HAMMOND, B. F. (1818-1890). B. F. Hammond, planter, was born in Alabama in 1818. He arrived in Robertson County, Texas, in 1853 and purchased two large plantations between the sites of present-day Calvert and Bremond. As the owner of more than 100 slaves, he oversaw the cultivation of more than 1,000 acres of rich Brazos bottomland. The 1860 census listed him as holding $20,000 worth of real estate and $106,840 in personal property. Speaking at a political rally in the fall of 1860, Hammond stressed the benefits slavery afforded the South. He asserted that the "peculiar institution" was beneficial to both master and slave. Hammond was nominated for but did not attend the state Secession Convention, which met at Austin in February of 1861. After the Civil War he divided his large landholdings among his former slaves, encouraging them to remain and farm his property as sharecroppers. He died in 1890 and was buried in Calvert Cemetery in Robertson County.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. W. Baker, History of Robertson County, Texas (Franklin, Texas: Robertson County Historical Survey Committee, 1970). Verna C. Floyd, Cemeteries in Robertson County, Texas (Houston: Armstrong, 1980). Richard Denny Parker, Historical Recollections of Robertson County, Texas (Salado, Texas: Anson Jones, 1955).
