry dock and ship yard proprietor at Hob Caw”; the W. Huger FitzSimons memorandum on page 003 names her father as Paul Pritchard. Hammond’s account is forty years more recent than the W. Huger memorandum and cannot be relied on for genealogical fact, especially given his self-admitted memory lapses.

(3) Hammond claims sixteen children for Christopher and Catharine, with Catharine the youngest; the page 003 memorandum lists ten, with Catharine among them.

(4) The “Sam, Tate, Gilly, Huger” Hammond knew “slightly” appear to be sons of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons (3rd) and Susan Milliken Barker — the page 003 family tree lists Samuel Gaillard, Theodore Stoney, Seaman Sinkler, and William Huger among their children. “Tate” and “Gilly” are likely nicknames within that group.

(5) “Christopher-Auntrepere” is unclear — possibly a Hammond coinage (perhaps a hyphenated honorific like “ancêtre” or “antepere”) or a typing irregularity. The compound is reproduced as written.]