Taken from: Marshall, Benjamin Tinkham. A Modern
History of New London County, Connecticut, Vol. 2 (Biographical). New York: Lewis
Historical Publishing Company, 1922. pp. 124-125.
CLARA M. (HAMMOND) McGUIGAN, M.D.
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| Clara Hammond McGuigan, ca. 1920 |
(I) The Hammond line is traced back to Thomas Hammond, who was baptized at Milford, England. He married Elizabeth Cason, November 12, 1623, and came to the United States in 1636, where, settling in Hingham, Massachusetts, he took a freeman’s oath in 1636, and was a grand juror in 1637. Removing to the location of the present city of Newton, Massachusetts, he became a pioneer settler in that place and a large landholder, possessing a farm of six hundred acres. He died at Newton, November 5, 1675, his wife dying in the same place at an unknown date. The line of descent runs through his son, Thomas (2).
(II) Thomas (2) Hammond was born in England, and died at Newton, Massachusetts, October 20, 1678. He farmed on his father’s estate at Newton, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Stedman, December 17, 1662, and she died in 1715.
(III) Isaac Hammond, son of Thomas (2) and Elizabeth (Stedman) Hammond, was born at Newton, December 20, 1668, died at Newton, January 1, 1715. He married Ann Kenrick, born July 3, 1672, died in 1719. Isaac Hammond was a farmer in Newton.
(IV) Josiah Hammond, son of Isaac and Ann (Kenrick) Hammond, was born in Newton, March 12, 1700, died October 5, 1793. He married Mary Davis, October 17, 1722. He came to Woodstock, Connecticut, and bought a farm in Pomfret, Windham county.
(V) Josiah (2) Hammond, son of Josiah (l) and Mary (Davis) Hammond, was born January 21, 1724, died in Hampton, Connecticut, August 21, 1802. He married Abigail Durkee, ‘born April 14. 1734, died December 28, 1819, daughter of Captain William and Abigail Durkee, the former of Revolutionary fame. Josiah (2) Hammond was also a Revolutionary soldier, fought in the battle of Lexington, and was captain of the Third Battalian Connecticut Troopers, under the command of Generals Spencer and Wooster.
(VI) Josiah (3) Hammond, son of Josiah (2) and Abigail (Durkee) Hammond, was born in Hampton, Connecticut, January 9, 1760, died March 3, 1844, at Hampton, where he lived all his life. He married, September 28, 1780, Elizabeth Moseley, who was born July 11, 1757, and died September 20, 1839.
(VII) Charles W. Hammond, son of Josiah (3) and Elizabeth (Moseley) Hammond, was born at Hampton, Connecticut, April 27, 1794, died at Ash- ford, Connecticut, November 27, 1851. He was educated in the district schools and at Woodstock Academy. He farmed for a time in Hampton, also studied medicine, but did not finish his course. He later moved to tin town of Ashford, where he farmed until he died. Ht married Artemisia Rindge, April 2, 1818, she born ia 1798, and died September 25, 1846.
(VIII) Josiah (4) Hammond, second child of Charles W. and Artemisia (Rindge) Hammond, was born May 21, 1821, in Ashford, Connecticut. He received his education in the district schools of Ashford, Connecticut, but being slightly deaf he did not attend college like his brothers, but took to farming, in Hampton, where he bought land, and prospered. He later moved to Ledyard, New London county, where he bought land and farmed, specializing in small fruit raising and especially in strawberries, in which occupation he became famous, and was known as the “Strawberry King.” His daughter, Clara M. (Hammond) McGuigan, still owns part of the old farm in Hampton, and also the farm in Ledyard where her father raised his famous strawberries. Josiah (4) Hammond retired in 1885 and moved to Mystic, making his home at the Oral School which his wife conducted for a time. He died at the school, February 25, 1895, his wife dying in Putnam, Connecticut, January 31, 1914, while on a visit there. Josiah (4) Hammond married (first) Ruth Maria Smith; he married (second) Margaret Whipple, on November 29, 1860, daughter of Noah and Christian (Crouch) Whipple, of Ledyard, New London county, Connecticut. Two children were born of this marriage: Clara Maria, an account of whose life follows; and Freddie Josiah, who was born December 1, 1872, and who died May 15, 1873.
(IX) Clara Maria Hammond, daughter of Josiah (4) and Margaret (Whipple) Hammond, was born at Hampton, Windham county, Connecticut, August 21, 1863. She attended the public schools of Ledyard, and after studying under the tutorship of Professor Samuel Lamb, taught school for two terms in Ledyard, Connecticut. Always capable, alert, energetic and ambitious, she continued her studies, and in 1881 graduated from the New Britain Normal School, and then taught school and became principal of the grammar school at Ivoryton, Connecticut, later taking a classical course at Mystic Valley Institute, graduating in 1884. She entered the Woman’s Medical College, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the same year, 1884, and graduated from that institution in 1887, receiving the degree of M. D. For fifteen months after her graduation she was resident physician at the City Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1889 went to Mystic, Connecticut, to supervise the Whipple Home School for deaf and dumb children. This school is a most interesting and valuable one and has performed a very great service. The oral method used there in teaching deaf and dumb children to speak, and to read the lip movements of others, was used by Jonathan Whipple, who devised the plan and worked it out step by step in a devoted effort to teach his son, Enoch Whipple, how to speak and to read lip movements, and has been in use there since 1866, the school having been established by Mr. Whipple’s grandson, Zerah Colburn Whipple, in order that other deaf and dumb children might receive the benefit of the method which had been of such service to Jonathan Whipple’s son, Enoch. Dr. Clara M. (Hammond) McGuigan’s mother, Margaret (Whipple) Hammond, purchased the school and managed it for several years as a private school, and it was as assistant to her mother that Mrs. Dr. McGuigan first took charge of the school work. She remained there until 1891, in which year, on July 21, she married Dr. John I. McGuigan, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. John I. McGuigan, son of Dr. James A. and Ella (Shoemaker) McGuigan, of Philadelphia, was born in that city, graduated from LaSalle College with the degree of A. M., then from Jefferson Medical College, with the degree of M. D., and has since that time been in private practice in Philadelphia. He is now an eye, ear, and nose specialist, practicing in Philadelphia.
In 1895, the Whipple Home School being in poor condition because of lack of good management, Mrs. Dr. McGuigan went back to Mystic, reorganized the school as the Mystic Oral School, financially and otherwise, taking full charge in the capacity of superintendent and manager. In 1921, she sold the school and all its property to the State of Connecticut, and upon the foundation built by her has developed the leading school of its kind in Connecticut, as well as the first of its kind in the world. So efficient has the method devised by Jonathan Whipple for his son proved itself to be that it is now used wherever the deaf and dumb are taught to speak and to read lip movements, practically all over the world. The school has about one hundred students. Its history is given at length in the historical department of this work.
Politically, Mrs. Dr. McGuigan is a Republican. She is a member of Independence Hall Chapter of Philadelphia, Daughters of the American Revolution, and a life member of the Colonial Dames of America. She is also a member of the Founders and Patriots of America; of the New London County Historical Society; of the Mayflower Society, being a descendant of John Alden; and a member of the Century Club, of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Quaker church, of Ledyard, Connecticut.
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