John Elmer Knudsen (Born February 27, 1929 Married to Madelyn Hatch May 1925)

Nelle Keziah Spilsbury Hatch (Born March 22, 1887)

Ernest, Nelle with children Garth and Madelyn

Ernest and Nelle on their Honeymoon

Nelle at 19 years

Nelle in 1970

Nelle Keziah Spilsbury Hatch 

http://www.orsonprattbrown.com/Skousen/nelle-spilsbury-hatch1887-1979.html

Born: March 22, 1887 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona or Greenwich, Piute, Utah
Died: August 29, 1979 at Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

Nelle is the daughter of Alma Platte Spilsbury and the first of his three plural wives, Mary Jane Redd (parents Lemuel Hardison Redd and Keziah Jane Butler). Nelle was the fourth of fourteen children. Nelle's father had been indicted on April 10, 1885 in the District Court at Phoenix, Arizona for unlawful cohabitation. The next day A.P. Spilsbury and George T. Wilson were each sentenced to six months imprisonment. The following day (April 12, 1885) they were taken to Yuma prison. Alma had returned from his term in the Arizona territorial prison only a year and a half before Nelle's birth. By 1891 this family was residing in Mexico. Nelle spent the summers of her youth with her family on the Strawberry Ranch near Colonia Pacheco from 1891-1899, and the winters in Colonia Juárez. Nelle took her part working with livestock and in the fields, attending school as opportunity permitted. She loved the outdoors and said that she spent large amounts of time with her father on the freight road and in the corn and potato fields. At the age of sixteen she was driving a four-horse wagon full of lumber down from the mountains to the valley below. Nelle early discovered that she loved schoolwork. She graduated from the Juárez Academy in 1906 as valedictorian, a student of Guy C. Wilson. Before graduating, she had sometimes acted as a scribe, recording blessings for Alexander F. Macdonald, a Stake Patriarch. Macdonald was fond of young Nelle and once said to her, "there is character in that handwriting." The remark had a profound influence on her and encouraged her to commit herself even more to the pursuit of knowledge. After her graduation, she taught school both in the colonies and in communities in Utah. Always, she communicated to her students her own deep love of learning. She was teaching in Charleston, Utah at the time of the Exodus. Nelle then returned to the colonies where she helped with the schooling of the children of others who had crossed back into Mexico. She was there during the difficult days of the Revolution when the colonies were occupied by troops and subjected to the experiences some of the accounts in "Stalwarts South of the Border" tell so well. Typically, she made the most of it. From her own life sketch she wrote: "Five years of teaching in the high school during the hectic revolutionary days gave me a chance to work in many fields and develop skills that normal times would not have offered. In fact, my work with young people in the ward and school so filled my life and afforded me so much genuine satisfaction and enjoyment that I passed up several opportunities to marry." Nelle S. Hatch : Valedictorian of the J.S.A. Class of 1906 Nelle Keziah Spilsbury, Juárez Stake Academy faculty member and tennis coach with student Agnes Scott in 1917 Ernest had married Lillian Rebecca Haws on May 15, 1901 in Naco, Sonora, Mexico. J.S.A. 1901 Graduate Ernest Isaac Hatch 1878-1952 Juárez M.I.A. in Championship Contest On the 18th and 19th of March the basket ball teams of the Southwest met in El Paso, Texas, at the Y.M.C.A. building, to contest for the championship of the southwest. Among the players was the M.I.A. team from Colonia Juárez. On the 18th, the Y.M.C.A. won from the high school by a score of 17 to 16; Colonia Juárez won from the El Paso Military Institute 65 to 8; the high school won from the Military Institute by a score of 32 to 25; and the Bisbee high school won from the New Mexico College, 25 to 15. Large croweds attended and El Paso was in the throes of a basket ball fever. On the 19th the Bisbee high school defeated the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez by a score of 19 to 15, and by this won the championship of the southwest and the basket ball trophy. The M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez had already defeated the Y.M.C.A. by a score of 28 to 26, and thereby took second place, and undoubtedly would have taken first place if they had not had to contest with the others immediately after their contest with the Y.M.C.A. The Y.M.C.A. defeated the El Paso high school by a score of 27 to 24, for third place. The final contest between the Bisbee high school and the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez was the fastest and most sensational game ever seen in the city. Great enthusiasm marked the play of the three games which made up the evening's program. The contest between the Bisbee and M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez created such enthusiasm as is seldom seen in this game. The M.I.A. had only six men, and one of these was put out of commission so that they were compelled to play with five men, whereas the other teams had several more to choose from, in making up their players (team).The grit of the M.I.A. boys was the general topic of conversion and it was said by an observer that he had never seen such endurance in young men. Their friends attributed it to the exercise which they obtained on the farms, but their parents believe that it is due to their clean lives and the observance of the Word of Wisdom. On their return to Colonia Juárez they received an enthusiastic reception from their friends who tendered them a banquet and sang songs in their honor. In El Paso they were well treated. Ernest Hatch was the coach of the team, and these were in the line up:  Skousen, L. Taylor, Richardson, Canover, and H. Taylor.--Improvement Era, June 1910, Vol. XIII, No. 8, pages 762-763 Lillian died from puerperal fever on April 29, 1916 after the birth of their sixth child, Ernest Herman Hatch, on March 27, 1916 in Colonia Dublán, Chihuahua, Mexico. Shortly after Lillian Rebecca Haws Hatch died, "Pancho Villa made his hit-and-run attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and the Punitive Expedition of 12,000 U.S. soldiers under General John. J. "Black Jack" Pershing, was engaged in the famous but unsuccessful manhunt for Villa. In November 1916, Ernest Hatch was ordained a High Priest and made Second Counselor to Bishop John J. Walser in Colonia Juárez, a postion he held a short time. With a partnership offer from Lillian's brothers, Jim and George Haws in Mesa, Arizona, in the dairy and poultry business, he moved his family there for five years. At the end of the first two years, prospects for accumulating property, machinery, and teams were good. Yet life was lonely. He needed a companion, his children needed a mother and home life. In El Paso, Texas on August 19, 1918, Ernest married Nelle Keziah Spilsbury, an associate teacher from the JSA and one month later they were sealed in the St. George Temple, Utah.  Home life for Ernest went on as though uninterrupted. Nelle not only took on the task of caring for Ernest's six motherless children but raised to maturity three of her own. She continued to teach at the JSA and worked in a number of church positions. The first crisis in their life came when Ernest contracted the Spanish flu and narrowly escaped death in the epidemic that swept the country, leaving countless victims in its wake. The only reason he survived was his intense desire to live and his faith in the power of the Priesthood. Nelle's first daughter, Ernestine Hatch, was born May 25, 1919. [Nelle's father, Alma Platte Spilsbury died on June 12, 1920 and was buried two days later at Colonia Juárez. Alma's wife, Mary Jane Redd Spilsbury survived him by fifteen years, dying on July 7, 1945 in Colonia Juárez.] When the partnership with Lillian's brothers dissolved, Ernest was in possession of a forty acre tract of land, and his share of cows, teams, chickens, and sheep. When an offer came to take over a couple of farms in Colonia Dublán, he accepted. He left Nelle to dispose of his farm to the highest bidder and went to put in his first crops. Then the bottom fell out of everything. The Depression following World War I struck, farm after farm went falling to the hands of receivers, banks closed their doors, and Ernest and Nelle's valuable farm, almost overnight, became a liability. Even cotton produced on this farm was sidetracked on an eastern market demanding demurrage. On top of it all, his crops in Dublán failed. At the end of two years their rosy dream of a model dairy and poultry farm, fed by rich yields from the farm, collapsed, and with things going from bad to worse, they moved their family to Colonia Juárez. Their farm in Mesa, their Ford car, machinery, most of his teams and cows were lost in the final settlement. With their family they settled into a happy home and began again from scratch. From that time there was no direction to go but up. Nelle's first son, Garth Spilsbury, was born July 29, 1923. One by one they tackled the problems besetting the half-paid-for Junius Romney orchard. Coddling moth left its pollution in every apple, killing frosts could in one night wipe out a crop, and apples shriveled on the trees during the dry season. Finding himself in the vicious circle of needing a fruit crop to buy spray material, smudge pots, and sink a well, how could he get these things until he had a fruit crop? Yet, whipping one problem after another, they soon realized they had made the best investment in life. Among the many challenges that Ernest faced was that of the death of his parents. His father, John William Hatch, died January 22, 1932, at the age of eighty-two, after suffering a heart attack. Maria followed her husband and was laid to rest at his side in the cemetery of Colonia Juárez on July 27, 1940. They were the parents of fourteen children: Lillian Maria Hatch, Minnie Almeda Hatch, John Alma Hatch, Ernest Isaac Hatch, Mary Agnes Hatch, Rhoda Evelyn Hatch, Myrtle Hatch, Pearl Hatch, Cynthia Irene Hatch, George Lynn Hatch, Frances Fern Hatch, Elmer Hugh Hatch, and twins Charles Hatch and Carroll Hatch. In 1932 Ernest and Nelle entered the fruit market in Mexico City with the first carload of apples to be shipped from the colonies since 1896 as an exhibit in the Coyoacan Fair. They re-established the quality of colony fruit and opened up a market that has since steadily grown and still flourishes. With their original orchard paying off, other orchards on both sides of them were purchased and soon yielding handsomely. This family was soon enjoying the fruits of labors, though going through "the narrows" had taught them many lessons such as the worth of a dollar and the value of family unity in solving family problems. During those years of pulling himself up by his "bootstraps," their last child, Madelyn Hatch, was born October 19, 1925. Ernest had taught school a couple of years to keep his family eating, had filled a six months mission in California, had continued as Sunday School Superintendant, promoted the Boy Scout program, and had acted as water master for the East Canal. His family followed his example and filled positions in church work along with him. He was released from the High Council to be First Counselor to Bishop Anthony I. Bentley in 1934. [Nelle was installed as Juárez Stake Relief Society President during 1933 and served for twenty-two years. She retired from her profession as a teacher in 1939. Her first counselors were Lucy Bluth and Rosena N. Farnsworth.] In September, 1937, he was set apart as Bishop of the Juárez Ward with David Samuel Brown and Velan Call, and later Willard Shupe as Counselors. He was now in a position to continue a rehabilitation program that was still in progress (in 1966). Blackened walls of burned buildings from the Mexican Revolution of 1912 dotted the town, homes were windowless and porches were sagging and floorless. The elementary school building (original Juárez Stake Academy and the only church house the Ward had known) was remodeled into a modern, one-story building. Church functions were moved to the Ivins Hall in the Juárez Stake Academy building, which did service until October, 1966 when a new chapel was built. Home rehabilitation began with his own home by removing the rotting roof and changing it into a Spanish style residence, adding a sleeping porch and a kitchen, and commencing a system of landscaping around the grounds that is still in progress. Ernest's term as Bishop ended in October, 1944. The remainder of his life was spent serving as High Councilman. His sons took over the management of his orchards. Life ended for him October 7, 1952 in Dalhart, Texas, where his tired heart suddenly stopped. Leaving a posterity that now numbers eight children, forty-three grandchildren, and thirty-two great-grandchildren, he was buried in the Colonia Juárez cemetery October 11, 1952. Typical of the regard in which he was held by the Mexican people, is a remark made by a neighbor boy: "I have lost a father, adviser, banker, neighbor and friend." Ernest was a member of the JSA first graduating class in 1901, he was the first to have a daughter graduate, and the first to have a granddaughter graduate, from the Juárez Stake Academy. An officer in both Stake and Ward MIA, six of his children have been Ward Presidents, and one has been Stake Superintendant. One daughter is currently Stake Primary President, having served first as Ward President. Two of his sons are eminent physicians, one of them a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, a daughter an accredited nurse anesthetist, a grandson an oral surgeon, a son-in-law a dentist, and a grandson-in-law a dermatologist. Himself a teacher, four of his children have done service in the classroom, while two have made it a career. Himself and one son having served as Bishop of the Juárez Ward, another has served in two Bishoprics. Himself a missionary, a son and daughter and two daughters-in-law have filled full time missions while two sons have served as Mission Presidents, and his thirteenth grandson is now in the mission field. All his posterity can truthfully say, "We are following in your footsteps." Nelle was sixty-five years of age when Ernest died. She had already begun writing a history of the community that had been so much a part of her life. After her husband's death, she devoted herself to the project. Colonia Juárez, An Intimate Account Of A Mormon Village was published in 1954 by the Deseret Book Company which also hosted a large author's party for her. Nelle quickly became an acknowledged authority on the history of the colonies and was often consulted by graduate students and others who wished to know more about the Mormon experience in northern Mexico. Richard Estrada, who had read her book while a student at the University of Chicago, taped several interviews with her concerning the Mexican Revolution, depositing the materials at the library at the University of Texas at El Paso" Beginning in1954 Nelle S. Hatch spent twenty-five+ years, through the 1970's, compiling the biographies of the Mexican Mormon colonists of pre-Revolutionary Mexico. These were individuals she had personally known in the colonies. At the suggestion of Marion G. Romney of the Mormon Church's First Presidency, Nelle enlarged the project to include as many as possible of those who colonized northern Mexico. In 1964 she published Mother Jane's Story, a moving history of her mother's life. At this time she also published a few articles in Church magazines. And, as earlier indicated, in these years she commenced acquiring materials for the collection of the biographies in Stalwart South of the Border. This last project was frustrated by declining health. She had suffered from a variety of maladies for years. But loss of hearing and, at last, failing eyesight were most difficult to bear. Nelle was always a master story teller. She reveled in the history of her church and her pioneer heritage. In a visit with her in the early 1970s, she told me [Carmon Hardy] how desperately anxious she was to finish the compilation of biographies on which she was then working. It was to be the final tribute to her beloved colonies, her last story. Although her mind remained alert, the growing impairment of her sight and hearing made work on the book difficult. In January, 1979, she suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak. On August 29, 1979, well into her ninety-third year, she died and was buried in the cemetery at Colonia Juárez. So passed one of the last stalwarts south of the border. Nelle's work was edited and compiled as "Stalwarts South of the Border" for publication by Blaine Carmon Hardy, at the behest of Nelle's daughter Ernestine Hatch. "Stalwarts South of the Border" was finished in time for the Mormon Colonies Centennial Celebration in August 1985. The above biography was written in parts by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and Blaine Carmon Hardy and published in "Stalwarts South of the Border, pages 7-10 and 241-246 with some additions and photos included by Lucy Brown Archer.

