Jeremiah HATCH (Sr.)

Essentials
Born: 25 September 1766; Oblongs, Dutchess County, New York
Married: Elizabeth HAIGHT; 23 November 1787; Ferrisburg, Addison, Vermont
Died: 23 May 1850; Council Bluffs, Iowa

Descending family line:

4G Grandfather 3G Grandfather 2G Grandfather G grandfather Grandfather

Jeremiah HATCH (Elizabeth HAIGHT) Hezekiah HATCH (Achsal PARMALE) Lorenzo H. HATCH (Alice HANSON) John HATCH (Mary J. STANDIFIRD) George Phineous HATCH (Dora PALMER)

b. 1766 b. 1798 b. 1826 b. 1860 b. 1891

Page contents
One-minute history
Patriarchal blessing
Captain Jeremiah Hatch, the Fifer Boy

BY DARYL JAMES
FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)
     Jeremiah Hatch Sr. is the only recorded child of Nathaniel Hatch and Achsal Parmale. He was born Sept. 25, 1766, in Oblongs, Dutchess County, N.Y.
     Jeremiah was a veteran of the Revolutionary War in which struggle his father lost his life. On Nov. 23, 1789, when Jeremiah was 23, he married 17-year-old Elizabeth Haight at Ferrisburg, Vermont. The couple settled in Charlotte, Vermont, where they earned their living as farmers. Together they had nine children.
     Jeremiah and Elizabeth later moved to Bristol, Vermont, where they were living in 1840 when their son Hezekiah introduced them to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hezekiah and his family had been baptized earlier in the year, and Hezekiah immediately traveled to Bristol to share the message with his parents and siblings. All except Jeremiah Jr. were baptized by the end of 1840. Jeremiah Sr. was 74 at the time of his baptism and Elizabeth was 68. In the fall of 1842 he moved with his family to Navuoo, Ill., where he became a Patriarch and was sealed to Elizabeth in the Nauvoo Temple.
     Jeremiah died May 23, 1850, near Council Bluffs, Iowa, at age 86.

-- Sources: 1. Jeremiah Hatch and Family History, by Dale Hatch. pps. 42-47; August 30, 1993; Soft Cover Printing; San Juan Capistrano, California. (Copies held by Quola Mae HATCH James, Daryl Heber JAMES and others. 2. Journal of Lorenzo Hill Hatch. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah).

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Patriarchal Blessing

GIVEN BY HYRUM SMITH
9 APRIL 1843; NAUVOO, ILLINOIS
     Brother Jeremiah: I lay my hands upon your head in the name and by authority given me by Jesus Christ and bless you with a blessing consonant with your lineage, your rights which you have to the Priesthood and according to the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as touching the everlasting covenant which are to be sealed upon your head as one of the children of promise who have been preserved for these many years, that you might like Simeon of old see the salvation of God and depart in peace and to receive the blessings which was obtained by its faith of your father’s to go down upon their posterity that their name should be perpetuated like unto thy promises that were left by Enoch for the benefit of Methuselah that his posterity should continue and his name be perpetuated throughout all generations of the earth. This is a blessing upon your head and a promise to your posterity agreeable to the faith of your fathers even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the tribe and lineage of Manasseh and of the lineal descent as a blessing coming down from father to son, until you are left alone with a portion of your house in the midst of the earth to receive the Priesthood that you might stretch forth your hands and bless your children and your children’s children before you shall go down to your grave, therefore your days have been lengthened out even unto this day, for a blessing unto you and unto your house and I ordain you a High Priest after the Holy order of Melchizedek, even the order of the Son of God, to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ and the endurance of faith on His name to the end. And you shall yet bear testimony in these your declining years, even in this the eleventh hour and enter into your rest, even the rest of God, even that rest which remaineth for the people of God, and receive your penny, and stand in your lot in the end at the time appointed, and your inheritance shall be in the lineage and tribe of your fathers. And I seal upon your head this promises as the seal of the everlasting covenant which binds on earth and binds in Heaven. And your name shall be perpetuated from generation to generation and your posterity shall be blest with the Priesthood by which your name shall be held in honorable remembrance into the latest generation and you shall go down to your grave in peace and shall come forth in the morning of the first resurrection to receive a crown Celestial in the Mansion of your Father. This blessings I seal upon your head even so. Amen.

