Steve Hammond

2023 Honoree

Mr. STEVE HAMMOND of the great state of Virginia.

He has conducted in-depth research on his third great-grandmother Nancy Syphax enslaved by the renowned Alexandria, Virginia’s tavern keeper John Gadsby. Working with scholars across the nation, Steve was able to connect his third great-grandmother Nancy and her brother Charles and his wife Maria Carter Custis to the family of President George Washington and his wife Martha Custis Washington.

Steve is retired from the United States Department of Interior after many years of service as an earth scientist. A genealogist and family historian, Hammond has spent decades researching, writing, and lecturing about the Syphax Family and their place in Virginia and American history.