Nelle is the daughter of Alma Platte Spilsbury and the first of his three plural wives, Mary Jane Redd (parents Lemuel Hardison Redd and Keziah Jane Butler). Nelle was the fourth of fourteen children. Nelle's father had been indicted on April 10, 1885 in the District Court at Phoenix, Arizona for unlawful cohabitation. The next day A.P. Spilsbury and George T. Wilson were each sentenced to six months imprisonment. The following day (April 12, 1885) they were taken to Yuma prison. Alma had returned from his term in the Arizona territorial prison only a year and a half before Nelle's birth. By 1891 this family was residing in Mexico. Nelle spent the summers of her youth with her family on the Strawberry Ranch near Colonia Pacheco from 1891-1899, and the winters in Colonia Juárez.
Nelle took her part working with livestock and in the fields, attending school as opportunity permitted. She loved the outdoors and said that she spent large amounts of time with her father on the freight road and in the corn and potato fields. At the age of sixteen she was driving a four-horse wagon full of lumber down from the mountains to the valley below.
Nelle early discovered that she loved schoolwork. She graduated from the Juárez Academy in 1906 as valedictorian, a student of Guy C. Wilson. Before graduating, she had sometimes acted as a scribe, recording blessings for Alexander F. Macdonald, a Stake Patriarch. Macdonald was fond of young Nelle and once said to her, "there is character in that handwriting." The remark had a profound influence on her and encouraged her to commit herself even more to the pursuit of knowledge. After her graduation, she taught school both in the colonies and in communities in Utah. Always, she communicated to her students her own deep love of learning.
She was teaching in Charleston, Utah at the time of the Exodus. Nelle then returned to the colonies where she helped with the schooling of the children of others who had crossed back into Mexico. She was there during the difficult days of the Revolution when the colonies were occupied by troops and subjected to the experiences some of the accounts in "Stalwarts South of the Border" tell so well. Typically, she made the most of it. From her own life sketch she wrote: "Five years of teaching in the high school during the hectic revolutionary days gave me a chance to work in many fields and develop skills that normal times would not have offered. In fact, my work with young people in the ward and school so filled my life and afforded me so much genuine satisfaction and enjoyment that I passed up several opportunities to marry."

