JACOB HATCH
Jacob Hatch was the son of John Hatch and Elizabeth Walden. According to the Payson Ward LDS records, he was born22 April 1786, in Spencer,Worchester,Massachusetts. Several different birth dates have been given, some by Jacob himself, but this one appears to be the most accurate. In his military record, he stated that his birth date was20 April 1773. No original record of his birth has been found.
Jacob married Elizabeth Wilde,18 April 1809, possibly inNorthampton,Massachusetts, whereElizabeth’s family lived since about 1800, but again no record has been found. Jacob and Betsy, as she was called, settled in LeRay, Jefferson Co.,New Yorkwhere eleven children were born between 1811 and 1832. They are: Almira, Eliza, Annie, Charlotte, Hosea who died as an infant, possibly a second Hosea, Polly, Isaac Burres, Layton Jacob, William Henry, and Lewis Andrew. Jacob is listed as living in LeRay, in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 census.
Jacob claimed he fought in the battle at Little Sandy, about12 milesfromSackets Harbor,New York, in the War of 1812. He enlisted as a private and served for about one month, August to September,1813, inCompany 46, commanded by Capt. Barney or Isaiah Post, in the regiment commanded by Col. Brown. However, when he applied for pension and land bounty in 1856 and again in 1875, he was turned down for lack of evidence.
On23 October 1838, Jacob and Betsy were baptized into the newly organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They left LeRay in the early 1840’s forNauvoo,Illinois. In 1841Charlottedid baptisms for the dead in theNauvooTemplefor Hosea Hatch, brother; John Hatch, grandfather; Hesebeth Hatch, aunt; Rufus Hatch, uncle; William Hatch, uncle; Elizabeth Hatch, grandmother; Ann Walden, aunt. This was some of the first baptisms done, and before they knew the proxy had to be the same sex. On24 October 1845, Betsy and daughter Charlotte and her husband-to-be, Jonathan Allen received patriarcal blessings from Patriarch John Smith at Nauvoo. Charlotte and Jonathan were married in theNauvooTemple,4 February 1846. They lived in Lee County, Iowa and did not move on west. Charlotte and Jonathan died and are buried there.
Jacob and his family crossedIowain the summer of 1847. They settled in Little Keg Creek,Pottawatomie,Iowa, just outside ofCouncil Bluffs. In October1847 avery tragic event happened. The details were told by Jacob and later recorded by Elodie Hooper Smith, a great grand daughter. A mob had made several attacks on the small settlement, when one night Jacob and Betsy heard what they thought was a large rock thrown hitting the side of their log home. The house was dark, and Jacob told Betsy to get under the bed, as he got his gun to protect them. But while Jacob was getting his gun Betsy ran into the darkness to hold the door. Jacob heard a movement of the latch and thinking she was under the bed, fired towards the door. She groaned and fell to the floor exclaiming, “Oh Father, you’ve killed me.” On finding he had shot his wife, Jacob ran to his son, Isaac’s house, a short distance away, crying, “Isaac, I’ve killed your dear old
mother.” Isaac and his wife, Mary Jane, accompanied him back to his cabin where they found Betsy lying on her back in a pool of blood. The bullet had passed through her shoulder, near her heart, and right wrist, through the door and into the wagon box outside. One of the mob was also thought to have been injured. The mob had run from the place. Elizabeth Wilde Hatch was sixty two years old at her death, and was buried in this lonely spot of Little Keg Creek,Pottawatomie County,Iowa.
On19 January 1848, Jacob is listed inPottawatomie County,Iowa, where he was a speaker at the conference along with Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Joseph Young and Isaac Morley. Almira, their oldest daughter, married Alva North and lived in theCouncil Bluffsarea from 1850 to 1880. They apparently separated and did not move on west.
Nothing is known about the three daughters Eliza, Annie and Polly, except the names of their husbands, Abram Allen, James Vaughn and Samuel Swanner. Polly married Samuel Swaner at Winter Quarters on3 May 1848, as a poligomist wife. There were no children to this marriage. Their four sons Isaac Burres,Layton, William, and Lewis all crossed the plains with their father, Jacob, between 1847 and 1851, toUtah. Isaac Burres married Mary Jane Garlick,14 September 1845in Lee County, Iowa, and married her sister, Hannah Garlick in 1846, as a second wife. Mary Jane had three children, and Hannah had two. In 1850, Isaac and Mary Jane and sons were inSalt Lake County,Utah. Isaac lived in theSaltLakearea until he was killed in 1850. Hannah had stayed inIowawith her mother.
Laytonwent toCaliforniato try his luck in the gold fields about 1849, and died in 1853 on his return trip. William and Lewis Hatch were living next door to Isaac in 1850, living with Joseph Garlick, a brother of Mary Jane and Hannah. William married Mary Jane after the death of Isaac Burres and they lived inMoroni, Manti and Payson. Lewis married Sarah Ann Jolley and lived inSalem, where Jacob spent his last years with them.
Jacob is included in Kate Carter’s book “Pioneers of 1850”, Vol. 2. It states that Jacob Hatch, age 77, born 15 April 1773 inVermont, went to Utahin Company E, arriving in 1850. Jacob married Hannah Gailey, widow of John Jones, about 1852, probably inSalt Lake City. They had one daughter, Ellen, born1 February 1853, inSalt Lake City. In 1858, they moved to Payson, where they lived in a dugout between Payson andSalem. Another tragic event took place in May, when Hannah and one of her older sons were killed by the towns people, because of a plot to steal their horses and sell them to the soldiers wintering in the mountains. This story is told in the Payson history, microfilm #26409, under the year 1858. Jacob and his little daughter, Ellen, continued to live in Payson, as listed in the 1860 census.
Jacob later lived with his son, Lewis, inSalem(although he is not listed in the 1870 census) until his death9 January 1876. Payson cemetary records list this date with Hatch, (Jacob) added later, and father as John. A tombstone still stands in the Payson Cemetary, but is not readable. It stands close to the Jones family plot where Ellen is buried under the name of Ellen Hatch. She is buried in block 21, lot 27, record #771, but there is no stone. She had married George Washington Hazelton Brown, a great grand son of John Hatch, her grandfather.
There are many questions about Jacob Hatch and his family that remain unanswered. His birth, marriage, births of his children, and marriages of his older children have never been found. Family tradition that has been passed down has been very confusing, not matching to history. Original records have been searched to find accurate dates, but with little success. Census, church, cemetary, military, and town histories have been used to put together the preceding history. It is not all proven accurate, but as correct as possible with records that have been found as of this time,28 December 1994.
Delois Gold Stinson
3 great grand daughter