The Hammett family were among the early influential families of Randolph County, Missouri. Joseph Miller Hammett settled in what would become Randolph County in 1828 having moved here with his parents from Howard County two years previous. Joseph was born in Warren County, Kentucky on Christmas Day, 1809. Once in what would become Randolph County his parents Elijah and Mary Snodgrass Hammett bought a farm three miles north of Huntsville off of what is now Route C. On February 20, 1830 Joseph married Mary Millsapp. At one point he owned upwards to 6,000 acres in the county, and dealt primarily in horses and mules, but was active in getting the railroad through Randolph County, and Mount Pleasant College started. His children were Jefferson D., James W., Benjamin F., Francis Marion, and Charles H..
Francis M. was the eldest of the family. He was born August 19, 1831. He started out life as a school teacher, but then became a purchasing agent for the buying and selling of livestock and tobacco. The funds from this he used to purchase his own livestock. In 1850 he left Missouri for California to seek gold. He returned a year later, and once again engaged in raising livestock. He married Mary S. Robertson on November 23, 1854. At one point he owned 750 acres in the county and had a herd of 500 cattle. He was also a partner in Hammett and Hall which owned ranches and cattle in Colorado and New Mexico. He was part owner of the J.M. Hammett Banking Company which was founded as the Huntsville Saving Bank in 1876 by his father, Henry T. Fort, and W. R. Samuel. He and his brothers bought out Mister Fort and Mister Samuel, and Francis served as its president from the time of his father's death until his own. He died March 22, 1907.
The next oldest of the sons was James W. who was born on New Year's Day in 1834. He grew up on the Hammett farm northwest of Huntsville, and in 1855 moved to Macon County and took up farming. On May 15, 1856 he married Mary A. Haines of Randolph County. He farmed in Macon County where he owned 400 acres for about 14 years and then returned to Randolph County where he purchased another 400 acres, and then another 500 acres. He was also a partner in the Hammett Bank, and also dealt in real estate, but his primary focus was always farming. He died on June 30, 1909.
The third eldest son of Joseph Hammett was Benjamin F. Hammett. He was born February 14, 1842 on the family farm. He attended Mount Pleasant College, but his education was interrupted by the Civil War and he joined the Confederate Army. Following the war he returned to college and graduated in 1868. On February 2, 1868 he married Mary S. Penny of Randolph County. He then went into farming, owning land near that of his father. In 1877 he was appointed tobacco inspector of the State of Missouri and he moved to Saint Louis to perform his duties. After his two years in office, he got into buying and selling real estate. In 1889 he was appointed Police Commissioner of the City of Saint Louis by the Governor. Once he had served his term he expanded his business into mining interests in addition to his dealings in real estate. In 1888 he invested in the Kansas City, El Paso, and Mexican Railway, and was on its first Board of Directors. His interest in El Paso brought him there near the turn of the century. There he took charge of the Campbell Real Estate Company. Within two years he had sold over two thousand city lots. He then went into business for himself selling land in the United States and Mexico. In 1901 he was elected Mayor of El Paso an office he held for two years. He died in El Paso on February 17, 1910. and is buried there.
Charles H. Hammett was the fourth oldest of the sons and was born on May 30, 1845. He received his education at Mount Pleasant College and taught school a year after graduating. He then took to farming and stock raising eventually owning up to a thousand acres in Randolph County. He married Fannie Jackson of Howard County on Christmas Day of 1869. Like his brother Francis he was a partner in Hammett and Hall and made frequent trips out West to look after the Hammett family's holdings there. He was also a partner in Samuel and Hammett which dealt in real estate in and around Huntsville, and also served as treasurer of the Building and Loan Association. He served as cashier of the Hammett Bank for many years which in those days meant much more than it does now for it also meant serving as a loan officer and accountant. In his later years Charles took part in several risky business ventures. The one that perhaps failed the worst of these was a plan to irrigate parts of the State of Idaho. In 1908, Charles having invested in oil and railroads in Oklahoma came to Idaho and with his partner Lucien Nunn hatched a plan to bring water to the farmers of Elmore County, Idaho. He managed to get investors and got the Land Board of Idaho to approve the venture. He bought the water rights to the Malad River and began building an irrigation system. But by 1913 he was nearly bankrupt without having delivered hardly any water to the farmers, and what he had was at a high cost. Having failed he returned to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he had been tending oil interests. It is said that the small community of Hammett, Elmore County, Idaho is named for him. His other failed venture was the Columbia, Huntsville, and Northwestern Railroad which was to run Northwest out of Columbia through Higbee, Huntsville, Grand Center, Marceline, Brookfield, Linneus, and Trenton onto Cainesville, Missouri. The company was incorporated March 11, 1901, and a partial survey was made, but by September, 1901 the newspapers were reporting that work on the road had ceased as Charles had not acquired enough backing for it despite going to Chicago and Philadelphia to do so. Charles died August 2, 1920 in Tulsa Oklahoma, and his body was shipped back to Huntsville for burial in the city cemetery.
Jefferson D. Hammett was the youngest of the family, and lived the longest. He was born December 18, 1847 on his father's farm, and unlike his brothers spent nearly his entire life in Randolph County. He married Laura Allie Rutherford of Huntsville on June 19, 1872. Like his brothers he was active in farming, but his primary profession was that of medical doctor. He attended medical school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and upon graduation returned to the Huntsville area to practice medicine which he did well into his old age. He was a partner with Joseph Samuel in a lumberyard in Huntsville, served as assistant cashier at the Hammett Bank and then became president of it. He had a farm of several hundred acres, and other investments in and around Huntsville. He also had investments in other places. He owned 900 acres near Houston, Texas, and speculated in oil there. However, he was not as enterprising as his brothers were. A humorous note though. In several editions of the Moberly Monitor-Index in 1936, Doctor Hammett took out several advertisements trying to rent out a hall 42X100 feet suitable for a roller rink. The advertisements always mention that. They never mention any other possible uses. Apparently well in his 80s he thought folks should have amusement. Doctor Hammett died on May 12, 1940.
Perhaps no other family in Randolph County had the amount of entrepreneurial spirit as the sons of Joseph Hammett. They were exceedingly wealthy in their day, and learned to invest their money to make more money. Sometimes this did not always work out as was the case with Charles and his irrigation plans for Idaho, or Benjamin and the Kansas City, El Paso and Mexican Railway which went into receivership after a few years. For the most part they were successful businessmen that founded the first lasting bank in Huntsville and operated it for many years, and their descendants invested in such endeavors as the Fleming Rake Factory.