Nelle S. Hatch : Valedictorian of the J.S.A. Class of 1906

Nelle Keziah Spilsbury, Juárez Stake Academy faculty member and tennis coach with student Agnes Scott in 1917

Ernest had married Lillian Rebecca Haws on May 15, 1901 in Naco, Sonora, Mexico.

J.S.A. 1901 Graduate

Ernest Isaac Hatch 1878-1952

Juárez M.I.A. in Championship Contest On the 18th and 19th of March the basket ball teams of the Southwest met in El Paso, Texas, at the Y.M.C.A. building, to contest for the championship of the southwest. Among the players was the M.I.A. team from Colonia Juárez. On the 18th, the Y.M.C.A. won from the high school by a score of 17 to 16; Colonia Juárez won from the El Paso Military Institute 65 to 8; the high school won from the Military Institute by a score of 32 to 25; and the Bisbee high school won from the New Mexico College, 25 to 15. Large croweds attended and El Paso was in the throes of a basket ball fever. On the 19th the Bisbee high school defeated the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez by a score of 19 to 15, and by this won the championship of the southwest and the basket ball trophy. The M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez had already defeated the Y.M.C.A. by a score of 28 to 26, and thereby took second place, and undoubtedly would have taken first place if they had not had to contest with the others immediately after their contest with the Y.M.C.A. The Y.M.C.A. defeated the El Paso high school by a score of 27 to 24, for third place. The final contest between the Bisbee high school and the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez was the fastest and most sensational game ever seen in the city. Great enthusiasm marked the play of the three games which made up the evening's program. The contest between the Bisbee and M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez created such enthusiasm as is seldom seen in this game.

The M.I.A. had only six men, and one of these was put out of commission so that they were compelled to play with five men, whereas the other teams had several more to choose from, in making up their players (team).The grit of the M.I.A. boys was the general topic of conversion and it was said by an observer that he had never seen such endurance in young men. Their friends attributed it to the exercise which they obtained on the farms, but their parents believe that it is due to their clean lives and the observance of the Word of Wisdom. On their return to Colonia Juárez they received an enthusiastic reception from their friends who tendered them a banquet and sang songs in their honor. In El Paso they were well treated. Ernest Hatch was the coach of the team, and these were in the line up:  Skousen, L. Taylor, Richardson, Canover, and H. Taylor.--Improvement Era, June 1910, Vol. XIII, No. 8, pages 762-763

Lillian died from puerperal fever on April 29, 1916 after the birth of their sixth child, Ernest Herman Hatch, on March 27, 1916 in Colonia Dublán, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Shortly after Lillian Rebecca Haws Hatch died, "Pancho Villa made his hit-and-run attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and the Punitive Expedition of 12,000 U.S. soldiers under General John. J. "Black Jack" Pershing, was engaged in the famous but unsuccessful manhunt for Villa.

In November 1916, Ernest Hatch was ordained a High Priest and made Second Counselor to Bishop John J. Walser in Colonia Juárez, a postion he held a short time. With a partnership offer from Lillian's brothers, Jim and George Haws in Mesa, Arizona, in the dairy and poultry business, he moved his family there for five years.
At the end of the first two years, prospects for accumulating property, machinery, and teams were good. Yet life was lonely. He needed a companion, his children needed a mother and home life. In El Paso, Texas on August 19, 1918, Ernest married Nelle Keziah Spilsbury, an associate teacher from the JSA and one month later they were sealed in the St. George Temple, Utah.  Home life for Ernest went on as though uninterrupted. Nelle not only took on the task of caring for Ernest's six motherless children but raised to maturity three of her own. She continued to teach at the JSA and worked in a number of church positions.

The first crisis in their life came when Ernest contracted the Spanish flu and narrowly escaped death in the epidemic that swept the country, leaving countless victims in its wake. The only reason he survived was his intense desire to live and his faith in the power of the Priesthood. Nelle's first daughter, Ernestine Hatch, was born May 25, 1919.
[Nelle's father, Alma Platte Spilsbury died on June 12, 1920 and was buried two days later at Colonia Juárez. Alma's wife, Mary Jane Redd Spilsbury survived him by fifteen years, dying on July 7, 1945 in Colonia Juárez.]
When the partnership with Lillian's brothers dissolved, Ernest was in possession of a forty acre tract of land, and his share of cows, teams, chickens, and sheep. When an offer came to take over a couple of farms in Colonia Dublán, he accepted. He left Nelle to dispose of his farm to the highest bidder and went to put in his first crops.
Then the bottom fell out of everything. The Depression following World War I struck, farm after farm went falling to the hands of receivers, banks closed their doors, and Ernest and Nelle's valuable farm, almost overnight, became a liability. Even cotton produced on this farm was sidetracked on an eastern market demanding demurrage. On top of it all, his crops in Dublán failed.

At the end of two years their rosy dream of a model dairy and poultry farm, fed by rich yields from the farm, collapsed, and with things going from bad to worse, they moved their family to Colonia Juárez. Their farm in Mesa, their Ford car, machinery, most of his teams and cows were lost in the final settlement. With their family they settled into a happy home and began again from scratch. From that time there was no direction to go but up. Nelle's first son, Garth Spilsbury, was born July 29, 1923.
One by one they tackled the problems besetting the half-paid-for Junius Romney orchard. Coddling moth left its pollution in every apple, killing frosts could in one night wipe out a crop, and apples shriveled on the trees during the dry season. Finding himself in the vicious circle of needing a fruit crop to buy spray material, smudge pots, and sink a well, how could he get these things until he had a fruit crop? Yet, whipping one problem after another, they soon realized they had made the best investment in life.
Among the many challenges that Ernest faced was that of the death of his parents. His father, John William Hatch, died January 22, 1932, at the age of eighty-two, after suffering a heart attack. Maria followed her husband and was laid to rest at his side in the cemetery of Colonia Juárez on July 27, 1940. They were the parents of fourteen children: Lillian Maria Hatch, Minnie Almeda Hatch, John Alma Hatch, Ernest Isaac Hatch, Mary Agnes Hatch, Rhoda Evelyn Hatch, Myrtle Hatch, Pearl Hatch, Cynthia Irene Hatch, George Lynn Hatch, Frances Fern Hatch, Elmer Hugh Hatch, and twins Charles Hatch and Carroll Hatch.

In 1932 Ernest and Nelle entered the fruit market in Mexico City with the first carload of apples to be shipped from the colonies since 1896 as an exhibit in the Coyoacan Fair. They re-established the quality of colony fruit and opened up a market that has since steadily grown and still flourishes.
With their original orchard paying off, other orchards on both sides of them were purchased and soon yielding handsomely. This family was soon enjoying the fruits of labors, though going through "the narrows" had taught them many lessons such as the worth of a dollar and the value of family unity in solving family problems.
During those years of pulling himself up by his "bootstraps," their last child, Madelyn Hatch, was born October 19, 1925. Ernest had taught school a couple of years to keep his family eating, had filled a six months mission in California, had continued as Sunday School Superintendant, promoted the Boy Scout program, and had acted as water master for the East Canal. His family followed his example and filled positions in church work along with him. He was released from the High Council to be First Counselor to Bishop Anthony I. Bentley in 1934.

