Rev Abraham Obediah Hammer, I

I see the term "MM" turns up often in the following, so here is a definition:
MM is short for Monthly Meeting. Monthly Meetings are, traditionally, the basic unit of administration in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The term "Monthly Meeting" comes from the Quaker practice of holding a monthly Meeting for Business, separate from Meeting for Worship which is usually held once a week on Sunday.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=114596873

ABRAHAM HAMMER was born in April, 1731 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and died in December 1791 in Randolph County, NC. He married RACHEL MEETING Dec. 29, 1755 in Abington, PA, daughter of AARON MEETING. She was born in 1731 in Pennsylvania, and died in 1778 in Randolph County, NC. In 1760 they moved south from Pennsylvania; we next hear of the family in North Carolina. They are buried in Holly Springs Friends Meeting Cemetery, Ramseur, Randolph County, North Carolina. They were Quakers.

This Abraham Obediah Hammer (1731-1791) is not the husband of Martha NANCY Hamon (1735-1778), but geni will not allow me to sever that connection in this profile. She was married to another man of a similar name: Abraham Obediah Hamon (1720-1774). This error causes geni to list a confusing mix of 16 children for this Abraham.

Children of ABRAHAM HAMMER and RACHEL MEETING are:
i. ELISHA HAMMER, b. 1756, Cresheim, German Twp, Philadelphia Co., Pa; d. May 18, 1837, Warren Co., Tennessee.
ii. ISAAC HAMMER, b. Nov. 20, 1763, Orange Co. (now Randolph Co.) N.C.; d. Oct. 14, 1835, Huntsville, Indiana.
iii. RACHEL HAMMER, b. November 20, 1764, Randolph, NC; d. March 6, 1825.
iv. MARY HAMMER, b. July 31, 1768, Randolph Co., NC; d. 1831; m. JOHN ADAMSON, 1786; b. Abt. 1766.
v. JOHN HAMMER, b. 1769, Randolph, NC; d. September 13, 1841, Henry, IN.
vi. ABRAHAM HAMMER, b. January 5, 1771, Orange, NC; d. November 15, 1850, Randolph, NC.
vii. MARGARET HAMMER, b. 1772, Randolph, NC.

The above list of children compared to the children linked on this geni.com entry:
Those with a dash ( - ) in front of them are matches (some very rough matches) to the above list:
- Margaret Benson (Hammer) 1756-1835
Adam Hammer 1757-
Joel Hammer 1758-1834
- * # Elisha Hammer 1758-1835
Thomas Hammon (Hammer) 1759-1850
- * # Abraham Obadiah Hammer 1763-1853
- * # Isaac Franklin Hammer 1763-1835 (the best match to all other lists)
- * Mary Adamson (Hammer) 1768-1873 (105 yrs?)
Mary Magdeline Walker (Hammer) 1769-1811
Jacob Hammer 1770-1841
- * # Rachel Allred (Hammer) 1770-1868
Enos Hammers 1770-1846
Ezra Hammer 1774-
- * John Hammer 1776-1841
Those with an asterisk ( * ) in front of them match (some very roughly) Nancy Miller Thompson Smith's list, father down here.
Those with a pound sign ( # ) match (roughly) the children listed for him at findagrave.com.

Notes on Abraham Hammer Sr’s family: In the minutes of the Abington (PA) Quakers meeting, 12 mo, 29d, 1755, he gave a written acknowledgement of the outgoing of his marriage to a non-Quaker, after members had condemned his action. The acknowledgment was accepted and he again became a member. The name of his wife is not mentioned in these records.
In the minutes of the same meeting, Abraham on 10 mo, 29d, 1759, requested and received a certificate from Abington Meeting to go to Orange County (now Randolph Co.), N.C. to become a member of the Cane Creek Monthly Meeting. Because his wife Rachel was still not a Quaker, neither she nor any of their children were mentioned.
It was not until June 7, 1760 that Abraham presented his certificate to Cane Creek MM. On the "11th mo, 5th d, 1768 Abraham Hammer and George Henry" were dismissed from the meeting because they had joined a group protesting the taxes imposed on them and "also for making warlike preparations, due labor being extended, this meeting now disowns them. This happened at the time when men in that area were preparing to take part in the battle of Alamance by the regulators. His signature along with over one hundred others appears on a petition handed to North Carolina Governor William Tryon, protesting taxes.
The family became members (Cane Creek MM granted certificate to Deep River on April 6, 1782) of Deep River MM (Yadkin County, NC) in 1782 and two years later, they were again members of Cane Creek (received on certificate from Deep River dated May 3, 1784). Additional entries in Cane Creek MM (October 7, 1766) are for Abraham's daughter Mary, who married John Adamson "outside of Friends discipline" and later (September 6, 1806 Mary Adamson confessed her marriage "outside of Friends discipline") was re-admitted. The youngest son, Abraham Jr. married and was condemned in 1787, then in 1803 he and his wife were received again.

