HATCH FAMILY FOLKLORE

Hatch Family Folklore

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Halloween Magic

TOLD TO DARYL JAMES
BY MERLE KARTCHNER SHUMWAY
Rebecca Jane Finch grew up in an inn her parents operated in Birmingham, England. On Halloween night 1840, she returned to the inn late at night after being out with friends. She and her friends shared a superstition that a woman who walked backward to her bed on Halloween night would marry the next man she saw, and Rebecca had returned to her room determined to test this superstition.
Following the steps of this ritual, she backed up to her bed and sat down carefully in the dark. To her surprise, however, she sat down directly on a stranger sleeping in her bed! The stranger was Joseph Argyle, a young tinsmith's apprentice from Market Bosworth, England. Joseph had stopped at the inn earlier in the evening and had taken Rebecca's room by mistake. True to the promise of Rebecca's ritual, she and Joseph began courting and were married less than two months later on Christmas Eve 1840. Rebecca was 16 and Joseph 22.

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INDEX OF STORIES

The Tragedy of Katie Hatch
Phoenix Gazette article summarizes the search for Katie Lavora Hatch, daughter of John Hatch and Mary Jane Standifird.

Sister's Account of the Search
Katie’s sister, Mary Jane Hatch, 11 years old at the time, recalls the tragedy in the White Mountains.

Neighbor's Account of the Search
A resident in the area recalls the search in the White Mountains for Katie Lavora Hatch.

Young Runaways
John Henry Standifird describes the time he ran away from home with his cousin and tried to find work on the Mississippi River.

Comfort from a Spirit
Lorenzo Hill Hatch describes a vision of his late wife, Alice Hanson.

Death and Back in Arizona
John Hatch enters the Spirit World but is ordered back to mortality following the prayer of his 8-year-old boy.

Called by a Prophet
"There is your patriarch," President Joseph F. Smith says. (Story of John Hatch as told by his son, George Phineous Hatch.)

Separate Ways
Alma Zemira Palmer kicks the nicotine habit.

First Sight
"I'm going to marry her some day," Alma Zemira Palmer says, upon seeing Alzada Sophia Kartchner.

Forgiven Debts
Alma Zemira Palmer shows generosity to his store customers and teaches his daughter Rose a lesson by example.

Misdirected Love Letter
Lovesick Zemira Palmer crafts a love letter for young Sally Knight, only gets her name wrong and sends the letter by mistake to her cousin.

Possessed by a Devil
Newel Knight has a devil exorcised from his body and later testifies of the miracle during a mock trial of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Vigil with a Prophet
Newel Knight spends a night in prayer with the Prophet Joseph Smith as the two struggle with a crisis in the young Church.

Borrowed Wagon
The Prophet Joseph Smith takes possession of the Golden Plates using the wagon of his house guest, Joseph Knight Sr.

Basketball Star
George Phineous Hatch gets the hot hand and leads Snowflake High School to a rout of St. John's.

White Fang
A hungry wolf -- or just a snow-covered stump. George Palmer Jr. finds out.

Halloween Magic
A Halloween superstition leads to marriage for Rebecca Jane Finch and a stranger boarding at her father's hotel.

No More Crutches
After using crutches for 13 years, elderly Elizabeth Haight is healed following her baptism.

Sealed in an urn
Margaret Jane Casteel refuses to have her dead 2-year-old son buried in the desert away from civilization.

Called to a Desert
"... If the wagon had fallen, all on earth I possessed would have gone into the Colorado River some 300 feet below except the bull whip in my hand." (The Palmers and Kartchners move to Arizona.)

Surprised in Church
George Phineous Hatch surprises his wife, Dora, by naming their 11th child Quola Mae.