[Nelle was installed as Juárez Stake Relief Society President during 1933 and served for twenty-two years. She retired from her profession as a teacher in 1939. Her first counselors were Lucy Bluth and Rosena N. Farnsworth.]
In September, 1937, he was set apart as Bishop of the Juárez Ward with David Samuel Brown and Velan Call, and later Willard Shupe as Counselors. He was now in a position to continue a rehabilitation program that was still in progress (in 1966). Blackened walls of burned buildings from the Mexican Revolution of 1912 dotted the town, homes were windowless and porches were sagging and floorless.
The elementary school building (original Juárez Stake Academy and the only church house the Ward had known) was remodeled into a modern, one-story building. Church functions were moved to the Ivins Hall in the Juárez Stake Academy building, which did service until October, 1966 when a new chapel was built.
Home rehabilitation began with his own home by removing the rotting roof and changing it into a Spanish style residence, adding a sleeping porch and a kitchen, and commencing a system of landscaping around the grounds that is still in progress.
Ernest's term as Bishop ended in October, 1944. The remainder of his life was spent serving as High Councilman. His sons took over the management of his orchards. Life ended for him October 7, 1952 in Dalhart, Texas, where his tired heart suddenly stopped. Leaving a posterity that now numbers eight children, forty-three grandchildren, and thirty-two great-grandchildren, he was buried in the Colonia Juárez cemetery October 11, 1952. Typical of the regard in which he was held by the Mexican people, is a remark made by a neighbor boy: "I have lost a father, adviser, banker, neighbor and friend."
Ernest was a member of the JSA first graduating class in 1901, he was the first to have a daughter graduate, and the first to have a granddaughter graduate, from the Juárez Stake Academy. An officer in both Stake and Ward MIA, six of his children have been Ward Presidents, and one has been Stake Superintendant. One daughter is currently Stake Primary President, having served first as Ward President. Two of his sons are eminent physicians, one of them a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, a daughter an accredited nurse anesthetist, a grandson an oral surgeon, a son-in-law a dentist, and a grandson-in-law a dermatologist. Himself a teacher, four of his children have done service in the classroom, while two have made it a career. Himself and one son having served as Bishop of the Juárez Ward, another has served in two Bishoprics. Himself a missionary, a son and daughter and two daughters-in-law have filled full time missions while two sons have served as Mission Presidents, and his thirteenth grandson is now in the mission field.
All his posterity can truthfully say, "We are following in your footsteps."
Nelle was sixty-five years of age when Ernest died. She had already begun writing a history of the community that had been so much a part of her life. After her husband's death, she devoted herself to the project. Colonia Juárez, An Intimate Account Of A Mormon Village was published in 1954 by the Deseret Book Company which also hosted a large author's party for her. Nelle quickly became an acknowledged authority on the history of the colonies and was often consulted by graduate students and others who wished to know more about the Mormon experience in northern Mexico. Richard Estrada, who had read her book while a student at the University of Chicago, taped several interviews with her concerning the Mexican Revolution, depositing the materials at the library at the University of Texas at El Paso"

Beginning in1954 Nelle S. Hatch spent twenty-five+ years, through the 1970's, compiling the biographies of the Mexican Mormon colonists of pre-Revolutionary Mexico. These were individuals she had personally known in the colonies. At the suggestion of Marion G. Romney of the Mormon Church's First Presidency, Nelle enlarged the project to include as many as possible of those who colonized northern Mexico.
In 1964 she published Mother Jane's Story, a moving history of her mother's life. At this time she also published a few articles in Church magazines. And, as earlier indicated, in these years she commenced acquiring materials for the collection of the biographies in Stalwart South of the Border. This last project was frustrated by declining health. She had suffered from a variety of maladies for years. But loss of hearing and, at last, failing eyesight were most difficult to bear.

Nelle was always a master story teller. She reveled in the history of her church and her pioneer heritage. In a visit with her in the early 1970s, she told me [Carmon Hardy] how desperately anxious she was to finish the compilation of biographies on which she was then working. It was to be the final tribute to her beloved colonies, her last story. Although her mind remained alert, the growing impairment of her sight and hearing made work on the book difficult. In January, 1979, she suffered a stroke that left her unable to speak. On August 29, 1979, well into her ninety-third year, she died and was buried in the cemetery at Colonia Juárez. So passed one of the last stalwarts south of the border.
Nelle's work was edited and compiled as "Stalwarts South of the Border" for publication by Blaine Carmon Hardy, at the behest of Nelle's daughter Ernestine Hatch. "Stalwarts South of the Border" was finished in time for the Mormon Colonies Centennial Celebration in August 1985.

The above biography was written in parts by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and Blaine Carmon Hardy and published in "Stalwarts South of the Border, pages 7-10 and 241-246 with some additions and photos included by Lucy Brown Archer.

J.S.A. 1901 Graduate

Ernest Isaac Hatch 1878-1952

Juárez M.I.A. in Championship Contest

On the 18th and 19th of March the basket ball teams of the Southwest met in El Paso, Texas, at the Y.M.C.A. building, to contest for the championship of the southwest. Among the players was the M.I.A. team from Colonia Juárez. On the 18th, the Y.M.C.A. won from the high school by a score of 17 to 16; Colonia Juárez won from the El Paso Military Institute 65 to 8; the high school won from the Military Institute by a score of 32 to 25; and the Bisbee high school won from the New Mexico College, 25 to 15. Large croweds attended and El Paso was in the throes of a basket ball fever.
On the 19th the Bisbee high school defeated the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez by a score of 19 to 15, and by this won the championship of the southwest and the basket ball trophy. The M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez had already defeated the Y.M.C.A. by a score of 28 to 26, and thereby took second place, and undoubtedly would have taken first place if they had not had to contest with the others immediately after their contest with the Y.M.C.A.
The Y.M.C.A. defeated the El Paso high school by a score of 27 to 24, for third place. The final contest between the Bisbee high school and the M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez was the fastest and most sensational game ever seen in the city. Great enthusiasm marked the play of the three games which made up the evening's program. The contest between the Bisbee and M.I.A. of Colonia Juárez created such enthusiasm as is seldom seen in this game.

The M.I.A. had only six men, and one of these was put out of commission so that they were compelled to play with five men, whereas the other teams had several more to choose from, in making up their players (team).The grit of the M.I.A. boys was the general topic of conversion and it was said by an observer that he had never seen such endurance in young men. Their friends attributed it to the exercise which they obtained on the farms, but their parents believe that it is due to their clean lives and the observance of the Word of Wisdom.
On their return to Colonia Juárez they received an enthusiastic reception from their friends who tendered them a banquet and sang songs in their honor. In El Paso they were well treated. Ernest Hatch was the coach of the team, and these were in the line up:  Skousen, L. Taylor, Richardson, Canover, and H. Taylor.--Improvement Era, June 1910, Vol. XIII, No. 8, pages 762-763

Ernest Isaac Hatch Born September 21, 1878 (son of John William and Mariah Matilda McClellan Hatch)

Ernest as a young man

Ernest's Driver License

E. I. Hatch Family Passport

Ernest Hunting

E. I. Hatch Home

Lillian Haws
18 October 1880-30  April, 1916
Married to Ernest May 15, 1901

Mariah McClellan Hatch (Born May 2, 1854) Married to John William Hatch

John William Hatch Born April 13, 1850 (son of Isaac Burris and Mary Jane Garlick Hatch)

There is some discussion regarding John's middle name.  If anyone has an official document such as a birth certificate, marriage license or death certificate that would shed some light on this, please contact me through this blog.

Thanks!

John William Hatch History
(from Maureen Bryson as posted on the web  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maureenbryson/id106.htm#john_william_hatch_hist )

[As no history was found for John William Hatch, I have gleaned information about him from the family group sheets, as well as from the history of his son, John Alma Hatch, and his mother Mary Jane Garlick, with a couple of notes from Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch. msb]

John William Hatch was born 3 April 1850, in the Cottonwood area of the Salt Lake Valley, son of Isaac Burres Hatch and Mary Jane Garlick. He had an older brother, George Andrew, who had been born at Pigeon Creek or Little Keg Creek, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. In 1853 another brother joined the family, Isaac Burres, Jr.

In March 1853 tragedy struck their family, as the father, Isaac Hatch, was shot by William Hickman and died some weeks later. His mother married Francis Delbert Lawrence, who was good to Mary Jane and her boys. A sister joined their family from this marriage, Nancy Jane, born in 1857. Shortly after her birth, Francis hitched his oxen to go to the hills for a load of logs. Some Indians came after them waving a buffalo hide and frightened the oxen. Francis was thrown from the wagon and run over, killing him.

