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From: "Lilly Martin" <>
Subject: Re: [SYRIA] Frank Hammett b 1890 Syrian Arab Republic,Turkey d 1975 Arkansas
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 18:25:45 +0300
References: <C47B222C-563D-4E1D-A74F-4A3CC5847ECE@gmail.com>


Hello Carolyn,

I did a bit more checking for you today.

In the 1920 census Frank Hammett b. 1891 Syria with wife Esther and
daughters Lorene and Lillian, all listed at Sebastian, Arkansas.

In the very same census, and same location exactly is:
Cemoine Hammett b. 1876 Syria
Kassim Hammett b. 1872 Syria

Frank and family, and Cemoine and Kassim are all listed on SHEET 17, meaning
they are all on the same page on the census. This means they either all
lived next door to each other, or at least on the same street.

I did not veiw the actual census, but you SHOULD do this.

What does the census say? Does it give clues as to when they all 3 arrived?
Are they all 3 working the same occupations?

The 2 other men, Cemoine and Kassim, are listed as SINGLE males.

Cemoine is most definately SIMON. This is a CHRISTIAN name. In USA we
pronounce this as : SY-MAN (like in "Simon says...")
But in Syria we pronounce it: SEE-MONE

As you can see some "Cemoine" was an English attempt to write Simon in the
way it is said in Syria.

Kassim and Simon are SYRIAN names. Frank is not a Syrian name. I have
heard of FRANCIS used by Christians in Syria. Could Frank have been Francis
before? But this does NOT make sense, because Francis is a common American
male name, so if that was the case, he would have stuck with his original
birth name.

It can't not be just a coincidence that 3 men named Hammett, all born in
SYRIA, and all living on the same street in Arkansas. They must be related.
You should research each of the 3, because what you find on one of them
might open doors to understanding more about Frank.

I looked at:
www.ancestry.com I don't have the subscription, but I use it alot for free
searches. I found 2 records you NEED to go and look at. Your public
library may have ancestry for use there, or you may like to use the Free 14
day trial of ancestry to do some searching.

World War 2 draft card: Frank Hammett, living in Arkansas. (this is
certainly your ancestor)
The same WW2 draft card database for Ollie O. Hammett, living in Arkansas.

I feel certain that Frank and Ollie might be connected. This draft card
might state his birth place and parents. Check it out.

The name "Ollie" could be a form of Ali, which would be a Syrian Moslem
name. Oliver is an English name sometimes shortened to Ollie, but I have
not seen any men named Oliver in Syria.

Then I went to www.stevemorse.org I used the GOLD form, and put in
"pheonitically sounds like" Hammett, and born SYRIA. In other words, I was
looking for any Ellis Island record (passenger record) for anyone named
Hammett , or any name similar sounding, who was born in Syria.

There were no Syrians named Hammett. There are many who are English, form
England.

The people who were Syrian and had names similarly sounding to Hammett were:
Abou Hamad
Abou Hamed
Bou Hamad
Bo Hamed
Ali Hamad
Ahmet

I did not spend much time on this, just a quick glance thru. You need to
spend a hour or 2 really going thru these names.

My strategy was to find any male with a first name like: Simon, Kassim, or
Frank.

You can narrow things down by putting in their birth years.

I am 'guessing' the name was probably AHMAD, AHMED, AHMET, something olong
those lines.

You still need to decided what original religion you think Frank was. It
would appear the SIMON Hammett was Christian, based on the use of Simon as a
first name. Is Simon related to Kassim or Frank? If you can prove one of
them was Christian, then they all would be, if they are indeed related
(generally speaking).

Remember the WW2 draft card I mentioned for Ollie O. Hammett in Arkansas:
well I might have found his passenger record: Oly Ahmet b. 1874, arrived
1909 in NYC, born at Balbuk, Turkey.

Balbuk is actually Ba'albek, Lebanon today. This is a mixed population of
Christian and Moslem. I think this Oly Ahmet is Ali Ahmet, and he is
Moslem.

www.ellisislandrecords.org this is free to use, but you need to register
your name and password. Then please go to veiw this record for Oly Ahmet in
1909, then look at the TEXT manifest to see WHO is he traveling with?
Then click on Original Manifest and click on ENLARGE. Now you will be
looking at the handwritten notes on each passenger, in this case Oly. You
want to read the far right hand information which states WHO and WHERE he is
going in USA. For example: check to see if it mentions ARKANSAS as his
final destination, or if there is any mention of Frank or Simon or Kassim.

Notice that Simon, Kassim and Oly (Ollie) are all born about 1872-1874-1876.
The 3 men are all born in the SAME time period, very close together. Are
they brothers?

Frank Hammett is born 1890, that is not quite 20 years latter that these 3
men, meaning Frank can not be the SON of any of those 3 men, but he could be
their younger Brother, or cousin, or nephew.

I have given you alot to work on and I want to hear back from you with what
you have found out. I want to discuss this further with you.

Best regards,
Lilly Martin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Wilkinson" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 4:06 AM
Subject: [SYRIA] Frank Hammett b 1890 Syrian Arab Republic,Turkey d 1975
Arkansas


> I'm seeking information on Frank Hammett b 1890 Syrian Arab Republic,
> Turkey and died Atkins, Pope, Arkansas. He was married to Esther A
> Brents. He arrived in the states either 1904 or 1906 according to
> census records though family lore could make it as early as 1902.
> I'm wondering if he might have changed his name from something more
> Turkish to Frank. Would like to determine who his parents and sibling
> were.
>
> Thank you in advance for any help.
> Sincerely,
> Carolyn Wilkinson
>
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