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Captain Jeremiah Hatch, the Fifer Boy

BY RUTH SAVAGE HILTON
HISTORIAN, L.H. HATCH FAMILY ORGANIZATION
MAY 1958
     Our Grandfather Jeremiah, veteran of the Revolution, is the 16th in line from Jeffrey de Hatch of Devon, Old England, Viz: Jeffrey known to have been an adult in 1200 AD, living in the town of Wolley, Devonshire, England is No. 1; Gilbert No. 2; Richard No. 3; Robert No. 4; Thomas No. 5; William No. 6; Thomas No. 7; Lewis No. 8; Thomas No. 9; Arthur No. 10; Thomas No. 11; who came to America and joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634; Jonathan No. 12; Benjamin No. 13; John No. 14, Nathaniel No. 15, who was the father of our Jeremiah.
     Jeremiah, a small man with very dark eyes and hair, was fifteen years of age when he enlisted in the Continental Army for the “duration.” Only a boy but he could play the fife. His occupation at the time of enlistment is given as yeoman as he was mustered into the musicians corps, where he served until the war was over.
     There is no doubt that the young Jeremiah met with much privation before his tour with the army was completed, but that would not be new to him. His father, Nathaniel Hatch, had joined the forces when the very first call was made for men to meet the British in defense of colonial rights. No doubt he had marched away with hope high for the day when, with right secured, they would build more and more good homes in a good land. But such was not to be for him. He met death while in service, 1776. It was then that Jeremiah’s mother, Achsah Parmelee Hatch, left with seven children, found existence rather difficult. Hence Jeremiah was bound out to a miller in hopes that he would learn the trade as well as earn his “board and keep.” It was from this mill that he enlisted in the army.
     This lad had much for which to fight; remembering that his grandparents (four times removed) Thomas and Grace Hatch, had joined the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts before May 14, 1634. They sailed from Old England in the tiny, 300-ton sailing vessel, “Mary and John” under the command of Captain Squibb. His forebears for four generations had indeed given their lives to assist in laying the ground work for a new nation in the Land of Destiny.
     Achsah Parmelee was born in Duchess County, New York. Perhaps it was here that Nathaniel met and married her on the 6th of December 1757. Here they were living when Jeremiah, their third child, was born September 25, 1766 in the Oblongs of Duchess County. This is a land of legend, rich in tradition as well as history. He was an infant at the time William Pendergast was waging his crusade in this very county of Duchess.
     Pendergast was fighting for greater equality in land distribution. It was a great cause as well as a great epoch which gave it birth. When we recall the landed interests of the Old World, we in America are grateful for the inspiration which fired Pendergast and his fellows. He became known as, “Hero of the Farmers' Cause.” And a result of this Duchess County revolt, “He who worked the land may eventually own it.”
     It was 1694 that Reverend Benjamin Wood, Guarded by Col. Allen and sixty-five dragoons, made a trip through the Berkshire woods to Albany for the purpose of making a treaty with the Iroquois. On their return they stumbled onto what later became known as Duchess County facing on the Hudson River. Their ancient notes in description say, “On our left was a high mountain. There was but little wood. It seemed to be a continuous rock passing by a long pond (later Indian pond).”
     During the first half century of New York history, this land of Jeremiah’s birth, remained the domain of two Indian Tribes, Wappingers and Mahikans. Doubtless the Dutch fished along its shores and an occasional white trapper entered its uplands for furs, but the home-seeking settlers did not come until well after the turn of the century in the early 1700's. It was a hard, wild frontier at this time and shortly after Jeremiah or possibly Joel or Mary was born. The family of Nathaniel Hatch moved back to Connecticut, the place of Nathaniel’s birth, and later to Massachusetts. Jeremiah gave his address at the time of enlistment as Topsfield, Massachusetts.
     Once in the service, the young fifer would soon learn much of martial music. People of every nationality are moved to speech and song in times of political crises, speech and song which appeal to the emotions. Love of country together with pride in its institutions prompts all mankind to give vent to this type expression which in turn inspires action.
     Such is the birth of patriotic music! No country, as history proves, can afford to ignore the patriotic force capable of being brought into play through the power of music. (Hubbard)
     Our own Revolutionary War period was no exception. It was then that the first patriotic music in America was born. The colonists had been schooled to hardship and privation; finding little time for cultivation of the arts and Psalm singing was at this period the only music tolerated by the Puritan element. Hence we find that the early musical efforts of a patriotic nature were semi-religious in character.
     Thus Jeremiah, the fifer boy, full of the fervor of a volunteer in the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment would raise his thin instrument and sound the stirring strains of an old tune called “Chester” to which William Billings had set the following text, known as the first song of America:

     Let truants shake their iron rods / and slavery clank her galling chains. / We’ll fear them not, we’ll trust in God. / New England’s God forever reigns.
     The foe comes on with haughty stride / Our troops advance with martial noise / Their veterans flee before our Arms / and Derenal yield to beardless boys.