In the spring of 1858, John’s mother, Mary, heeding counsel from Brigham Young, married his father’s younger brother, William Hatch, who was glad to care for his brother’s children. To this marriage three more children were born, Susan Permelia, William Henry, and Louisa, who died of measles when she was 12 years old.

In 1865 the family moved to Moroni, Sanpete County, then moved back to Payson. It was here that they witnessed and partook of the “Sugar Miracle” when during a severe sugar shortage a white substance appeared on the trees which they called “honey dew” or “sugar manna.” In 1872 the County Tax Lists showed William Hatch, John’s uncle/father’s, property valued at $175, with a note of “poor” written beside it. In 1876 William’s land was valued at $200 and his total property at $300. It was also in 1876 that John appears for the first and last time in the tax rolls, showing that his property was “sold.”

In 1875 they had moved to Koosharem where they helped pioneer that place. Here William built a shingle mill and made shingles for many of the homes.

While still in Payson, the family had close ties with the McClellan family. John and Maria [pronounced like the wind - Meriah] Matilda McClellan were married on 13 March 1873, and sealed in the Endowment House one month later on 14 April 1873.

Their first two children, Lillian Maria and Minnie Almeda were born in Payson. The family then moved to Grass Valley, the area where Koosharem is located. But when it was time for the next child’s birth, John and Maria traveled the more than 150 miles back to Payson so that she could have a midwife for the birth. This was their son, John Alma Hatch, born 27 Nov 1876, in Payson.

The family lived for six years in Greenwich, Piute County, near Koosharem, where the next three children, Ernest Isaac, Mary Agnes, and Rhoda Evelyn were born. The two little girls died young, Mary at only 9 days, and Rhoda who died 11 days short of her first birthday. John was a farmer and owned a ranch and put up hay.

Long winter nights were turned into a family factory when seated around the blazing fire they picked wool. Sewed carpet rags, pieced quilt block, carded wool, kit socks and stockings, as Maria read to them, propping open her book with the scissors, rocked the cradle, and knit. Each child would be occupied in tasks best suited to his age. Ernest served longest at the carpet rag sewing, saying in later years he could remember when he cut his first tooth but not when he learned to sew carpet rags. He also took his turn at the washboard and at scrubbing the pine board floor and chair seats. John and Maria were thrifty and frugal and drafted every child into an organization that “kept the best side out.” “We may live in poverty, but it will be slick poverty.” [Stalwarts p. 243]

Then before 1884 the family moved to Pleasanton, Socorro County, New Mexico, about 60 miles north of Silver City. They lived here for 3 years while John worked freighting to the silver mines about 12 miles from the town. Here two more girls were born, Myrtle and Pearl. Pearl lived only 5 days. The moved from the town u to the mines where John worked running the tailings from the quarts mill over a belt with water washing the tailings from the silver. The conditions in the valley were very poor and there was much malaria. The children, John and Minnie the worst, had the chills frequently. During this time John served in the bishopric. Also during this time, Geronimo and his Indian band were on the warpath in this area and the family had many scares of them coming with their raiding parties.  The Apaches attacked a company of soldiers nearby, killing five of them, including a doctor. Jacob Hamblin, the noted pioneer and friend of the Indians, was one of their neighbors here and the Hatch and Hamblin children played together.

After October 1885 the family moved back to Grass Valley. Except that it was extremely cold, it was a very pleasant valley. It was named for the huge meadows that ran the whole length of the valley. A stream ran through the center of the valley, “pure, clear and cold.” They lived in a little white frame cottage with shrubbery and a new orchard growing around it. John farmed and they always had a few sheep and cows. Each spring John and his sons would drive the cows to a place in the mountains near Fish Lake, which they called Johnson Flat, a distance of about 18 miles. While there, Maria and other women of the extended family, would stay for the summer making cheese and butter. Many hours were spent fishing, hunting, boating, swimming, and enjoying the mountains, as well as working. In August and September they would cut and bind the wheat.

John worked hard to provide for his family, on the farm, and in the mines, never really attaining any sort of wealth. It was hard to make ends meet with 9 children to raise. Their son John Alma wrote of his mother, Maria:

    Mother was a very resourceful person.  In our poverty she spun, wove, and made all our clothing.  In the long winter nights she would knit, and read aloud to the family while we would either pick wool or sew carpet rags.  The faster she would read, the faster she would knit.  She spun the cloth and made all of our clothing, knit all of our socks and stockings.  She was a wonderful cook.  I wish I had some of her salt-rising bread for supper tonight.  She knew how to make and raise a garden.  She may not have been as gentle and pleasant as some people I have known, but God bless her she had unpleasant things to endure. The matter of fourteen children, and abject poverty would try the patience of anyone and she had that strict stern McClellan blood in her veins.  Mother was a very good housekeeper, and she had a place for everything and everything was kept in its place.  She had a good memory and was fairly well versed in the Holy Bible.

In Greenwich, Koosharem, and Fish Lake, the last of their 14 children were born: Cynthia Irene in 1887, George Lynn in 1890, Frances Fern in 1892, Elmer Hugh in 1894, and twins Charles and Carroll in August 1896 at Fish Lake. Charles died the day of his birth and Carroll died when about 14 months old. Not many people now know what it is like to live in poverty and bear fourteen children.  Probably more often than not it was a very frustrating and trying experience.  We can indeed say that Maria Matilda McClellan Hatch was “resourceful” with all that she accomplished without the modern conveniences that we have today.     

A year after Carroll’s death, once the fall harvest was in, the family left on 30 October 1898 and went to Mexico. The reasons for their move to Mexico are somewhat vague. They were not polygamists, but Maria seemed to feel unable to endure the long cold winters in Grass Valley any longer. They felt this move was imperative for her health. Maria’s parents had gone there some 12 years earlier, so they did have family there.

It took the family nine weeks to travel by wagon from Grass Valley to Colonia Juarez. They crossed the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, sometimes traveling two or three days without water except what they had in their barrels. They followed the trail through the Snowflake area, down toward Clifton through what is now Virden, New Mexico, and then from Lordsburg they followed the Southern Pacific Railroad into El Paso.

Long before they left Utah, they sent in their immigrant papers stating what they were bringing into the country and other data.  When they arrived at the border there was some trouble getting across because their papers did not match what they had.  Someone else who was traveling with them had traded some mares that he listed for some mules— so they had quite a time explaining why the mules were not mares. In El Paso, Maria’s father and brother had met them, helped sort out the paperwork, and then they enjoyed their first train ride on the newly completed Mexico Noroeste railroad with their wagons, teams, and other traveling gear being shipped with them.

Colonia Juarez is situated in the mouth of the canyon where the Verde River flows out of the Sierra Madre Mountains.  Juarez is 3/4 mile wide and is built on both sides of the river.9  When they arrived it was dark and they were at the top of a hill looking down on Colonia Juarez. John Alma says this about his first view of Colonia Juarez, “It looked like we were looking right down in a hole to see the lights twinkling, and they weren’t electric lights either, they were just oil lamps.”

The day after they arrived was Christmas Day and everyone was celebrating in the streets.  The Saints were really big on celebrations, feasts, and games.11  They were having sports in the street like foot races, horse races, and wrestling. They were accepted into the community at once and made quick acquaintances.

Though there were glowing reports of the colonies published in the “Deseret News,” there were many trials and problems in the colonies. There were contagious diseases; smallpox, scarlet fever and typhoid were common. The people were poor and often had to go hungry due to crop failures. In 1901 three of their children were married, and another in 1902. Their oldest daughter, Lillian, had married in 1893 in Koosharem, and had gone to Mexico with her three children and husband.     

Then, of course, came the political trials. In 1912 the Mexican revolution really broke out. The women and children, and later the men were also forced to go to El Paso. They could take very little with them.  

