history stuff

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dum_blonde

New Member
Hey, this came up recently, and I realized I had no idea... Dashiell Hammett (wrote Maltese Falcon, Thin Man, etc) was born in freaking St. Mary's County, but that's all it ever says about him in his bio. Does anyone know where he was born or how long he was here or something? It's so rare that someone well known can call themselves a smib that it bears some looking into.

Oh, and argh: a lot of the bios say "born in St. Mary's County on the eastern shore of MD"...
 
L

Lost Soul

New Member
dum_blonde said:
Hey, this came up recently, and I realized I had no idea... Dashiell Hammett (wrote Maltese Falcon, Thin Man, etc) was born in freaking St. Mary's County, but that's all it ever says about him in his bio. Does anyone know where he was born or how long he was here or something? It's so rare that someone well known can call themselves a smib that it bears some looking into.

Oh, and argh: a lot of the bios say "born in St. Mary's County on the eastern shore of MD"...
Click to expand...

Believe he lived on Great Mills road near Saunders Lake.
 
migtig

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
I found this

Born Samuel Dashiell Hammett on May 27, 1894 on a run-down Maryland farm, the writer took his mother's maiden name as his own first name. The De Chiells had been respected in France for their bravery in battle. His mother, Annie, held herself better than her husband's family, insisting that Dashiell's name be pronounced with a French emphasis on the second syllable. Hammett's father Richard was a profligate, frontier type who never held a job long, who drank every day, played poker every night, womanized when he could and fought when provoked. The Hammetts moved to Philadelphia, for Annie's tuberculosis, and then to Baltimore, so Richard could work as a salesman, a job he soon lost. Hammett attended Public School #72.
 
fttrsbeerwench

fttrsbeerwench

New Member
I think the house is still back there by the golf range on GMRD. There is a guy I know who is related to him down the line, his name is Danny Hammet, he lives in the park, works at the golf course on base and has really long white blonde hair. If you ever see him out, a bar, or a grocery store, ask him. He's really nice.
 
migtig

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
And this

Born in Maryland on May 27, 1894, Sam Hammett was raised in Baltimore and Philadelphia. He never finished high school. At 14, he went to work at a series of jobs to help support his family. At 21, he was hired by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency as an "operative." He traveled across the country on assignment from 1915 to 1921 with time off to serve stateside in the Motor Ambulance Corps. in World War I. A bout with tuberculosis in the service kept him in fragile health for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, he managed to join the Army in WWII at age 48 and served in the Aleutian Islands for three years.
 
migtig

migtig

aka Mrs. Giant
And this

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born on May 27, 1894, in rural Saint Mary's County, Maryland. His father, Richard Hammett, was an opportunist who tried his hand at several occupations, none very successfully. His mother, Annie Bond Dashiell, was trained as a nurse, butrespiratory illness kept her at home most of the time—that and the demands of her three children, Dashiell, his older sister, Reba, and his younger brother, Richard, called Dick. At the time Dashiell was born, his family was living with his paternal grandfather on a plot of land the Hammetts called "Hopewell and Aim."

### When Dashiell was six, his father failed in a bid for political office after an acrimonious campaign and felt compelled to leave the county. He took his family to Philadelphia, where the prospects did not meet his expectations, and, after a year, they turned to Mrs. Hammett's mother for support, moving in with her in the house she rented in Baltimore.
 
Lucy

Lucy

New Member
migtig said:
Hammett's father Richard was a profligate, frontier type who never held a job long, who drank every day, played poker every night, womanized when he could and fought when provoked.
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Was he a forumite? :shrug:
 
FancyBelle

FancyBelle

I'm 2 old 2 die young!
When he lived in Baltimore he used to come down and spend the summers down here with my aunt, his first cousin. She used to tell us tales about him. He loved his drink too!
 
Dupontster

Dupontster

Would THIS face lie?
FancyBelle said:
When he lived in Baltimore he used to come down and spend the summers down here with my aunt, his first cousin. She used to tell us tales about him. He loved his drink too!
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She was my Aunt too.... :banana:
That would make him our 3rd or 4th cousin....?
 
fttrsbeerwench

fttrsbeerwench

New Member
COOL! I like Roy Clark..Lilly Tomlin is from my home town. Oh, and one of theose blondes chicks from a soap opera..I think she played Eve on Days of Our Lives. Also a president claimed my ht as his own back about 80 years ago.. Not bad for a littel crap town named Paducah.
 
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