HATCH FAMILY FOLKLORE

Hatch Family Folklore

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Misdirected Love Letter

TOLD BY A CHILD
OF ALMA ZEMIRA PALMER AND ALZADA SOPHIA KARTCHNER
      Zemira Palmer settled in Willow Creek, Utah (now Draper) in 1850, and forthwith became the second counselor to his uncle, Bishop William Draper, with his uncle, Zemira Draper, as first counselor.
     He went to school and worked at the carpenter trade. While at school he became acquainted with Sally Knight, who was very timid and bashful. To show his love for her he wrote an Acrostic (verses which rhyme and the first letter of each spells a name). However, he had mistaken her name as Martha, her cousin's name. Sally found the note and it worried her because she liked Zemira but was too bashful to inquire for whom the Acrostic was meant. The mystery was solved much to the amusement of the school and later Zemira wrote the following Acrostic to Sally:
          Success to thee during life,
          And may you be some good man's wife.
          Long may you live with plenty blest
          Like a fair queen enjoy the best
          Young youth and age by friends caressed.
     Which spelled the name Sally instead of Martha. ... Zemira married Sally on her 15th birthday, settling in Provo, where their first six children were born (From Descendants of George Palmer and Phoebe Draper Palmer Brown, pps. 447-48).

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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.