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: May 8 2016, 21:21:29 UTC

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From Nancy Miller Thompson Smith's 2015 book The Genealogy of the Rash and Hammer Families:

ABRAHAM HAMMER, SR. (112)
Born: ca. 1730
Where: Plymouth Twp., Philadelphia, Penn.
Father: John Hammer, Sr. (224)
Mother: Jane _______ (225)
Married: December 1755
Where: Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Wife: Rachael Meeting (113)
Died: Between 1797 and 1800
Where: Randolph County, North Carolina
Buried: Holly Springs Friends Cemetery
RACHEL MEETING (113)
Born: ca. 1736
Where: Plymouth or Cresheim, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (probably)
Father: _______ Meeting (226)
Mother: _______ ________ (227)
Married: December 1755
Husband: Abraham Hammer (112)
Died: Before 1797
Where: Randolph County, North Carolina
Buried: Holly Springs Friends Cemetery

Children:
1. Elisha Hammer ca. 1758
2. Isaac Hammer (56) 20 November 1763
3. Mary Hammer (died young) ca. 1765
4. Mary Hammer 31 July 1768
5. John Hammer, Jr. 3 April 1769
6. Rachel Hammer ca. 1770
7. Abraham Hammer, Jr. 5 January 1771

Abraham Hammer was born ca. 1730 in Plymouth Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were in Cresheim, German Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before 1710 where they were members of the Abington Friends Monthly Meeting. The family relocated to Plymouth Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1725/26 where Abraham was undoubtedly born. The family moved back to Cresheim by 1739. The Abington MM records in Cresheim acknowledges the outgoing of Abraham Hammer’s marriage in December 1755. He married a non-Quaker, and the MM condemned his actions in 1756. A short time later they acknowledged his actions, and accepted his membership. The name of his wife was not mentioned in the records, but he married Rachel Meeting in Plymouth, Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania in December 1755.

There has been some confusion between Abraham Hammer, the subject of this sketch, and his cousin, Abraham Hammer, who was a son of his uncle, Adam Hammer. The two Abrahams were born and married about one year apart. Their families were both members of the Abington MM. Abraham, son of Adam and Elizabeth Hammer, married Martha Bateman on December 29, 1755. This marriage is documented in the Swedes Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Gwynedd MM where her husband transferred his membership. It appears as though our subject married twice, but the dilemma has now been documented as false. Abraham and Martha Bateman Hammer received a certificate from the Gwynedd MM for transfer to the Cane Creek MM in 1759. Our subject and his father, John, are recorded in MM as “from Germantown.” Abraham Hammer of Germantown requested his transfer from the Abington MM to Cane Creek MM in Orange County, North Carolina on October 29, 1759. The two Abrahams with their families probably left together, however, Abraham and Martha Bateman Hammer could not complete their intended destination, and stayed in Washington County, Virginia. The Hammers likely chose Crane Creek MM because John Hammer, the eldest son of Adam and Elizabeth Hammer, and his wife, Margaret Wright Hammer, had helped to establish the MM there in 1757. David Hammer, a nephew of our subject, left about the same time as the two Abrahams. He was a member of the Gwynedd MM when he transferred to Cane Creek MM. He arrived there June 5, 1762. David Hammer was the son of John and Rebecca Jones Hammer. (Refer to the Index for further information on these families.)

Abraham presented his certificate to Cane Creek M. M. on June 7, 1760. Since Rachel was not a member of the Friends Church, neither she nor their child, Elisha, were recorded in early records. Evidently she did not become a member of the Cane Creek M. M. until 1778 when she first appeared on their records.

Abraham’s father, John Hammer, Sr., died in 1765. His will was probated on June 10, 1765, in Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He left Abraham an annual income of interest from one fifth of five shillings in sterling. His oldest brother, John Hammer, Jr. inherited his estate, and the other five children shared in the annual interest.

