California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 COL. CHARLES MIFFLIN HAMMOND.� Ma Tel vineyard, situated on the eastern shore of Clear lake, and famous for the beauty of its site and abundant natural resources. Colonel Hammond's six hundred acre estate and palatial residence are noted among the most inviting spots in that section of Lake county � the East Upper Lake precinct. Thirty years of scientific care have made it one of the show places of the county. Its grapes and olives have helped to make local products take first rank with their kind. Though he has become one of the most public-spirited citizens of the county. Colonel Hammond is a New Englander born and bred, his ancestors on both paternal and maternal sides having lived in or around Boston, Mass., for several genera- tions. He is a native of Massachusetts, born at Nahant August 4, 1861, but his early life was spent at New London, Conn., whither his parents moved the summer after his birth. Gardiner Greene Hammond, his father, was born in Boston in 1833, and died in 1902. By occupation he was a farmer, cultivating the fine tract of two hundred acres which he owned at New London, on Long Island sound. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Crowninshield Mifflin, was born in Boston in 1835, and died in 1877. Of the six children born to them, Elizabeth Crowninshield, wife of William Appleton, of Boston, was killed in a railroad accident in the year 1880, at the age of twenty-three ; she left one child. Gardiner Greene, Jr., is a resident of Massachusetts. Charles Mifflin is mentioned below. Susan Greene is the wife of William O. Edmands, of Lake county, a farmer. Mary Crowninshield, who died leaving two chil- dren, was the wife of Edward Brooks and lived at Hyde Park, Mass. Edward Crowninshield, who lives on the old home place at New London, Conn., mar- ried Anna Chapin Rumrill. of Springfield, Mass. Charles Mifflin Hammond passed his boyhood on his father's farm at New London. W'hen eleven years old he entered St. Paul's School at Concord, N. H., a preparatory institution for boys, where he took the classical course, graduating in 1879. In the fall of that year he matriculated at Harvard, where he pursued the general course, graduating in 1883. It was only a few months later that he came out to California, arriving at Rutherford, Napa county, in January, 1884. To acquire the necessary experience he began work as a farm hand for Captain Niebaum, who was a vineyardist, and on whose place he gained his first knowledge of viticulture, learning the care of the grapevine and its product thoroughly. From the start he studied his chosen work scientifically, and time has proved that his efforts have not been wasted. During his first year in California he made a trip into Lake county and was so well impressed with the land that in partnership with his brother Gardiner he made a purchase of twelve hundred and thirty-four acres, in the Upper Lake precinct, taking possession on November 1st. His brother sub- sequently sold his interest in this tract to their brother-in-law, Mr. Edmands, who now owns about six hundred and forty acres of the property. Colonel Hammond retaining six hundred. He has beautified his land by extensive im- provements and systematic development, and the natural advantages of the site have been turned to the best possible use. Twenty years ago he set out an olive orchard of twenty acres, which is still in prime bearing condition, and he also has a vineyard of twenty-five acres, the varieties including Black Bur- gundy, Alataro, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, a few Zinfandels, Sauvignon Vert, and White Semillon. His beautiful field lands are also a valuable portion of the property, and he has given proper attention to their cultivation, which has proved highly profitable. Many of Colonel Hammond's ancestors have been manufacturers and men of large affairs in other lines of business, hut agriculture has evidently been a wise choice in his case, though undoubt- edly the business ability he has inherited has been an important factor in the handling of his large interests, which he has managed with consummate abil- ity. His home is four miles southeast of the town of Upper Lake. As might be expected from one of his training, accustomed to environ- ments where literary education and general culture have become a matter of course. Colonel Hammond has been zealous in securing such benefits for his adopted community, and it was largely due to his efforts that the only high school in Lake county, the Clear Lake Union high school at Lakeport, was established. His strenuous efforts and material help made the school possible, and he is still serving as one of its trustees. There are many other evidences of progress in Lake county introduced or encouraged by him. Though con- servative and not given to favoring things which have merely the attraction of novelty to recommend them, he is a true friend of progress and good govern- ment, as he has shown on numerous occasions. He has given his influence and substantial aid to the Clear Lake railroad, is a director of the company, and was Lake county's representative in the Sacramento Valley Development Association. Straightforward and outspoken. Colonel Hammond is thor- oughly sincere and honest in his views and in giving expression to them, and though he may have met and incurred opposition it has been in the spirit of his ancestors who preferred to fight in the open rather than use roundabout means of gaining their ends. His heritage of training and con- science would permit him to take no other course than the direct one, and all his methods will bear close scrutiny, and not leave unpleasant surprises for the future to reveal. From his own large possessions, and the extent to which their value has been endangered by the dam on Cache creek, the outlet of Clear lake, being built by the Yolo Water & Power Company, it might seem that his efforts to stop the activities of that company were actuated by selfish motives, but it is well known that protection for himself will mean the same for many others, and he has made stubborn resistance to encroachments, in behalf of his fellow citizens as well as on his own account. He has led the opposition to the company and has proved a powerful adversary, his strict integrity holding the confidence of his co-operators, and his unyielding dis- position in what he believes to be a just cause encouraging them to hold out for their rights, for the attempts of the Yolo company to acquire the shore lands of the lake for a sum which would be less than a million dollars � which acquisition would virtually control the forty thousand acres of the lake proper � he considers to be absolutely ridiculous. From the Yolo company's own figures it is shown that the value of ten feet of water in the lake, when used for power and irrigation purposes, is worth a million dollars a year, and he sees no reason why this should not accrue to the people of the county annually instead of a beggarly pittance being paid once to a few lake shore owners. The closing of the dam would absolutely destroy many thousands of acres lying below the proposed high water level of ten feet, and two-thirds of Colonel Hammond's place would be ruined, as it would be under water till a period of the year when it would be impossible to farm it. The Colonel would like to see what he considers Lake county's greatest asset conserved and saved for the use and benefit of her people, as he believes the wealth of the county generally will be greater if her resources are devoted to enrich- ing them instead of an outside corporation. Hence his support has been given to the side he regards as most deserving. Colonel Hammond acquired his title by being appointed to serve on the staff of Gov. James N. Gillett of California with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and has kept up old associations through his membership in the University and Harvard clubs of San Francisco. He also belongs to the Somerset Club of Boston. On political questions he adheres to the Republican party, and is unfailing in his loyalty to its traditions and former achievements, the glories of its triumphs during the Civil war period, and the years of unbroken suc- cess which followed. On December 18, 1888, Colonel Hammond was married, in Massachusetts, to Miss Harriet Paine Lee, daughter of George Cabot Lee, the sister of the first wife of ex-President Roosevelt. They have no children. Mrs. Hammond was formerly a Unitarian, but she is now associated with the Episcopal Church.