Shortly after this, John, who had stayed, was watching over the homes of some of the people who had not yet ventured back into the colonies.  He heard something in one of the houses and went in to investigate.  Coming down the stairs was a Mexican woman, the wife of Guadalupe Treviso,  with her arms loaded with stolen goods.  John Hatch yelled at her and she told him she was just gathering up things to watch over them for the colonists.  John said he was surprised that the “thieving S.O.B.s” left anything there for her to “watch over.”  She dropped all the things and ran out of the house and told her husband that “el viejo” (the old one) Hatch had called her a thieving  S.O.B.  Her husband came storming over across the street and demanded to know why “el viejo” Hatch had called his wife such a name.  John Hatch said that he had called the thieves that name and not Treviso’s wife.  Treviso ended up throwing a hammer at John Hatch.  He ducked and threw a rock at Treviso.  It hit him on the temple and he crumpled to the ground.  

John immediately walked home, told his wife, Maria, that he had just killed a Mexican and told her to tell anyone who came that she didn’t know where he was, then he left.  That really left Maria wondering.  It was not long before there were Mexicans all around the house.  They searched the house for “el viejo” Hatch but could find him nowhere.  They went and got his sons, John Alma and Ernest, from the church to help them search.  Of course, this was a total surprise to them, and they had no idea what had happened, and just why or if their father had really killed someone.  Later, the boys found out he was hiding out in their next door neighbor’s attic, where he stayed for a couple of weeks.  If he had come out, the Mexicans would have killed him immediately.  Finally the boys made an agreement with the authorities and with the Treviso family that their father would turn himself in and stand trial if no one wold harm him when he came back into public. This was made as a written agreement and was signed by all the parties involved.  He did stand trial and was released because it was in self defense.  This was one of the more exciting times around the Hatch household. Until the trial, though, the family endured bullying from first one party then another until he was cleared in a court session.

While they were in Colonia Juarez, one of the activities they were involved in cheese making. A large vat was located at the home of John’s son, Ernest. The townspeople brought their milk, weighed it, and poured it into the vat. The entire operation was under the John’s direction. Daughter-in-law May [Cora May Merrell] helped make the molds for the cheese and put it in cheesecloth after it was cooked. When the process was completed, the community members were given their share of the cheese according to the amount of milk contributed.

The family stayed in Colonia Juarez until 1914 when they moved to Colonia Dublan. John died of a heart attack on 22 Jan 1932 and Maria died there 26 Jul 1940. They are buried next to each other.

Mary Jane Garlick (Born August 12, 1822)

Mary Jane Garlick

As posted on the web http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maureenbryson/id106.htm#mary_jane_garlick_hist

Mary Jane was born 12 August 1822 at Providence, Bedford, Pennsylvania, daughter of David Garlick and Elizabeth Buck. This part of Pennsylvania, especially Providence, was full of tragic stories of scalpings, house burnings, and many other escapades. Because of this the Garlick familiar had stayed close together and Mary Jane grew up among her many relatives.

The family was Pennsylvania Dutch. Mary Jane was a beautiful girl with chestnut brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a lovely complexion. She was a strong healthy girl. The Garlick family, were a religious people, members of the Cambellite faith. They also believed in faith, repentance, and baptism by immersion.

Two Mormon missionaries, William Howard Bosley and John Fleming Wakefield, brought the Gospel to Mary Jane’s family. Mary Jane, along with her mother, and two older sisters were baptized October 5, 1837. When it became known the Garlick women had joined the “Mormon” Church, their persecution began. Soon members of the family became outcasts. No more did their close friends and relatives treat them with love and respect. The girls especially suffered deep grief because of their social standing in the little community.

Although Mary Jane’s father David, had not yet accepted the Mormon faith, he could not

bear to see his family exiled and decided the best thing for them would be to move to where the “Saints” were located. He finally sold his property. A group of hostile anti-Mormons began making plans to mob the Garlicks and any other Mormons. It is not known what would have happened had not a friend on hearing the threats of the lynch mob came and notified David of the lawless plan. Provisions and most needed essentials were quickly loaded into two wagons drawn by two horse teams and they left their Pennsylvania home which they were to see burned to the ground while they were not yet far away.

Mary Jane was seventeen years old when the family began their journey from Providence, Bedford, Pennsylvania, to join the Latter-day Saints at Independence, Jackson, Missouri.

They crossed the states of Ohio and Indiana. Upon entering the state of Illinois, it was learned that the Mormons had been driven out of Missouri and were now gathered at Nauvoo, Illinois. This shortened their journey somewhat, but even then it was November 30,1839, before the Garlick family arrived in Nauvoo.

The family arrived in Nauvoo in November 1839. Winter was coming on and every shelter available was filled to capacity. David Garlick and his family were most grateful to be permitted to move into a crudely built blacksmith shop, where two families had lived. This crude dwelling had no floor, door, nor a chimney. Since it was winter, there were no rocks available for a chimney, so David made one of sod and a door of clapboard.

The winter of 1839-1840, was extremely cold. The Mississippi River froze over and David Garlick was able to haul logs from the Iowa side across the ice. By March 1840, David had a two room cabin ready for the family to move into.

The year 1841 the Garlick family really rejoiced with the baptism of their father, David, into the Church. This same year, however, the family was greatly saddened by the loss of little Eliza Grace who died at the age of six.

At this time the first Relief Society was formed. Mary Jane, her mother, and sisters, joined and were active in that organization. Because Mary Jane had a clear sweet voice, she became a member of the Nauvoo Legion choir. Also at this time a disease with chills and fevers was raging among the saints, and the Hyrum Smith family was ill. Hyrum came to David’s home to see if he would let one of his girls go assist Sister Smith with her home duties. Mary Jane went and lived with the Smiths for eight months. Joseph F. Smith was then two-and-a-half years old. Here she came to know Joseph Smith the prophet. This would have been in 1841.

During the persecution of the prophet, Mary Jane worked for a family in Warsaw, just a few miles from Nauvoo. One Saturday afternoon Mary Jane had gone to the wood pile to get some chips to heat the iron so she could finish the ironing. On her way back from the wood pile she was shot at by some hidden person. The bullet cut off a curl above her ear. She was terribly frightened and ran to the house to tell the lady what had happened, but before Mary Jane had finished her work it began to rain so hard that the lady persuaded her to stay all night.

The next morning she arose very early and prepared breakfast. When the husband did not come in to breakfast, Mary Jane inquired where he was. His wife told her that he had gone to Nauvoo on business the night before and had not returned. A feeling of terror came over Mary Jane and caused her to hurry much faster. After receiving her pay she took her bundle of clothes on her arm, put on her bonnet and shawl, and began her journey homeward to Nauvoo in the mud. She walked as fast as she could because she thought things were not just right at home. On her way she was overtaken by a young man who ask her where she was going. She told him she was going to Nauvoo. He said he was going there too, and would like to accompany her if she would permit him to do so.

They walked along together. The roads were very muddy and the streams were rising rapidly. As they walked along they saw the mob tossing furniture out of the upstairs windows of different homes along the way. They did not slacken their steps but hurried until they came to the river bank. They found the bridge was gone and they had to wade across. The young man told Mary Jane to wait on the bank until he had waded the river to see how deep it was. Then he would come back for her, but Mary Jane did not wait. She was ready to step out on the opposite bank right beside him.

When they reached Nauvoo, everything was too quiet. Not a sound could be heard. She wondered if anyone had been killed by the mob. As they entered the center of town, they could hear the Prophet’s voice, and they hurried to hear what he was saying. This was the last speech he gave to the people before he was murdered by the mob.

Mary Jane was at the meeting when the mantle fell upon Brigham Young. She said it was Joseph’s voice she heard, and with the rest of the crowd, she arose to her feet to find it was Brigham Young speaking instead of Joseph Smith.

Mary Jane’s father died November 4, 1843 at the age of 63 and was buried in Nauvoo. Hard work and worry had taken it’s toll, but he never lost faith in the Church.

After the death of David Garlick, his son Joseph took over the responsibilities for caring for his widowed mother and family. In 1844 he moved the family across the Mississippi River to the Iowa side and rented a farm there. It was here that Mary Jane met a stalwart man of sandy complexion by the name of Isaac Burres Hatch. There were married in Lee County on September 19, 1845. He was married to her sister, Hannah in 1846.