On November 5, 1768, Abraham Hammer Sr., and George Henry were dismissed from the Crane Creek MM because “they joined a group protesting the taxes imposed on them”, and also “for making warlike preparations, due labor being extended, this meeting now disowns them.” About thirty men known as “Regulators in the Almance area of North Carolina signed a petition to Governor William Tryon trying to settle a potential uprising. Abraham Hammer signed this preserved historical petition. Governor Tryon took immediate action, and the result became known as the “Battle of Almance. ”. Guilford County Court House in Orange County, North Carolina still displays the place where some of the Regulators from the Battle of Alamance were hung. This action is considered by historians to be one of the first uprisings of the Amreican Revolution. This makes the descendants of Abraham Hammer eligible for membership in the Sons and or the Daughters of the American Revolution (SAR or DAR.).

There are no more Friends MM records about the Hammers until Rachel requested a certificate and became a member of the Cane Creek MM on January 3, 1779. A record of Abraham, Sr. and his son, Elisha, are listed on the 1779 Tax List for Randolph County, North Carolina. This is an indication that Elisha was twenty one years of age, old enough to be listed. The Tax List was usually taken in the spring.

Even though it appears Abraham and Rachel Hammer moved several times, they probably did not. Orange County originally covered a very large portion of North Carolina. Parts of it were subsequently divided into eleven counties. Those counties which affected the Cane Creek MM were: Alamance, Orange, Rockingham, Guilford, and Randolph. In 1771, after the Regulators’s battle, Chatham, Guilford and Wake Counties were established. The division line between Orange and Chatham ran a short distance south of the meeting house of Cane Creek, so the meeting house continued to be in Orange County, but the residences of many members were thrown into Chatham. In 1849 Orange was again divided. The western portion including the site of Cane Creek MM being set off as Alamance County. Today, the meeting house is located in Alamance, adjacent to the village of Snow Camp, about fifteen miles south of Graham, the county seat.

On August 4, 1781 Abraham Hammer, Jr., son of Abraham and Rachel Hammer, Sr. was receive into the Cane Creek MM. On the same day, Mary and Rachel, were received into the MM by request of their parents, Abraham and Rachel Hammer.

The family requested a certificate from Cane Creek MM in Orange County to Deep River MM in Randolph County, North Carolina on April 6, 1782. On May 3, 1784, they were received as members of Cane Creek from the Deep River MM. In the 1785 Tax List of Randolph County both Elisha and Isaac were listed as owning seventy five acres of land.

An additional entry on October 7, 1786, in Cane Creek MM was for Mary Hammer who married John Adamson “outside of Friends discipline.” Mary Adamson confessed her marriage on September 6, 1806, and was readmitted. Abraham Hammer, Jr. married and was condemned in 1787, and then in 1803 he and his wife, Catherine Trogden Hammer were received in the Cane Creek MM.

In 1797 Abraham Hammer, Sr. signed a deed which does not have the usual signature of Rachel, his wife. She probably died before that date. As Abraham was not listed in the 1800 Census of Randolph County, North Carolina, he likely died before that date. Rev. William Clarkson Hammer, a great grandson of Abraham Hammer, wrote a lengthy genealogy on his family when he was thirty years old.

This was in the same year that Rev. Hammer’s grandmother, Catherine Trogdon Hammer, died. She was the wife of Abraham Hammer, Jr. His written family genealogies is one of the important bridges to our past. A copy of which may be found at the Randolph County Library in Ashville, North Carolina. When he was seventy-one years old in1907, he wrote a lengthy article “A Genealogy of the Hammer and Spoon Families.” On the first page he named, Johannes Hammer, as Abraham Hammer, Sr.’s father who was from Germany. Although there are errors in his account, it contains important information about his great grandfather. He states that “Abraham Hammer, Sr, was a quite [misspelling of quiet?] ‘Quaker’ who lived and died in the Randolph County, and was buried at Holly Springs Friends Cemetery where his grave may yet be seen with his name plainly to be read on his tombstone at the last time I was there.” He did not give a death date. (All MM records cited except those otherwise documented are from: Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. I, Edward Brothers, Inc, Ann Arbor Michigan, 1936)
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Abraham in the 1894 book Portrait and Biographical Record of Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, Iowa, page 283:
The genealogy of the Hammer family, traced to the original emigrant in the United States, is as follows: In the early part of the eighteenth century, the progenitor of the family in America, who was a German by birth, emigrated to Bucks County, Pa. His son, Abraham, was born in that county in 1731, and in 1760 moved to North Carolina, where his children, four sons and three daughters, were born.
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@R-1198156705@ 1800 United States Federal Census Ancestry.com Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - Second Census of the United States, 1800. (NARA microfilm publication M32, 52 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Grou 1,7590::0

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@R-1198156705@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=57857291&pid...