C. Norman Hammond was actually born in Soho, City of Westminster, Greater London, England, son of Charles Richard Hammond and Caroline Eugenie Cotte. His father managed the famous (infamous) house at 19 Cleveland Street in London. His father fled to the USA in October of 1889 and ended in Seattle, followed by his son and wife. His father first ran the Haymarket Saloon, on Bell and Front Streets, then the Shorey lodging house in the Fremont district of Seattle. After his father served a short prison term, during which C Norman and his mother survived on government aid, and upon his father's release after being pardoned by the governor in February of 1892, the family ended in San Jose, California. His mother died there in 1898, his father in 1933.
