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Meredith Hammer


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Is it because he'll be attending Harvard? I can't imagine what Stephen's classmates will think when they meet Meredith and hear her backstory.

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Is it because he'll be attending Harvard? I can't imagine what Stephen's classmates will think when they meet Meredith and hear her backstory.

I don't think her backstory is the most socking part. What is is how he trolled the internet looking for a fundy to be his servant.

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Meredith's blog was one of my must reads before she went private. How do you know she is in Cambridge? Her parent's blog hasn't been updated for months. She has 3 baybeez now.

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Meredith's blog was one of my must reads before she went private. How do you know she is in Cambridge? Her parent's blog hasn't been updated for months. She has 3 baybeez now.

I read lots of blogs through the years but I had never heard of Meredith before I came to FJ. Looking at her FB page now though, I can see the appeal. Her 3 baybeez are beautiful. It looks like she has a picture perfect life. If her husband is going to Harvard, why is there a picture of him in a military uniform with a gun? Is he in the military and was he deployed previously?

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Meredith's blog was one of my must reads before she went private. How do you know she is in Cambridge? Her parent's blog hasn't been updated for months. She has 3 baybeez now.

Her FB a page says she lives in Cambridge, MA. I assume her husband is starting at Harvard Law in the fall.

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Yes, Mr. Stephen had planned to attend Harvard law after doing his obligatory tour. Punching his tickets, don't you know.

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Yep, punching tickets on the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Pure, telegenic wife with no unsavory backstory? Check. Attractive children? Check. Religion? Check. Military service? Check. Law degree from Ivy League? Coming soon...

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Yep, punching tickets on the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Pure, telegenic wife with no unsavory backstory? Check. Attractive children? Check. Religion? Check. Military service? Check. Law degree from Ivy League? Coming soon...

But will "trolling Internet for wife" appeal on the national level? Surface is shiny but you don't have to dig too far to find the weird.

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I live in the Cambridge area. The military actually pays for some soldiers to get graduate degrees at MIT/Harvard. If they are still in the services, then they live on Hanscom Air Force base, about half an hour west of Cambridge. If not, then most will try to find university-subsidized housing, which gives priority to those with kids, because the housing market around here is absurdly expensive.

I think people would be quite surprised, actually, by the number of fundamentalists in this area, although admittedly, most are only here for a few years while their headship goes to school. I've met people from all over the country and all over the world, just by going to the library or sitting at the public pool. And I don't really think it would be harder to live a fundamentalist lifestyle here than in any other place, because despite how incredibly (awesomely) liberal Massachusetts is, we're also very much a culture of mind-your-own-business.

I've got to do some research though - maybe I'll see them!

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I don't know their back story. Is there a link on FJ or would someone mind summing it up for me? What's her husband's name?

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I don't know their back story. Is there a link on FJ or would someone mind summing it up for me? What's her husband's name?

Via the search function, the best thread I found for giving me a summary of the Alexander/Hammer family and the general FJ feeling about them is here: viewtopic.php?f=89&t=15281&hilit=meredith+stephen+hammer

There may be more succinct summaries around, but I like to get a rounded "feel" for people rather than one person's opinion, so I won't bore you with my own re-telling. :lol:

I think Meredith is generally attractive, pleasant and accomplished (as fundies go) so what she lacks in formal education, I imagine she makes up for in other ways.

I agree that if there is an eyebrow to be raised, then it is for the creepy way that Stephen looked her up on the internet via a search for stay at home daughters. :?

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Via the search function, the best thread I found for giving me a summary of the Alexander/Hammer family and the general FJ feeling about them is here: viewtopic.php?f=89&t=15281&hilit=meredith+stephen+hammer

There may be more succinct summaries around, but I like to get a rounded "feel" for people rather than one person's opinion, so I won't bore you with my own re-telling. :lol:

I think Meredith is generally attractive, pleasant and accomplished (as fundies go) so what she lacks in formal education, I imagine she makes up for in other ways.

I agree that if there is an eyebrow to be raised, then it is for the creepy way that Stephen looked her up on the internet via a search for stay at home daughters. :?