Isaac’s first child was a son Hyrum, born March 6,1847, to Hannah at Charleston, Lee County, Iowa. Isaac next moved his family across the state of Iowa and settled at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. They built their first home here, a log cabin built in the creek beds of Little Keg Creek. It was here on December 15, 1848, that Mary Jane gave birth to a boy, George Andrew. This fine boy brought much joy to their home.

In 1849, Mary Jane, with her husband Isaac, and young son George Andrew, left Council Bluffs to continue westward in a wagon drawn by an ox team. Hannah stayed behind with her mother and gave birth to her second child, another boy, Thaddeus Theodore, January 1, 1850, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, coming to Utah in 1852.

The immigrant saints in 1849 came in five companies of about 500 wagons and 1400 people lead by Orson Spencer, Allen Taylor, Silas Richards, and Ezra T. Benson. Many others came in independent companies as well as some members of the Mormon Battalion. Isaac was not identified with any special leader, so he may have been in one of the independent groups. Mary Jane’s brother, Joseph, is also not identified with a particular pioneer group.

When Salt Lake City was first settled, City Creek ran down the east side of main street. Here, near the present City and County Building, they camped in their wagons until they could get their land and start building their homes. Isaac and Mary Jane’s first home was located close to City Creek, in the Eighteenth Ward. Here she cared for her little son alone because her husband had been called by Brigham Young to go to Iron County as a missionary with Parley P. Pratt to the Indians and to do some exploring in that neighborhood.

After Isaac returned they moved to Cottonwood where on April 3, 1850, another son was born to them. They named him John William. They cleared land and build a humble home. But again sorrow came into Mary Jane’s life. Isaac was shot by the William “Wild Bill” Hickman, and died on 25 March 1853. This was a hard blow to Mary Jane, especially since she was about five months pregnant.

Mary Jane moved with her boys to Springville in July of 1853. It was here just a few weeks later that Isaac Burres, Jr, the third child of Isaac Burres, Sr. and Mary Jane, was born on the August 3, 1853, just four months after the tragic death of his father.

It was at this time that Indian Chief Walker was threatening War. As a safety measure, a new fort was constructed. Don Carlos Johnson described the fort as consisting of four square blocks made up of block houses built at intervals and connected by a stockade ten feet high. The stockade logs were set three feet deep in the earth for support. All the residents living outside the stockade were called in, and a strong guard was posted every night for the months during which the hostilities lasted.

These were indeed dark and gloomy times, for the Indians were numerous, while the white population was still small and the men were few in number. The stock was taken outside the stockade each day, accompanied by a strong guard. They were corralled within the fort at night. A signal gun was to be fired from the lookout point on the house top if the Indians appeared. This was to warn the farmers and the herdsmen so that they could make the protection of the fort.

It was here that you would probably have seen Mary Jane lovingly looking after her young children. Most of the Indian threats were nothing more than rumor, but the same state of affairs continued through the autumn and winter of that year. In May of 1854 peace was made with Chief Walker.

In 1855, she married Francis Delbert Lawrence. He had two children by a former marriage. He was very good to Mary Jane and her boys and she loved his children very dearly. On February 22, 1856 a daughter was born to them, and they called her Mary Nancy. Their happiness was short lived. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Frances hitched his oxen to go to the hills for a load of logs. Some Indians came after them waving a buffalo hide and frightened the oxen. As they ran away, Francis was thrown from the wagon and was run over by the wagon, killing him.

In the fall of 1855, the grasshoppers were so thick they destroyed most of the wheat crop, and that year many of the Saints did not have bread for months. Flour was scarce and the price rose to $24.00 per hundred pounds. The poor hungry Saints were forced to supplement their diets with weeds and roots that grew wild in the valley such as thistle roots, pig weed, red roots, dandelion greens and sego lily bulbs; instead of being distasteful, these foods were adopted by the Saints as a part of their regular diet long after the famine was over.

The summer of 1856, fine crops were raised and the whole town of Springville had a celebration, a sort of Thanksgiving Day, on the 24th of July. A bowery, made of tree limbs, was built on the Public Square and a program presented. At one o’clock the noon meal was served under the bowery. They had vegetables from their gardens, a barbecued Ox and roasted young porkers and fowl of every kind. The Indians joined in with the celebration and helped finish off the food.

By 1858, nearly every family in the area had accumulated sheep. The wool was sheared from the sheep every spring, it was scoured clean and carded into wool rolls by hand. At this point the town of Springville had begun to have the appearance of a permanent settlement. It was laid out in streets, with a main street where barefoot children would play.

In the spring of 1858, on the advice of Brigham Young, Mary Jane married Isaac’s younger brother, William Hatch. He was glad to be able to help care for his brother’s children. He had a blacksmith shop which provided work for himself. On December 26, 1859 another daughter was born to Mary Jane. They named her Susan Permelia. She was a beautiful blue-eyed girl, and she became a companion and loving sister to Nancy Jane. This companionship never wavered for they loved each other as long as they lived.

Many times Mary Jane went to the meadow to gather salaratus and she would take the whitest and use for soda, and the rest as lye to make soap. They called this soap soft soap, but it did do the family washing.

On July 22, 1862 another boy was born and they named him William Henry. Then in 1864 another daughter was born to them and they named her Louisa. She died of measles when she was twelve years old.

In 1865, William and Mary Jane moved to Moroni, in Sanpete County, where William helped to build the old Bastion and took his turn as guard. He also served as one of Brigham Young’s bodyguards. They spent their final years in Koosharem, Sevier County, Utah. Here they are both buried in Koosharem City Cemetery.

A little history given by Sophrona Helquist Nielson of Glenwood, Utah, the granddaughter of Mary Jane Garlick.

At the time of the Black Hawk War, the men who were fighting ran out of provisions so they sent a young man by the name of Joseph Jolley back to Payson for food. When he arrived at grandmother’s house, she did not have any bread as she had warm bread each meal. She asked how long he would be in town. He said about an hour. She told him to call again and she would have something ready. She immediately began to make crackers while her daughter Susan made the fire ready to bake them. While Grandmother mixed the dough Susan would roll it out and bake it. When Mr. Jolley returned, grandmother and Susan had a two bushel sacks of crackers ready for him to take back to the soldiers.

They also took part in fighting crickets. Imagine their feelings as they stood looking over their crops of waving grain, feeling assured of the food for the cold winter days, and how quickly the scene was changed when there was a large black mass of crickets lighting upon their grain fields. Along with many others, they offered their prayers to their Heavenly Father for his assistance.

They worked as well as prayed each taking a sack or a piece of clothing, beating and whipping the black insects that had come to destroy their crops. Grandfather helped dig deep trenches which they filled with straw and then tried to drive the crickets into them to be burned.

Grandfather (William) was also among those who were called to go from Payson to sign the Black Hawk Indian War treaty because he could talk and understand the Indian language. Poor Grandmother watched and waited anxiously at home fearing grandfather and the other brethren would never return, but things were made agreeable with the Indians and many hearts were made happy because of their fast return. In January 1875 grandfather and grandmother moved from Payson to Koosharem where they helped with pioneering that place. Here they built a shingle mill and made shingles for many a home which was a big help to that valley.

Grandfather kept a little store and grandmother went about caring for the sick and helping in every way she could. She also cared for the store. She was known to everyone as Aunt Mary. On July 8, 1900 Grandmother passed to the great beyond. She was a very worthy pioneer, a lovely mother, and a faithful Latter-day Saint. At the time of her death she was 78 years old.

Isaac Burrus Hatch (Born February 14, 1823)

ISAAC BURRES HATCH, Sr.

[Part of a history in progress by Kaye Hooley, Orem, Utah.]

As posted on the web

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maureenbryson/id106.htm#isaac_burres_hatch_sr___hist

Isaac Burres Hatch was born on Saint Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1823 in LeRay, Jefferson County, New York. It was probably a very cold and snowy day, with the creeks frozen over, icy roads and travel by horse drawn sleigh.

     In parts of Isaac’s records it shows LeRoy and in other parts, LeRay. In New York State there is a LeRoy, Genesee County, as well as LeRay, Jefferson County. I have proven to my own satisfaction, through my own research, that the correct birthplace of Isaac Burres Hatch Sr. is LeRay, Jefferson County, New York.

