Background

Edward Hammond was born on September 1, 1831, at Ellington, Connecticut, United States. His father, Elijah Hammond, a descendant of Thomas Hammond who settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1635, was a teacher. His mother, Esther Griswold, was a woman of deep Christian convictions whose devotion profoundly influenced Hammond’s entire life.

Education

Edward studied at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated at Williams College in 1858. After two years at Union Seminary, New York, he completed his theological course in 1861 at Free Church College, Edinburgh.

Career

During his period of study Edward Hammond held religious meetings in neglected places, with results so unusual as to arouse the attention and win the commendation of leading pastors in Edinburgh and other cities. As a consequence he was invited to conduct meetings in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere in Scotland; later, in London and Liverpool. People came in crowds and intense interest was manifested. In after years Rev. F. B. Meyer, widely known London clergyman, wrote of the deep impression made upon him, when a young clerk in London, by Hammond’s meetings. General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, attributed to the young evangelist important influence upon his own career.

Returning to America in 1861, Hammond conducted services in Massachusetts and Maine. On January 2, 1862, he was ordained as an evangelist by the Presbytery of New York. He then held meetings in Brooklyn, Utica, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. He then traveled in Europe, Egypt, and Palestine. Early in 1867 he held services for six weeks in London and through that year labored in Great Britain. He returned to the United States in 1868 and carried on work in various sections from the Atlantic to the Pacific, notably in a great revival at St. Louis in 1874. He made a missionary journey to Alaska in 1875. In 1881 he addressed great audiences in Canadian cities. At a later date he revisited Great Britain and conducted evangelistic services there and in Scandinavia. The Queen of Sweden invited him to her summer residence near Stockholm and expressed satisfaction at the results of his meetings. He continued active into the opening years of the twentieth century and after a considerable period of declining health died at his home in Hartford, Connecticut.

Among his publications are The Conversion of Children (1878) and over a hundred small books and tracts. His children’s hymns were translated into several languages of Europe and Asia.

Achievements

• Edward Hammond was a well-known evangelist preacher of his time. He was the first to introduce the "service of song, " which was then a novelty, using informal words and music; he gave attractiveness to evangelical themes by abundant illustrations from nature and everyday life; and made meetings for children a prominent feature of his work.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The reaper and the harvest, or, Scenes and incidents in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit in the life and labors of Rev. Edward Payson Hammon, M.A

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Little Ones in the Fold (Classic Reprint)

    (The object of the following pages is to illustrate and en...)

  • JESUS THE WAY: The Child's Guide to Heaven

    (Edward Payson Hammond spent much of his life and ministry...)

  • Sketches of Palestine: descriptive of the visit of the Rev. Edward Payson Hammond, to the Holy Land

    (This book was digitized and reprinted from the collection...)

  • What I saw from Vesuvius, or, Kind words to our soldiers about Jesus

    (This volume is produced from digital images from the Corn...)

  • The Song Evangel

    (This book an EXACT reproduction of the original book publ...)

  • The Child's Guide to Heaven

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • New Praises of Jesus: A Collection of Choice Hymns and Tunes

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Jesus the Way; or, The Child's Guide to Heaven

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The Blood Of Jesus (1871)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Connections

Hammond was married, May 24, 1866, in Towanda, Pennsylvania, to Eliza Plemer Overton.

Father:

Elijah Hammond

Mother:

Esther (Griswold) Hammond

Spouse:

Eliza Plemer (Overton) Hammond

References

• Who's Who in America 1910 - 1911 - Vol. VI: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States
• Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
• HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE HAMMOND FAMILY IN AMERICA, VOLUME II