AB Hamby
by Dick Reed

AB Hamby lived in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He died 14 years before I was born. I know very few stories about him. Some, I wouldn’t want printed. One that comes to mind was told to me by a local man by the name of Caldwell Owenby. When I knew him, he was into making muzzle loading rifles and competitive shooting of same.

The story he told me revolved around turkey shoots. According to him, AB Hamby was notorious for winning the prize at such events for which an entry fee was charged. He had always wanted to shoot against AB but could not afford the entry fee. At one turkey shoot someone put up the money to sponsor Caldwell. At the end of the shoot, only Caldwell and AB were left shooting and the score was tied. It was decided that it was necessary to have a shoot-off between the two. Caldwell was about to get what he had always dreamed of. But, he was not to realize his dream. His sponsor got together with AB and decided to divide the prize, which was a beef, between them. Caldwell would never know if he could out shoot AB.

The other thing he told me about AB was that when all others were using modern rifles for the period, AB was still using the muzzle loader. Everyone thought that AB’s ability to win was the accuracy of that particular gun. A lot of people wanted to use his gun, which he would readily allow them to do. According to Caldwell, these folks would almost, if not completely miss the target using AB’s gun. The trick was that AB deliberately set the sights off and had shot the gun enough to be able to compensate and shoot extremely accurately. Naturally, all others who borrowed the gun assumed that the sights were set properly, and, of course, AB didn’t tell anyone otherwise.

AB loved children, but, unfortunately, also liked to tease them. One story I was told by my grandmother concerned AB and my father. I guess it’s more about my father. The story goes that AB was in my grandfather’s store and had been teasing my dad, who I believe was about 6 to 8 years old at the time. As AB was leaving, he did something to tease my dad. About the time AB got to the door, Dad picked up a very ripe tomato, called AB, and when he turned around, Dad hit him right between the eyes with the tomato. That’s where the story ends. I wish I knew if Dad suffered for that perfect throw.

It is my understanding that AB made his living by buying tracts of timber, having it cut and sold. He was also known to be quite a trader. Another thing he was known for was being the local, unofficial banker, loaning money at a pretty good interest rate.

The picture that I have of AB is that he was a very colorful individual who enjoyed a good joke, teasing and life.