For further reading, go to the family summary page where prior threads are grouped: viewforum.php?f=89

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I don't know their back story. Is there a link on FJ or would someone mind summing it up for me? What's her husband's name?

Long story short, Meredith is the oldest girl in a fundy family, who had a blog. Little brothers are above her. Cleaning fridges was the allowable fun in her life. Very typical fundy stuff. What sets her apart is a Rhodes Scholar named Stephen literally, and I mean literally, googled around online looking for fundamentalist stay-at-home daughters when he decided he wanted to get married and needed a wife who would look good when he tries to get into politics, which is his end-goal, career-wise. He found Meredith's blog, and made his interest in her known, based entirely, literally entirely, on her blog detailing being a stay-at-home daughter. Her family wet themselves in excitement because, ZOMG, Rhodes Scholar! And he has political ambitions! They had a quickie wedding, because it's a good idea to marry off your daughter to someone who very creepily looked for a naive young woman still living like a child under her father and brothers. So they married and moved away very quickly, and she started pushing out babies.

Luckily for her, Stephen isn't a murderer or anything, though this whole situation sounds like the perfect set-up for a suspense book: The daughter suddenly disappears while the husband is supposedly deployed. Did he arrange her disappearance? Is she alive or dead? Her parents, who have realized they messed up, have to race the clock to try to find her while hoping she's still alive!

Only it's not a book set-up. It's among the creepiest fundy courtship stories, alongside Maranatha Chapman (which is the story that still takes the cake and might be why Texas raised the minimum marriage age).

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I fell down the Meredith/Stephen rabbit hole just when she was planning her wedding. I agree that the way Stephen went looking for a perfect 'Stepford' wife was creepy and that it is one of the creepiest courtship stories I have ever read.

I also think Stephen has political aspirations. I wonder how he'll tell the story of how he met his wife when people ask? I have copies and screenshots of the blog and their story saved in case he ever decided to make a political run. Call me weird, but I do think it's something the media/public would be interested in.

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Long story short, Meredith is the oldest girl in a fundy family, who had a blog. Little brothers are above her. Cleaning fridges was the allowable fun in her life. Very typical fundy stuff. What sets her apart is a Rhodes Scholar named Stephen literally, and I mean literally, googled around online looking for fundamentalist stay-at-home daughters when he decided he wanted to get married and needed a wife who would look good when he tries to get into politics, which is his end-goal, career-wise. He found Meredith's blog, and made his interest in her known, based entirely, literally entirely, on her blog detailing being a stay-at-home daughter. Her family wet themselves in excitement because, ZOMG, Rhodes Scholar! And he has political ambitions! They had a quickie wedding, because it's a good idea to marry off your daughter to someone who very creepily looked for a naive young woman still living like a child under her father and brothers. So they married and moved away very quickly, and she started pushing out babies.

Luckily for her, Stephen isn't a murderer or anything, though this whole situation sounds like the perfect set-up for a suspense book: The daughter suddenly disappears while the husband is supposedly deployed. Did he arrange her disappearance? Is she alive or dead? Her parents, who have realized they messed up, have to race the clock to try to find her while hoping she's still alive!

Only it's not a book set-up. It's among the creepiest fundy courtship stories, alongside Maranatha Chapman (which is the story that still takes the cake and might be why Texas raised the minimum marriage age).

:lol: :lol:

I agree with everything above, but Meredith actually seemed to be one of the more capable and hard working SAHD. She got up at five to cook breakfast for the family, she milked cows and slaughtered chickens and delivered milk all over the neighbourhood and ran a tractor service company in her own name, if I remember it right, and made money selling thrift store finds on eBay, baking and selling cheese cakes and also made money buying and selling property. She was no shy flower who spent her days praying, dreaming about a husband and polishing her tea set. I really admired her work ethics and stamina and it must have been a blow to the family when she left.

Her courtship story was beyond creepy and her wedding planning served us with a lot of entertainment. She wrote a lot about having a classy country wedding à la Jackie Kennedy... and ended up in an poofy 80's thrift store dress with 27 bell ringers, her little sister who was the ring bearer also wore an 80's wedding dress and looked like something from Toddlers and Tiaras and the party was held outside in December and the guests looked like they were freezing even in their winter jackets.

