John C. Hammer (Johan Clemmetsen/Klemmetsen Hammer)
Buvika, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway

Extracted from the Brookings County History Book (1989), p. 437-438 and Buvikboka, Vol. 1, p. 110.

John C. Hammer was born in Buvika, Norway 1 March 1868.  His parents, Klemmet Ulvesen Brekke, b. 1828, d. 1889 and Anne Olsdatter Svangløkken, b. 1828, d. 1908, were husmannfolk on Bergtrø under Hammer in Buvika from 1858 to 1908. His parents had four children: Randi, b. 1856; Ole, b. 1859; John, and Brynhild, b. 1874. His sister Annie emigrated to America at 20 and worked as a housemaid in Bode, IA.  John emigrated to America, first to Iowa in abt 1888. [See note] He worked there as assistant to a buttermaker. From 1896 until his death in 1956, John Hammer lived in Volga, SD.  He owned a general store called "Hammer's Store" in Volga, SD from 1899 until 1954.

John married Bertha Hanson in Bode, IA in 1892. Children: Perry Clifford, b . 1893; Amy Sophie, b. 1894; Mina Jeanette, 1897; Lila Ruth, 1899; Alice Gertrude, 1901; Boyd Ferdinand, 1903; Mae Harriet, 1905; and Anna Marie, 1907.

Bertha Hammer died Jan. 25,1911. John married Nora Nelson Feb. 14, 1913. They had two children: Leola Bernice, 1915; and Stanley, 1917.