Rev Elisha Hammer

Elisha Hammer 1789–1847 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/252029566
Rachel Lewis Hammer 1792–1858 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/252036799

Children:

• Mahlon Hammer 1811-1831
• Seth Hammer 1813-1881 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50299809
• Susannah Hammer 1815-1890 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50264164
• Henry Hammer 1817-1879 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50232492
• Jesse Hammer 1820-1873 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144433154
• Ira Lewis Hammer b. March 9 1823
• Lydia Hammer 1825-1827
• Elisha Hammer 1828-1907 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50235163
• Aaron Hammer 1831-1914 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50258321
• Mary Ann "Polly" Hammer Booth 1833-1874 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50296637
• Isaac Newton Hammer 1836-1862 http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=50232492

This is the Rev. Elisha Hammer, father of Capt. Elisha Hammer and Seth Hammer.
Also not to be confused with Elisha Hammer, b. 1756 or 1758, died 1835. This other Elisha is actually the uncle of the current Elisha, the brother of his father Isaac. His geni profile: Elisha Hammer

Elisha Hammer spoke against human slavery. His testimony was not political, but wholly humanitarian, therefore he proclaimed earnestly with all the eloquence that God had given him that 'the oppressed shall go free'. Finally he felt that his ministry in the South was nearing an end, and fearing that some of his posterity through marriage might become identified with slavery, and foreseeing the probable war between the States, concluded to move to the free territory of Iowa. This decision was carried out in 1846. In 1845, he sold his farms and flour mill on the Lost Creek stream, near New Market, Tennessee and gathered his family together to start the long trip to Iowa. Elisha Hammer did not live long after coming to Iowa. He died in 1847 . . .
"The son of the Rev . Elisha Hammer, known as Captain Elisha Hammer, built a brickhouse, southwest of the Center Friends Church, this beautiful brick dwellinghouse stands as a landmark. It was built of brick hauled overland by oxen team from Iowa City, prior to the Civil War. Tradition relates this home was one of the several 'underground stations', in the neighborhood.
--Report of Nita M. Hammer, 10 Sep 1975.

Since Iowa was not a slave state, and in fact that's why Elisha Sr. went there, I'm not sure why Elisha Jr. would need to have a station on the Underground Railroad. If you were a former slave in Iowa, you didn't need to be "underground" anymore.
Followup: Long after writing the above sentence, I was informed that although Iowa was a free state, it was illegal to transport escaped slaves, so an underground railroad was very much necessary.

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The Rev. Elisha Hammer:

Birth: May 1, 1789 Orange Co., NC
Death: May 1, 1847 (58) Pleasant Plains, Ia
Husband of Violet Wade and Rachel Lewis

The Rev. Elisha Hammer left Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1846 and settled in Keokuk County, Iowa. He later became the first Quaker minister in Jasper County, Iowa, where he established a homestead. Elisha's wife was Rachel (Lewis), their son, Seth Hammer married (1) Elizabeth Janeway about 1830.

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

REV. ELISHA HAMMER (28)
Born: May 1789
Where: North Carolina (that part of North Carolina that became Jefferson Co. Tennessee)
Father: Isaac Hammer (56)
Mother: Lydia Mendenhall (57)
Married: 6 June 1810
Where: Jefferson County, Tennessee
Wife: Rachel Lewis (29)
Died: 27 May 1847
Where: Pleasant Plains, Jefferson, Iowa
Buried: Pleasant Plains, Jefferson, Iowa

RACHEL LEWIS (29)
Born: 8 April 1792
Where: Jefferson County, Tennessee
Father: Evan Lewis (58)
Mother: Susanna[h] Moon (59)
Married: 6 June 1810
Where: Jefferson County, Tennessee
Husband: Elisha Hammer (28)
Died: 1853
Where: Jasper County, Iowa

Children (all born in Jefferson County, Tennessee):
1. Mahlon Hammer 3 March 1811
2. Seth Hammer (14) 2 April 1813
3. Susannah Hammer 16 October 1815
4. Henry Hammer 15 December 1817
5. Jesse Hammer 4 October 1820
6. Ira Lewis Hammer 9 March 1823
7. Lydia Hammer 6 October 1825 (died 1827)
8. Elisha Hammer 20 April 1828
9. Aaron Hammer 2 June 1831
10. Mary Ann "Polly" Hammer Booth 15 November 1833
11. Isaac Newton Hammer 20 June 1836

Elisha Hammer was born in 1789, and by that date his father was well established in that part of North Carolina that became Jefferson County, Tennessee. It is well documented that Isaac Hammer had land Grants there as early as 1787.