I really wish she would start blogging again.

I fell down the Meredith/Stephen rabbit hole just when she was planning her wedding. I agree that the way Stephen went looking for a perfect 'Stepford' wife was creepy and that it is one of the creepiest courtship stories I have ever read.

I also think Stephen has political aspirations. I wonder how he'll tell the story of how he met his wife when people ask? I have copies and screenshots of the blog and their story saved in case he ever decided to make a political run. Call me weird, but I do think it's something the media/public would be interested in.

Oh please, publish them somewhere, I'd love to read it again!

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I am so glad we have SOME news about Meredith - definitely one of my gateway FJ fundies who instantly piqued my interest. I really wish she would start blogging again.

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:lol: :lol:

I agree with everything above, but Meredith actually seemed to be one of the more capable and hard working SAHD. She got up at five to cook breakfast for the family, she milked cows and slaughtered chickens and delivered milk all over the neighbourhood and ran a tractor service company in her own name, if I remember it right, and made money selling thrift store finds on eBay, baking and selling cheese cakes and also made money buying and selling property. She was no shy flower who spent her days praying, dreaming about a husband and polishing her tea set. I really admired her work ethics and stamina and it must have been a blow to the family when she left.

Her courtship story was beyond creepy and her wedding planning served us with a lot of entertainment. She wrote a lot about having a classy country wedding à la Jackie Kennedy... and ended up in an poofy 80's thrift store dress with 27 bell ringers, her little sister who was the ring bearer also wore an 80's wedding dress and looked like something from Toddlers and Tiaras and the party was held outside in December and the guests looked like they were freezing even in their winter jackets.

I really wish she would start blogging again.

Oh please, publish them somewhere, I'd love to read it again!

Those were the good ol' days. I miss her blog, too. Wasn't there a poster here who claimed to be her neighbor when they lived on base? Something like that or did I make this up?

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Those were the good ol' days. I miss her blog, too. Wasn't there a poster here who claimed to be her neighbor when they lived on base? Something like that or did I make this up?

That's right, here's the thread:

viewtopic.php?f=89&t=21547

Another poster claimed to have gone to school with Stephen in Texas and - lo and behold - he had a lower standard when it came to his own "purity". I can't find the post though.

EDIT: Here it is:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3055&start=20

And I saved the page where Meredith writes about how they met Stephen stalked her online.

https://archive.is/DfTSS

Meredith and her 27 bell ringers:

https://archive.is/SqQIc

The flower girl:

https://archive.is/nIG20

Wedding photos:

https://archive.is/CK94H

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Where do these people live and why did they plan to eat outdoors with their coats on?

What time of year was this? Why did they have their guests dancing with coats on?

Seriously, I've been to a lot of rural weddings, including one where the reception was in half of a small town community building and we walked in through some road implements before getting to the reception hall, but none of these had us wearing our coats at the reception.

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Who are all those girl children?!

27 little bell-ringers. Local girls and friends of the family. Meredith wanted her wedding to be an inspiriation for their future if I remember it correctly. (Christian, virgin, courtship, creepy husband.)

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Where do these people live and why did they plan to eat outdoors with their coats on?

What time of year was this? Why did they have their guests dancing with coats on?

Seriously, I've been to a lot of rural weddings, including one where the reception was in half of a small town community building and we walked in through some road implements before getting to the reception hall, but none of these had us wearing our coats at the reception.

Meredith's parents live on a farm in Virginia and that's where the wedding was. The wedding was in December and I think they picked that month for practical reasons. The groom was studying in England at the time and December was probably when he could go home to get married.

Meredith wanted a classy farm wedding, like Jackie Kennedy, and that plus wanting to have her wedding at home plus (I guess) a very small budget = an outdoor reception in December.

They were dancing with their coats on because the dance was in the barn that was freezing cold.

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They were dancing with their coats on because the dance was in the barn that was freezing cold.

Rent space heaters! Rent a heatable tent for the tables (and the dance if the barn can't be heated)? Skip the dance?

Were they poor or just inconsiderate of their guest's comfort?

I'm just sort of amazed they thought this was a good idea.

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