Tinman Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 As some of you know, researching my family genealogy is an important hobby of mine and can be a never-ending task. I'm a completest when it comes to my research and am always looking into uncles, aunts, and cousins as well as my direct ancestors, the grandparents. This past week I decided to look into a 4th great grand-aunt, Phillipina (Phoebe) Huntzinger, and her husband Joseph Hammer. I wasn't able to find a whole lot about Joseph but a Google search for Huntzinger and Hammer pointed towards a document that showed and confirmed they had a son, William Alexander Hammer; the document listed information on his military service during the Civil War as well as his lineage. Looking into William Alexander I found he was married twice and to his first marriage was born a son, William Joseph Hammer. When I looked into William Joseph the flood gates opened; as it turns out, William was an electrical engineer that worked for Thomas A. Edison...yes, THE Thomas Edison, as a laboratory assistant when Edison's lab was located in Menlo Park, NJ. He was one of Edison's primary assistants that helped in the development of the telephone, phonograph, electric lighting, electric railway, and other inventions. He was especially devoted to the development of the incandescent electric lamp...the light bulb. It didn't stop there; he was also interested in early aviation, becoming a leading member of early aeronautical societies and became friends with the Wright Brothers. Here are some pics of William J. Hammer with Wilbur Wright taken during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration held in New York, 1909. There's so much more to learn about him, I've only scratched the surface. Try Googling William J. Hammer and you'll see what I mean. As it turns out, his great-grandparents and my 5th great-grandparents, Johannes Jacob & Susanna D. (Koch) Huntzinger are one and the same. William is my 2nd cousin, 4X removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH MIKE Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 here is a photo of him with Edison. and a Link: http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsonwilliamhammer.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks! I've been to this page but didn't see photo, which link can it be found on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morbius Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 That's amazing Tinman thanks for posting this! We never know what went on eons ago with our families but with todays technology soon we should be able to unravel everyone back scores of years. Congrats on finding this info, very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultrarobotman Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 An extremely cool story, Tinman !! VERY cool you could find that out about your very own lineage. Never tried researching my family history, maybe one day I will... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyman Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Any relation to Kevin Bacon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH MIKE Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Here is the link where I found that photo: http://crescentok.com/staff/jaskew/isr/tigerchem/projects/pages/pt/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Robot and Son Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Wow Bill great find! It's really cool tracing your lineage but even better to find a relative involved in the early development of our modern technology! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH MIKE Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 another photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Thanks Joe, it was really unexpected. Both photos were taken at Governor's Island, NY related to the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1909. I found a newspaper that says my 2nd cousin met with Wilber Wright to deliver a check for $5000 as payment for their exhibition flight during the event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Thanks Joe, it was really unexpected. Both photos were taken at Governor's Island, NY related to the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1909. I found a newspaper that says my 2nd cousin met with Wilber Wright to deliver a check for $5000 as payment for their exhibition flight during the event. As it turns out, he was responsible for getting the Brothers to show up for the event and in the end responsible for the iconic photo of the Wright Flier flying in front of the Statue of Liberty. The article also says this would be their last exhibition flight and they would go on to focus on the marketing and sales of the airplane. Very cool stuff!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Dang cell phone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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