Theodore Hamm

Theodore Hamm was born in Herbolzheim, Germany, on October 14 or 17, 1825 to Johann and Franziska Hamm.^{[1][2][3]: 4} Theodore was the third of ten children.^[3]: 4 He left Herbolzheim at the age of twenty-eight, briefly spending time in Freiburg before emigrating to Buffalo, New York in 1854.^[1][3]: 5 After working there shortly as a butcher, he moved to Chicago.^[3]: 5 He would soon bring his future wife Louise Buchholz from Germany to Chicago. In 1856, shortly after their marriage, they moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota.^{[3]: 6, 7} Hamm opened a saloon at the corner of Third Street and Robert Street in Saint Paul. He later operated a saloon on West Seventh street. In 1865, Hamm acquired the brewery of A. F. Keller, and eventually renamed it to Hamm's Brewery.^[1][a]

Hamm and his wife had one son, William, and five daughters.^[1]

Hamm died on July 31, 1903, of heart failure.^[1] His funeral was held on August 2, with a brief United Ancient Order of Druids service at his mansion before a Requiem Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart in St. Paul. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery.^[6]