     Naturally enough, these half sacred, half secular lyrics, set to a familiar tune, caught on. It suited the taste of the people and was a pioneer in our patriotic music. Another, appearing in 1775, set to an old Scott’s tune:

     We are the troops that ne’er will sloop / To wretched slavery, / Nor shall our seed, by our base deed / Despised vassals!
     And all the world shall know / Americans are Free; / Nor slaves nor cowards will we prove / Great Britain soon shall see.

     An especial favorite in the camps until the end of the war (one verse of):

     Here’s to the Squire who goes to parade, / Here’s to the citizen soldier; / Here’s to the merchant who fights for his trade, / Whom danger increasing makes bolder. / Let mirth appear, Union is here! / The toast that I give is the Brave Volunteer.

     But possibly with more fervor than any other tune, the fifer boy would sound the stains of “Yankee Doodle.” It was played at Lexington, at Saratoga and finally at the surrender of Yorketown.
     When at last the war was over, Jeremiah was placed in charge of the military company in his home-town and the title of “Captain” was given him; thereafter he was always known by that title.
     He married Elizabeth Haight, daughter of Celeb and Elizabeth Aleen Haight on November 23, 1789. She also was born in Duchess County, New York. Perhaps the families had been long time friends. The wedding took place at Ferrisburg, Addison County, Vermont. We are not sure just when they made their permanent home in Bristol, see “Hatch Family: By Ruth Hatch Hale, Volume 2, page 182. "...Trees in front yard of hard maple...Immediately back of the house rise the Green Mountains ... house faces southeast, and in front of it lies the valley of the New Haven River, a small stream having its source in the mountains.
     There were 1,200 acres in the Hatch farm connected with the home. Most of it is beautiful flat land in the valley of the river, on which Jeremiah was owner of both sides. He was one of the prosperous farmers of the region. This was the property sold when the family joined the Church and migrated to Nauvoo.
     Here at Bristol, on the New Haven, their four children grew to maturity and married. They were unfortunate in raising their children. “Many,” says Aunt Ruth, passed away at but or a few days thereafter. We have four of their names and their dates of birth. However, Mariah, Hezekiah, who was the father of Lorenzo Hill, Josephus and Jeremiah Jr. did live to work out long and eventful lives in the earth. There was the other brother, Abram Chase, a brilliant man, who was called in death at the age of twenty-four years.
     Hezekiah married Aldura Sumner, daughter of John Austin and Abigail Plumley Sumner. The young couple purchased land from his father, Jeremiah just ten miles from the old family home in the township of Lincoln. Six years after Hezekiah’s marriage, we find from the war record of the United States, that Jeremiah was putting in his claim for “Bounty Lands” promised to veterans of the Revolution. I wonder if part of the many acres at Bristol came from this claim.
     Bristol was and still is a mere village. There were 575 people living there in 1890. This population figure seems to have been rather constant through these several centuries. The town is situated on a broad land terrace in the shelter of “Bluff Mountains.” (Simply a bluff in the range of Green Mountains.) It’s a clean, pleasant village indicating the home-loving character of its people. There are many wide streets lined with maple trees of the same variety which Aunt Ruth describes as a part of the front-yard at the old Hatch home. And of course we find the Village Green, in the center of which is a cool, splashing fountain. Hogback Mountain, 1850 feet high, forms a picturesque, high-ridged background to this village on the East. This ridge is especially beautiful in autumn when the turning leaves transform it into a flaming wall of blazing color.
     The first survey of the district occurred, 1785, some four years before Jeremiah and Elizabeth were married. It may have appeared even then as a likely place for a home. Today many historians sound zealous to preserve a simple concept of Vermont. They write of the state as an epitome of individualism. Yet they can cooperate. Historically we know of many such endeavors. “The Green Mountains Boys” under command of Ethan Allen attest this fact. Many of the great have paused in Vermont and other--Grandfather Jeremiah included--are native sons.
     We read from Cather’s history of the state: "I suppose there is not a child in our Green Mountain school who does not know that the state of Vermont had the first written Constitution in all the world which makes any form of human slavery illegal."
     We recall with justifiable pride that Hezekiah, eldest son of Grandfather Jeremiah, complied a manuscript of his own sermons and writings (before he heard the gospel) entitled, “Universal Salvations,” teaching as he believed, that all mankind can attain salvation if they so choose.
     It was October 1956 when my husband and I traveled to the nation’s capitol and shortly thereafter visited the Archives of the United States and found much information concerning the soldiers of the great war. It seemed to me that the past became a living, breathing now, as we followed my grandfather’s grandfather through these military files housed at the War Department.