In the year he was born, as a matter of historical interest, George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. John Adams was Vice President, Thomas Jefferson was Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of Treasury. In 1790 Philadelphia became the Federal Capital of the United States, and Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia in the same year.

Elisha Hammer married Rachel Lewis on June 6, 1810 in the Friends’ Lost Creek Monthly Meeting in Jefferson County, Tennessee. Rachel was the daughter of Evan and Susannah Moon Lewis. (Henshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. I, Edward Brothers, Inc, Ann Arbor Michigan, 1936, p. 1120) [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofam01hins/page/1120/mode/2... It was here in this beautiful, peaceful land their children were born.

Elisha and Rachel lived near New Market that is only a short distance from Danbridge, the county seat of Jefferson County. Danbridge was named in honor of Martha Danbridge Washington, and is the only town named after a “First Lady” in our country. It was here that David (Davie) Crockett married Polly Finley on August 14, 1806. Their marriage bond is preserved in the archives of the Jefferson County Courthouse, and it is signed by David Crockett, who was then a twenty year old resident of the county. Davie and Polly lived near Dandridge six more years before moving to Middle Tennessee, a career in Congress, and ultimately to his death at the Alamo.

“Elisha Hammer owned and farmed a large amount of land in Jefferson County. He also owned a grist mill which was operated by water power. The barreled flour was transported by flatboat down the Tennessee River to the southwest and on to Alabama, and his barrels bore the name “E. Hammer”; “The quality and weight needed no further guarantee.” (Hammer, Thomas Jefferson, Biography of Seth Hammer, Los Angeles, CA, 1917. (Note: this book can be found in the William Penn State College Library in Oskaloosa, Iowa.) [and here: https://media.geni.com/p9/2542/3588/53444837b540a659/Biography_of_Seth_Hammer_original.pdf?hash=10f66b85fe95955e5c80abf5c1f3d91ece897ccaca30a575ea22cdd943c11b31.1747637999 ]

Elisha and his wife Rachel were Quakers, as were their forefathers for four or five generations before them. On May 28, 1831 Elisha became a minister in the Friends Church, and he followed this calling to the end of his life. Thomas Jefferson Hammer wrote about his grandfather: “Elisha Hammer was a minister of note in a religious denomination officially known as the Society of Friends, better known now as Quakers. Before the Civil War he was about the only preacher in that part of the South who could safely speak against slavery. The Friend’s well known anti-war principles, no doubt, accounted for the Southern passivity. Grandfather Hammer's testimony against slavery was not political; but wholly humanitarian, therefore, he proclaimed earnestly, with all the eloquence God had given him, that the ‘oppressed shall go free.’ Finally, when he felt impressed that his ministry in the South was at an end, and fearing that some of his posterity, through marriage, might become identified with slavery, concluded to emigrate to the free North, deciding to move to the territory of Iowa.” (ibid.)

“It must have been a difficult decision to sell his cultivated farm land and his mill on the Lost Creek stream. East Tennessee was a beautiful mountainous region, and the Hammer family would from time to time long for ‘the refreshing spring water which flowed from the springs of their loved Tennessee, where the mountain song birds warbled their rarest notes and sang their sweetest songs.’” (ibid.)

The family's certificate from the Friend's Lost Creek Meeting to the Pleasant Plain Iowa Meeting was dated August, 18, 1845. (op. cit., Henshaw, p. 1120) “The Hammer family formed quite a respectable party of emigrants as they pulled out from the land of the 'persimmon and oppossum' [sic], and for a time followed a line in the direction of the North Pole. But Iowa being in the North Temperate Zone, they stopped at Richland, Keokuk County for the winter.” Here Elisha taught school before they journeyed on to their final home in Jasper County. There were six covered wagons that carried the Hammer families. All of Elisha's children came with him, except Mahlon and Lydia who were deceased. He also brought one grandson, Mahlon, who Elisha and Rachel raised after his parents death. Most of his children were married and had families.

“They settled in an area of Jasper County that must have reminded them of Tennessee. There was a beautiful stream and heavy timber which enhanced their homestead that became known as ‘Hammer's Grove.’ From this protected area they could work their land in the daytime, and feel that their families had some protection from hostile Indians.

“Elisha established the first Quaker Church in Jasper County in 1846, and the first services were held in his home. He was known as a man of prayer. In Tennessee he was a traveling minister going North, South and East on horseback or carriage, yet it is said that he never asked a cent or accepted material needs without repaying them. On one occasion his horse died while he was away from home. He was given another, but as soon as he returned home, he sent the money to the person, believing if one freely received, one must freely give. Another time, a woman wished to give him a pair of sox, but he would not take them if she was giving them to him because he was a preacher.

