This is apparently a portrait of artist/photographer Earl G. Hammock.
Just perhaps an industrious "antique" store proprietor added the signature on the "Hammons" portrait. He misread the name on the other and thought he was duplicating it. They do that because they think it adds interest to a photo.
But, the signature on the "Hammock" photo is so unique and crafted that it has to be the same man as the artist.
According to what has been found so far, he was born in Knox, Texas, 11 Feb 1896. That makes him just 19 in these photographs.
Here is a comparison using the signature on the reverse of the top photo and signatures taken from two paintings attributed to Earl G. Hammock. The similarity is obvious. The last letter “L” of the first name flows with a continuous stroke into the middle initial “G.”
Then the artist carefully combines the middle initial “G” with the first letter “H” of the last name. From there, the photograph signature is continued in cursive. The painting signatures finish with printed letters.
The photograph signature is an early one in 1915 and the paintings could be circa1950
The two painting signatures shown here are from askart.com and icollector.com and are used here for information purposes only.
Here is a brief family tree for Earl G. Hammock.
Although Earl G. apparently had no children, there are some of his two brothers descendants beginning in the far left column, that could claim him as an uncle. Their children would see him as great-uncle. The next generation would call him a great-great-uncle.
Ancestry.Com learns from a couple sources that Earl G. died in 1974. The art sites selling his paintings say it was 1971 and they probably copy from each other for the data.
Oddly, as illustrious as he was, there is NO adequate biography on the net for Earl G. Hammock.
These are paintings variously attributed to Earl G. Hammock. Considering the wide variance of styles shown here, there may be some error.
On the bottom row, the second and third are signed. The rest are speculation.
NEW ADDITION!
These shots of a work by Earl G Hammock were sent in by Dianne & Kent Siewert. The Siewerts have recently acquired this 12 X 19 inch painted photograph and re-framed it.
This version cropped and slightly enhanced from image #1
Image # 1 - Hammock painting in it's new frame
Image #2 - Detail showing the Hammock signature
These images belong to Dianne & Kent Siewert and should not be used without their permission.
Image #3 is a photo of part of the picture before it was re-framed.
"In the lower right corner, above the wheel you'll see part of the black and white photo. There are a couple other spots along the edges where the photo was exposed after the old mat was removed. We had no idea it was a photo."
NEW ADDITION!
Family Historian Rosie found a connection to her family tree and provided us with these additional photographs relating to Earl G. Hammock.
These pictures are her property and permission must be granted for their use.
On reverse:
This is
Earl and Ethel
before they
wer married
On reverse:
Earl
the yongest
boy he runs a
studo
On reverse:
Doing something
I don't like much
but the cat likes
to see me work
This is Earl
washing
On reverse:
This is Leonard
and Earl
My oldest and
yongest
There are now more than 4,000 photographs in the Lost Gallery.
The most popular photographs 
An album of the most requested photographs in the Lost Gallery.
Area 51 and a Half 
You are probably not authorized to see these.
Don't take my picture! Oh! You DID didn't you! 
This is a collection of photographs that disappear on the way home from the photo processing shop.
BACK TO
THE MAIN INDEX PAGE Or try out the NEW
BACK PAGE INDEX
And don't miss
Cabinet Card Gallery
Everyday Ago
Penny Tales
Tattered and Lost
Vernacular Photography
The best
FOUND PHOTOGRAPH sites on the web.
And for postcards try
THE DAILY POSTCARD.
All images are the property of Lost Gallery and the author. Permission must be granted for their use. All rights reserved.
THE KIDS 
It is always a mystery how a photograph of any of these precious children could end up lost or abandoned. Here are a few. You will probably say "Ooh..." at least once.
Dee and the Business School 
The beautiful Dee. A curious story, What do you see?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
"What are they doing?"
Great detective work and a very interesting post. What a handsome man he was. I love the photo of him wearing the hat.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much. I became fascinated with this photograph at first because of the difference in the names on the reverse.
ReplyDeleteThen I became amazed that there was no biography of him at all. The Ancestry.com clues all match up very well but nothing else is known about him.
The hat is cool. The portraits were probably taken by his father who was running the gallery before Earl.
I am researching the life of Earl G Hammock and am trying to learn is he had ever lived and worked in Salida, Colorado. Mike - coloradocentral@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteSorry, I did only an immediate family search on Ancestry.com. B0th the 1920 and the 1930 census have him in Delta County, Colorado. Before that he was in Texas and he died apparently in Sun City, Arizona
ReplyDeleteI did a quick scan of the 1940 census pages for counties Delta and Chaffee in Colorado and did not spot him. Perhaps when the 1940 census is finally indexed it will tell us where he was then.
While scanning the 1940 Chaffee County census pages I did however find his brother Leonard D. Hammock, wife Lottie and son Leonard (spelled Lenard) living at 419 D street in Salida City, Colorado. L. D. is listed as a minister.
I’ll email you a copy of that page.
Fred
We have a painting done by Earl G. Hammond. It is a painting done over a black and white photo. We obtain this from my husband's mother, Viola Irene Phelps (m. Siewert). Vi was born in 1917 and lived in Delta CO during her most of her high school years. We speculate that the painting over photo was given to her parents by either Earl himself or perhaps Leonard.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dianne. What an interesting treasure you have. If you can send a good scan or photograph of it to me, I will add it to this page. Include the dimensions. Send it to phase65 at yahoo dot com. And thanks again!
ReplyDeleteMy Daddy was Earl's nephew, Lynn B Hammock.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! I am so glad I was able to rescue these treasures.
DeleteMy parents were collectors of Earl Hammock paintings. All of their collection focused on his Native American still life work and included poetry, rugs, and turquoise jewelry. They had none of his landscapes in their home. I am selling the last two paintings.They are signed and truly his finest work. If interested in seeing them, write me @ /fayedimarco@gmail.com
ReplyDelete