[3]: 4  He left Herbolzheim at the age of twenty-eight, briefly spending time in Freiburg before emigrating to Buffalo, New York in 1854.

[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.

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

[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.