In 2007 descendants of Francis Asbury Hammond lost themselves in a story. A story that spanned decades and oceans. A story of service, family and faith. After months of intensive typing and editing, transcribers created a cohesive document from microfilmed and photocopied pages of Francis A’s journals. Forty-three volumes, over 8000 handwritten pages, were transferred pixel by pixel into an extensive transcription of a man’s life.
Since 1898 Francis A. Hammond’s journals have been preserved in various collections. In October 1898 Francis A. delivered 20 volumes of his journal to an historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the purpose of researching his missionary work in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. These volumes were microfilmed in 1979. The remaining 23 volumes were handed down to Mr. F.A. Hammond, his grandson, of Salt Lake City. This set of journals, dubbed “The Francis A. Hammond Collection,” was sold to the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University in 1988. They were photocopied by the Special Collection staff at the Library.
The following transcription gathers together, for the first time in more than a century, all 43 volumes of Francis A. Hammond’s journals in electronic format. The transcription effort focused on “readability” versus “replication.” Spelling and punctuation have been corrected where they distract while endearing artifacts have been preserved.
As a man who embraced the technologies and literature of his age, we can imagine Grandpa’s excitement over having his message available to his descendents via the internet.
But most importantly…Grandpa’s legacy: A fervent prayer that his testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ may stir our hearts; that his life-long devotion and service to the Master may inspire our own faithful journey.
