Here is some information that you requested about Frank Hammill
and his home:
This short biography, which appears to have been written during the
very early years of Spooner history, found in the "Historical
Collections of Washburn County and the Surrounding Indianhead
Country" Vol. 2, page 393, reads:
"Mr. Hammill's residence, in Spooner, dates back twenty years, to
January, 1883, and he has the distinction of being the second railroad
man to take up residence in the village and has been in the employ of
the railroad company with headquarters here continuously ever since
in the capacity of locomotive engineer. He is now pulling a
passenger train round trip from Spooner to Minneapolis which is one
of the most responsible runs on this division. Mr. Hammill has
invested a good deal of his earnings in land in Bayfield county and
has established a fine fruit farm there near the village of Cable and
has demonstrated the adaptability of northern Wisconsin to the
growing of small fruits. On this farm he has quite an acreage in
different kinds of berries and has handled them so successfully that
he has harvested large profits from them. He also sends large
quantities of the different kinds of berry plants and is authority upon
all matters of berry culture. Mr. Hammill has just completed a very
fine home in this thriving village and is one of the solid men of the
town."
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Another biography, located on the Washburn Co. Message Board
online at reads:
Frank HAMMILL first came to this area (Spooner WI) in 1883 as a
railroad employee, when "the old Scribner Hotel and a few scattering
shacks at Chandler Pit were all there was of the town."
Born at Parma MI on 22 December 1857, Frank Hammill became a
prominent Spoonerite after building his home here in 1902, and he
came to be called "the father of Spooner."
He was elected president of the village in 1903 and, except for one
term, retained that office
until 1910. In 1910 the village became a city, and Mr. Hammill was
elected the first mayor,
holding that office until 1918. In addition to his civic duties,
Hammill was the publisher and
editor of the Spooner Advocate, buying the newspaper in 1904. Mrs.
Hammill was the former Lain KAPERNICK. Frank Hammill died on
18 February 1922 in Spooner.
-- taken from "Spooner Wisconsin, A History to 1930" by Sharon
Tarr
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In regards to the home that he built, this narrative was found in the
booklet "Spooner Heritage Tour" also written by Sharon Tarr:
Hammill/Schancer House
The stately home on the corner of Vine and Summit streets was built
for railroad engineer Frank Hammill and family about 1903, the
same year that Hammill was elected village president. Construction
was by two local building firms who also built many other early
homes around Spooner, the Johnson Brothers and Henry Sutter. The
present owner of the house, Joyce Schancer, is an area antiques
dealer who grew up in the neighborhood. Having admired the house
for a long time, she purchased it in 1990. Since that time she has
been busy restoring it to its original style.
The Hammill house is a four-square design, maintaining 9 1/2 foot
ceilings. It has oak woodwork, floors and pocket doors, and Quezal
Art Glass light fixtures by Martin Bach of Brooklyn, New York.
The house has four rooms downstairs, the foyer, living room, dining
room and kitchen, and four rooms upstairs, three bedrooms and the
bathroom. The foyer is highlighted with leaded beveled windows
and an oak staircase embellished with carved oak leaves on the newel
posts. The dining room has oak beams and a bay window and
features a built-in china cabinet with leaded glass doors.
Frank Hammill was reportedly quite exacting in what would be used
in the construction of his Spooner home. It is said that when he
discovered imperfections in the first shipment of oak woodwork for
the house, he had it quickly returned and replaced. Having friends
and business interests in Bayfield County, he had Washburn
sandstone shipped here by train and cut on site to be used for the
house's foundation.
Hammill, who first came to Spooner in 1883 as a railroad man,
became the local newspaper publisher when he purchased the
"Spooner Advocate" in 1904. By 1910 the Village of Spooner
became a city, and Hammill was its first elected mayor. Later he
also served as this district's representative in the state legislature.
For all that he did for the city, Frank Hammill came to be known as
the "Father of Spooner."
He died at home in February 1922, and his wake was held in the
foyer. His widow, Lain, continued to live in the house another 20
years until she died in February 1942. Following Mrs. Hammill's
death, the house was purchased by railroad engineer Sam Brown.
But Brown never lived there. While he owned it, he briefly had the
house up for rent and in a classified newspaper ad described it as "6
room modern home, newly decorated." Rather than renting it,
though, Brown soon decided it would be the ideal home for his
fellow engineer, Charles Arthur Salmonson, and family, so he sold it
instead to the Salmonsons. They moved into the house in October
1942.
More than 30 years later, Salmonson's widow, Jenny, sold the house
to another Spooner railroader, James Mommsen, who moved in with
his family in 1974. The Mommsens lived there until 1990, when
they sold it to the present owner, Joyce Schancer.
+++++++++
In the book, "Cemeteries of Washburn Co. and the Surrounding
Area", I have the following notations:
HAMMILL, Frank - b. 1857 - d. 1922
HAMMILL, Lain - b. 1864 - d. 1942
Both are buried in the Calvary (Catholic) section of the Spooner
Cemetery
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That's about everything that I could find that was of any substance,
although there are lots of 'one-liners' within the 4 volume collection
that you requested a lookup in. I feel the above information covers
all of those one-liners. I hope you will find answers to your
questions from within these pieces of history.
Nance
Washburn Co. WIGenWeb coordinator
