Tom Ham was born in a farmhouse in Cobb County, thirty miles north of Atlanta, GA. He was educated in the city schools of Atlanta, Bob Jones College and the University of Georgia. In 1933, fresh from the University and ambitious to enter journalism as a cub reporter, he found to his surprise and dismay, none of the newspapers he applied to, could or would offer him a job. So a classmate of his and Tom pooled their monies and bought a weekly newspaper in Lineville, AL. Two years later, after hard times, they sold it. Between 1937 and the start of WWII he worked for several newspapers in various jobs. He then joined up and served as an officer in the US Navy (Reserve). He started Give Us This Valley before entering WWII and finished when he returned home.