     The Archives Building is most interesting. It stands at the corner of Ninth & Constitution Streets, North West in Washington. The flag and two groups of statuary guard the entrance and chiseled into the stone face of the Ninth Street side, we read:
     THE GLORY AND ROMANCE OF OUR HISTORY ARE HERE PRESERVED IN THE CHRONICLES OF THOSE WHO CONCEIVED AND BUILT THE STRUCTURE OF OUR NATION.
     Cut deep into the front wall above the entrance: THE HERITAGE OF THE PAST IS THE SEED THAT BRINGS FORTH THE HARVEST OF THE FUTURE. And written on each side of the entrance: ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY.
     Grateful to know there is such a place as the National Archives, we entered with a feeling of awe, founding the research room, obtained passes to study there and seated before the massive mahogany table were shown the files of any type of National Service rendered by our own people. The service in this library is most courteous and efficient. We were allowed to copy anything we liked. Almost reverently, I handled each paper and copied the same, each one that was in the file being the name: Jeremiah Hatch.
     There were nine different documents in the brown paper folder which bore his name and number: Massachusetts, Hatch, Jeremiah, S. 18007, B.L.Vt. 1394, 100.
     No. 1. Letters asking for data about the above from descendants wishing to become members of “Daughters of American Revolution.” No. 2. One card, #18007, Jeremiah Hatch, Musician, Revolutionary War Massachusetts Line, applied for pension 15 May 1828. Is recorded on Vermont Roll, Vol. 1, p. 166. No. 3. An affidavit signed by Jeremiah Hatch, dated 13 September, 1828, declaring that he enlisted as a musician (Fifer) for the term of “during the war” in the 3rd Regiment of the Massachusetts Line under command of Col. Mellon. (“Hatch Family” by R.H.H. says Col. John Greation. I feel to hold to war records.) The affidavit continues. “I cont. In the service aforesaid until the close of the war when I was regularly discharged. I an now sixty-two years of age.” Date of enlistment 1780. The above affidavit was submitted to Department of Interior along with claim for “Bounty Lands” promised by United States of Revolutionary Veterans. No. 4. Addressed to Secretary of Treasury. Consists of two pages which look as though they had been taken out of a record book. Yellow with age, all written in long hand, ink. There are five different entries. The first is handwritten and signed by Jeremiah Hatch, dated 15 July 1828 at Middlebury, Vermont. It is an application for the purpose of obtaining the benefit of an act of the benefit of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the Army of the Revolution. Approved on the 15 day of May 1778. Then follows his war record and statement of discharge: "I also declare that I afterward received a certificate for the reward of $80.00, to which I was entitled under the resolve of Congress, passed 15th May, 1778." The other four entries of this document have to do with those who vouched for his faithful service, etc.
     No. 5. A paper issued by the Treasury Department of the United States on Revolutionary Claims. It is dated 9 August, 1828, and states that Jeremiah Hatch was paid the $80.00 mentioned above and “...no other monies. He is not on pension lists of any kind.” No. 6. Paper issued by Pension Agency and states that pension was granted and the last payment in the state of Vermont was issued 4th of March, 1842. This is signed by L.L.Edwards, Commissioner of Pensions. A stiff folded sheet state that Jeremiah Hatch moved from Vermont to Illinois and notified the Pension Agent at Springfield to the effect that he had been receiving $88.00 per annum. (At variance with family record which says $96.00. No doubt the war record is correct.)
     No. 7. Date of No. 7 was early in 1842. It took my thinking swiftly back to Bristol, Vermont. That was the year our Hatch people came to Nauvoo. Just two short years before they had heard, believed and accepted the gospel as taught be Elders Chase and Brown as these missionaries bore witness of the restoration that it is in very deed a reality. Hezekiah and family were first to revoke the message. He then taught it to his aged parents who received it gladly and were baptized in 1840 as was their daughter Mariah and son Josephus. Lorenzo Hill Hatch writes of the glorious day of rejoicing: (page 195, L.H.H. Journal.) When my grandmother, (Elizabeth Haight Hatch) was baptized, she was a cripple, and had gone on crutches for thirteen years. When she came up out of the water she was healed and never used crutches again. Let us pause to note that in 1840, Jeremiah was seventy-four years of age and his wife sixty-eight, in a day when old age began around fifty to sixty. Yet they did not hesitate to espouse a new and unpopular cause. Rejoicing in the truth, they made some preparation to father to Nauvoo. They traveled the 1,500 miles in company with their married children. The Vermont holdings had been sold and they were comfortably equipped for their journey. However, they were saddened by the loss of Aldura, Hezekiah’s wife, just before they left the native state. Jeremiah purchased a house in Nauvoo. Let us return to the war file at the Archives.