          Isaac Burres was the eighth child of eleven children born to Jacob and Elizabeth “Betsy” Wilde Hatch. He was described as having a fair completion, blue green eyes, and reddish brown hair.

It was a year-round job to raise and obtain food and supplies for large families such as the one Isaac was raised in and the large task became a family project.

According to Franklin B. Bough and John J. Kenny, LeRay, in 1823, was a village which had its first Post Office within that year. LeRay was made up of two Inns; three stores, two grocery and one hardware; three black-smith shops; one grist mill; one saw mill; the usual variety of mechanics; four physicians; about sixty dwellings; and from 300 to 400 people. At this time the town had three churches: Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist. The Catholic Church came a few years later.

The life of Isaac parallels the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The year Isaac was born was the year that the Angel Moroni made his first visit to Joseph Smith in the same state, not far from LeRay. When Isaac was four, Joseph obtained the Plates of the Book of Mormon. Isaac was six when the Priesthood was restored and seven when the Book of Mormon was published.

If we were living at that time, I wonder how this startling news would have reached us for the first time? Probably with many varied versions passed from one neighbor to the other.

It wasn’t long until they had the true story brought to them through the first missionary movement. The missionary activity for the L.D.S. Church, also known as “Mormons,” spread all throughout New York State from 1830 to 1834.

The Hatch family moved West to gather with the Saints and settled on the west side of the Mississippi River in Charleston, Lee County, Iowa. Here Isaac met Mary Jane Garlic, the daughter of David and Elizabeth Buck Garlick. Isaac and Mary Jane were married 10 September 1845. Isaac also married her sister Hannah, as a second wife one year later.

Isaac’s first child was a son Hyrum, born March 6,1847, to Hannah at Charleston, Lee County, Iowa. Isaac next moved his family across the state of Iowa and settled at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. They built their first home here, a log cabin built in the creek beds of Little Keg Creek. It was here on December 15, 1848, that Mary Jane gave birth to a boy, George Andrew.

In 1849, Isaac, with his wife Mary Jane and young son George Andrew, left Council Bluffs to continue westward in a wagon drawn by an ox team. Hannah stayed behind with her mother and gave birth to her second child, another boy, Thaddeus Theodore, January 1, 1850, at Council Bluffs, Iowa. She and her mother came westward two years later in Captain Allen Week’s Company with her mother Elizabeth driving the team. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1852, toil weary but happy travelers.

The immigrant saints in 1849 came in five companies of about 500 wagons and 1400 people lead by Orson Spencer, Allen Taylor, Silas Richards, and Ezra T. Benson. Many others came in independent companies as well as some members of the Mormon Battalion. Isaac was not identified with any special leader, which leads me to believe he may have been in one of the independent groups.

When Salt Lake City was first settled, City Creek ran down the east side of main street. Here, near the present City and County Building, they camped in their wagons until they could get their land and start building their homes. Isaac’s first home was located close to City Creek, now the 18th Ward area.

Soon after Isaac and his family arrived he was called along with 49 other men, under Parley P. Pratt to explore southern Utah. There were five groups of ten and Isaac was in group five. Capt. John Brown was voted in charge and they gathered together at his home November 23, 1849 in Cottonwood to make their plans to leave.

Parley P. Pratt’s diary states that during their exploring expedition they encountered severe weather, deep snow, and many hardships and toils incident to such undertakings. They explored the portions of the country south from Great Salt Lake to the mouth of Santa Clara, on the Rio Virgin, which is a branch of the Rio Colorado. They were instructed to document the best places for settling. Their distance going and returning was between seven and eight hundred miles as mapped out today. On most of the journey they made the first road as they went along. The parts which had been penetrated by wagon were so completely snowed under that they seldom found the trails.

The singers in the camp would sing around the camp fires to help pass the long winter evenings.

By January 1850, they were on their way home again. On January 21st many were sick and it was snowing severely. A council was held and it was found there was food to feed about half of the company until Spring. Traveling in a wagon was impossible. It was decided to leave half the company until spring to winter there with the cattle and wagons. The other half with some of the strongest mules and horses would attempt to reach Provo, the southern part of the frontier. The distance was about one hundred miles to the north from where they were.

On noon the next day January 23, 1850 Isaac left with Parley P. Pratt and a group of twenty men and animals. Brother Pratt states that he was very ill and they made about nine miles the first day. The snow was from one to four feet deep along the route. The men walked leading their horses and all followed in a single track. The first person breaking trail would soon tire out and then move to the rear and so on. The first night they camped in a cedar thicket, the second day they made nine or ten miles and camped in a mountain pass, thirteen miles south of the Sevier River. It would be night when they made camp after wallowing in snow sometimes waist deep. Shoveling away the snow, they would build campfires and spread out their blankets completely exhausted. The animals were tied to cedar trees or wallowing up the hill in search of bare spots of bunch grass.

Friday, January 25th, 1850 they were camped four miles south of Sevier county. It was still snowing and several of their animals had given out and had to be left behind. They called this resurrection camp because when they awoke the next morning they were completely covered with snow. When brother Pratt commanded them to arise, the graves of snow were opened and they all came forth. They forded the Sevier River and camped on the heights six or seven miles north that night. There was much less snow here.

On Sunday the 27th of January they still had some fifty miles to get to Provo and their supplies were very low. Brother Pratt and Chauncy West decided to take the strongest animals and push on, while the rest moved more slowly. They could send supplies back.

The group left behind pushed on very slowly and had reached the southern part of Utah County, about twenty miles south of Provo, when the relief company met them with fresh supplies. They were entirely out of food and very faint and weary. They reached home in Salt Lake City the first part of February, 1850.

In the spring of 1850, Isaac was called with a body of men to join a Provo militia at Battle Creek where the Utes were attacking the settlers. The battle was over two days later and they returned to their homes.

On April 3rd, 1850, Mary Jane gave birth to their second son, John William. About this same time, Isaac and Mary Jane cleared their land and built a humble home in Cottonwood.

In the LDS Church Encyclopedia it is stated that the first settler in Parleys Canyon was a Mr. Hatch, who located on Big Mountain Creek about two miles north of Harley’s Station. This very possibly was our Isaac Burres. There was another mountain creek known as Hatch Creek.

A tragic story has been related to me many times by various members of the Hatch family telling of the death of Isaac Burres Sr. One account is that on  a spring day of 1853, Bill Hickman, who was considered a friend, arrived on horseback and invited Isaac to join him and ride into Salt Lake City. On-the way to Salt Lake a friend of Hickman’s joined them. When they came to the Cottonwood Canyon stream it was necessary to travel in single file along the trail to cross the stream. The friend Bill Wooley led out, Isaac and then Bill Hickman followed. Just as Isaac’s horse was coming out of the water, Bill Hickman shot him in the back. He was taken home, where he died three weeks later. Hickman reported that Isaac had been shot with a stray bullet, but before Isaac died he regained consciousness and reported Hickman had shot him. Bill Hickman was an enigma in early Utah history. He was known murder who was never brought to trial, a known friend of Brigham Young and other Church leaders, apparently at time when it suited him to be such. He had many wives, and one theory has been advanced that Bill Hickman was in love with Isaac’s wife Mary Jane, and wanted her for himself.

The only reliable contemporary account of the incident is from the Journal History which recorded: “ March 11, 1853: During the past night, the notorious Ike Hatch was shot through the bowels while riding in the Big Field, by William A. Hickman.” This indicates that they knew from the start who shot Isaac. He had reportedly been involved in some less than legal matters involving horse trading with Bill Hickman.

The truth of this matter is likely never to be known in this lifetime. Whether Isaac was having second doubts about his association with Bill Hickman, leading to his death; whether Bill Hickman did want him out of the way to take Mary Jane as a wife; and ignoring all the speculation regarding Bill Hickman himself, his life and illegal activities.

Isaac left two young widows, the sisters Mary Jane and Hannah, and four young sons; George Andrew, John William, Hyrum Isaac, and Thaddeus Theodore. His youngest son, Isaac Burres Hatch, Jr. was born the August after his death. The sisters were each married two times after Isaac’s death.