“During the short while he lived in Iowa, he organized several Quaker Churches. He died on one such mission on May 21, 1847, and he is buried in Pleasant Plains, Iowa. His will was dated May 15, 1847, and it was probated on June 7, 1847, in Jasper County, Iowa. The signature of Elisha Hammer was very shaky or written with effort due to his illness, and the text, which has several words which are incorrectly spelled, was apparently dictated by him.” (ibid.)

Seth Hammer, Elisha’s son, “ felt that his father was an ideal Christian, and he always spoke of him with respect and devotion. If he ever saw a flaw in his father's life, he never mentioned it. I am inclined to believe he never saw any; though if he had faults, they were dimmed by his many virtues. I knew nine of his children, six of whom were my uncles, two my aunts, and the other, for whom I stand a willing sponsor, was my father, Seth. They all spoke of their father with filial affection and profound admiration." (ibid.)

Rachel Lewis Hammer was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee on April 8, 1792. She and her twin sister, Eleanora, were born a little more than one year after her parents, Evan and Susannah Moon Lewis, arrived in Tennessee from Guilford County, North Carolina. They were one of the original families who formed the Lost Creek Friends Meetings near New Market. The Lewis and Moon lineage dates back to early Colonial America, and both families were devout members of the Friends Church for many generations. Her family lineage is included in this book. Please refer to the Table of Contents for Evan and Susannah Moon Lewis and Richard and Susannah Beeson Moon for further genealogy of both families.

Rachel continued to hold worship services after the death of her husband, Elisha, in their log cabin home. She must have been a strong pioneer who was devoted to her family and faith. In 1850 four Friend ministers “reached the Hammer's settlement near Newton in Jasper County. There were five or six families of Friends from East Tennessee who relocated in Jasper County two or three years before. ‘We took up our quarters,’ says Lindsey, ‘at the widow Hammer's whose husband was a minister in our Society, and deceased since they came out here. That night a strong northwester blew across the plains, and the house, being far from tight, let the wind have free access through its many openings, both in the walls and roof.’ The strangers found it difficult to keep warm ... Having held a religious meeting in the Hammer home for the members of the settlement on the following day, February 1st, with the thermometer registering ‘10 below zero,’ the four faithful Friends again took up their journey.” (Jones, Louis Thomas, The Quakers of Iowa, State Historical Society, Iowa City, 1914)

Elisha and Rachel gave much of themselves to God, their family, and their country which is the greatest contribution they could have left posterity. They have been documented by this writer to be registered as “Iowa Pioneers” by the Iowa Genealogical Society in Des Moines.
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Elisha 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. The second of his sons, Isaac, was born in North Carolina, in 1764, and migrated to Tennessee, where were born by his first wife, Jesse, Elisha, Aaron and Jonathan; by his second wife, Lydia, Henry, Charity, Rachel, John, Nathan and Laban; by his third wife, Hannah, William, Joanna, Delila and Isaac A. Afterward he removed to Indiana and settled in Huntsville, where he died.

Elisha, second son of Isaac, was born in North Carolina, May 1, 1789, and died in Iowa, May 21, 1847. Hie children, eleven in number, were all born in Jefferson County, Tenn., and were Mahlon, Seth, Henry, Jesse, Ira, Aaron, Elisha, Isaac, Susannah, Polly A. and Lydia.

The Hammers, back to the first representative of the family in this country, have been identified with the Quaker faith, although the later generations have drifted away from that church.
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Siblings and half siblings:

Children of Isaac Hammer and LYDIA MORGAN MENDENHALL:
Jesse Hammer 1785-1860
Elisha Hammer 1789-1847
Aaron Hammer 1792-1861 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69677635
Jonathan Hammer 1795-1860 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43345282

Children of Isaac Hammer and HANNAH MILLS:
Lydia Hammer Morgan 1799-1855 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97705063
Henry Hammer 1801-1874 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23468189
Charity Hammer 1803-
Rachel Hammer Beals 1806-1870 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50302948
John Hammer 1808-1836 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/114040921
Nathan Hammer 1810-
Laban Hammer 1812-1889 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98544244

Children of Isaac Hammer and MARY UNDERWOOD STANLEY:
Hannah A Hammer Shipley 1817-1892 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55492983
William Hammer 1818-1824 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97705569
Jonah Hammer 1820-1824 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97706878
Delilah Hammer 1822-1824 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97707272
Isaac Aaron Hammer 1827-1895 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135434021