     No. 8. A card dated 6 December 1909, “Soldier Jeremiah Hatch in service of Revolution. No claim filed except #18007. Again search has been made, 3rd of June, 1912. No other claim has been filed.” No. 9. Two page document address to L.L.Edwards, Commissioner of Pensions. It is dated 23rd of December, 1842, at Hancock County, Illinois and carries four items to affirm the removal of Jeremiah Hatch from Vermont to Illinois, legality from claim of transfer of pension, etc. The last paper of this series (Photostat Enclosed) was written and signed by Grandfather Jeremiah himself. To me, this was the most precious paper that was ever my privilege to handle. It was no copy. His own work and writing and among the lines I find his testimony of the gospel. Strange place to find such , in the cold, marble cells of the archives, preserved for the Nation’s Record. Never before had I seen his writing or heard a word of his actual saying. But here we note on the line which asks for a valid reason for removing to Illinois, he answers in the penmanship of his own hand ...
     “My son, Hezekiah, upon whom I lean for comfort in old age, has removed to this place, Nauvoo, and I am moved by the Spirit of God and my love to be with the Saints to father to this Place.” (Signed Jeremiah Hatch)
     Slowly, Gratefully, we closed the file and it was returned to its marble crypt, but we had seen, and read and rejoiced to know of his courage, his ability to recognize and follow truth as well as to tell us, in his own words and writings, why he left a life of comparative comfort in his advanced years to build anew on a far flung frontier.
     The transfer of pension was granted. He and Elizabeth found life good among the Saints, whom they loved. Here our story might end. But...
     Sequel:
     Jeremiah purchased a home in Nauvoo, where they were not permitted to live in peace as mobs were constantly harassing the members of the Church with which they had identified themselves. Six months after the transfer of the pension was accomplished, 26th of June, 1843, their son, Hezekiah, “..the one on whom I lean on for comfort,” was suddenly taken away by death, leaving five orphans. (The mother died on the eve of their leaving Vermont.) The three boys were old enough to get on but the two youngest girls, Adeline and Elizabeth, needed care and they now came to live with the grandparents.
     But this type of life was soon disturbed. Persecution grew violent at times in and around Nauvoo. The June following Hezekiah’s death, they were all in deep mourning for their Prophet and his brother. About this time, However, Jeremiah and his aging wife were cheered by the arrival from distant Vermont of the son Josephus, wife Melinda, and their children who came to follow wherever the Saints might go.
     It was in February, 1846, they with their people were forced to leave the City of Joseph and travel west again in search of the “Promised Land,” wherever that might be. Before leaving, however, Jeremiah and Elizabeth had the privilege of receiving their endowments within the sacred walls of the Lord’s House at Nauvoo on the 21st of January, 1846.
     Pausing at many camps along the way, they finally reached a spot near Winter Quarters in December, 1847 where they were sealed as husband and wife for all eternity. A few days later at this temporary abode, Elizabeth passed to the Great Beyond. It was 15 December, 1847. She was seventy-five years of age. Her body was buried among many others of her people who lost their lives at this place because of hunger and exposure during that first long winter on the plains. There is a monument located at Winter Quarters today depicting this time of great suffering. A plaque is there bearing some six hundred names of those who are buried on the spot. Among them we read the dear name of our Grandmother, Elizabeth, marking grave number 278.
     Spring came again as it is wont and the scattered saints pushed on towards a place of refuge called Kanesville later known as Council Bluffs. Here Grandfather Jeremiah paused for rest to refurnish supplies and to await advice from their leaders. He had received a blessing from the servants of the Lord that he should live to bless his children and his children’s children. This promise was literally fulfilled. (See L.H.H.Journal, Page 3.) He died, 23 May, 1850, eighty-six years of age, at the camp home of his son, Josephus (who was himself en route to the Salt Lake Valley) at a place known as Pleasant Grove, about ten miles from Council Bluffs.
     There is no monument or plaque to mark his resting place but we feel sure that it is peaceful and that his passing was made glad by the heartening news that his people, the Saints, had truly found and were building home in the “Promised Land.”
     Shall we who call him Grandfather remember the stories of our pioneer heritage? And, remembering, may we never forget.

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Elizabeth HAIGHT
George Phineous HATCH
Hezekiah HATCH
Jeremiah HATCH Sr.
John HATCH
Lorenzo Hill HATCH
Qualo Mae HATCH (living)

CHILDREN WITH ELIZABETH HAIGHT