William Hatch 1598-1651 Kent England to Scituate, Mass.

William Hatch was born about 1598 probably in Kent, England, the son of William and Ann Hatch. He is my 10^th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. He is called woolen draper, merchant and husbandman in various records. 

William married Jane Young near 9 July 1624 at Thanington, Kent, England. License information: William Hatch of Ashford, woolen draper, bachelor, age about 25, and Jane Young of Thanington, maiden, about  27, whose friends are dead, at Thanington, 9 July [1624]. Bondsmen: Edward Young of Thanington, husbandman, and William Page of Canterbury, blacksmith. I’m curious what the “whose friends are dead” reference is about.

Thanington Without, Canterbury

 

He sailed for Plymouth in March 1634/5 on the Hercules with wife Jane Young, five children and six servants and he was called a merchant from Sandwich, Kent. They settled at Scituate in Plymouth Colony. He became a freeman 5 January 1634/5. He was on the Scituate section of the Plymouth Colony list of Men Able to Bear Arms, along with his sons Walter and John. 

St. Mary's Church, Sandwich, Kent

 

There is another man of the same name who settled first Dorchester, then Yarmouth and finally in Barnstable leaving a widow Grace and children.

William and Jane had 7 children, two of whom died as newborns in England:

11.  Walter, date of birth unknown, married Elizabeth Holbrooke with whom he had eight children and 2^nd Mary ______. He died at Scituate on 24 May 1699 (from a deed).

22. John, who was baptized at Wye, Kent, on 7 Aug 1625. His name is on the 1643 Scituate list of Men Able to Bear Arms but he must have passed before November 1651 when he was not named in his father’s will.

33. Ann/Anne, who was baptized at Wye on 3 December 1626. She married James Torrey and had at least four children at Scituate.

44.  Newborn son, who was buried 31 July 1628 at Wye.

55. William, who was baptized at Wye 9 August 1629. He married Abigail Hewes and they had one daughter Phebe. He died in Virginia between 1653 when he wrote a will and 1657 when it was proved.

66. Jane who was baptized Wye on 19 June 1631. She married John Lovell and had nine children, most of whom were born at Weymouth.

77. Andrew who was baptized Wye, Kent, England on 3 November 1633 and was buried there on 6 November 1633.

I descend from their daughter Jane.

St. Gregory and St. Martin Church, Wye, England

I’ve read that since Walter was listed in the 1643 Plymouth Colony List of Men Able to Bear Arms, he would have been born before 1624 and therefore Jane was William’s second wife. I don’t believe that’s necessarily true since the math doesn't add up. Additionally, William is called bachelor in his marriage record to Jane. 

 

Thomas Hatch, William’s brother, came to Plymouth Colony and he and his wife Lydia also settled at Scituate. His sister, Elizabeth Soan did the same and became the second wife of John Stockbridge of Scituate. 

Leaving his family in its new home, William Hatch returned to England on the ship Castle of London, probably to settle his affairs there, returning in mid-1638 to New England on the Castle. He may have been accompanied by his brother Thomas and his widowed sister Elizabeth Soan and their families.

William Hatch was a juror in the 1638 trial of Arthur Peach, Thomas Jackson and Richard Stinnings for the murder of an Indian. In 1642 he was on the committee to provide forces for a possible war with the Indians. William Hatch was elected lieutenant "for trayneing their men in the art of war" in 1643. Offices held by William include Deputy for Scituate to the Plymouth Colony General Court in 1642 and 1645; service on the Grand Jury, and Scituate representative on the Plymouth Colony committee on the repair of highways in 1638/1639.

William Hatch was chosen the first ruling elder of the Second (Vassal's) Church of Scituate and he became known as "Elder William Hatch." The Second Church of Scituate was founded in 1643. His land holdings included a grant of an island of 20 acres on the south side of North River, called the old island or Hatch's Island and which he sold to Joseph Tilden in 1649.

William built a house on Kent Street. His house lot was the first south of Greenfield Lane. An old map of Scituate has the location of his property closer to Kent Street and Meetinghouse Lane. His land is mentioned in a deed when Robert Stetson sold Scituate land including his dwelling house to Humphrey Johnson on 31 Oct 1651. He mentions that part of the great lot was given by the freeman to Samuel House being bounded towards the north by the upland of William Hatch. Also mentions another piece bounded on the east by the North River and part of it by the marshland of William Hatch the elder.

 

Map of Early Families of Scituate  source: Scituate Historical Society

Otis writes he was a noted man in the early history of the Colony. In a 2002 article by Robert Charles Anderson on Uncovering Personalities of the Great Migration, published in the New England Ancestors magazine, Anderson indicates that while in some respects William Hatch seemed to reflect the norm of the middle stratum of the early immigrants (becoming a freeman and serving in several offices), there is also a stream of other notices that tell a different story about him. He would be sued successfully by plaintiffs to recover debt, for encroachment upon the lands of others and for inaccuracies in his accounts with his partners. Anderson comments: "Very few men were so frequently recorded in so many forms of disagreeable behavior....His peers and neighbors clearly valued his skills and abilities highly enough to set aside his apparent antisocial behavior, but he may have been skating very close to the edge.....Hatch apparently missed no opportunity to take a strong position on any issue, be he right or wrong."

The will of William Hatch Senr of Scituate is dated 5 Nov 1651; calls himself a planter. It is written the day before his death and is found in the PCR Vol 1, folio 105. He gives his wife Jane half of his house, two cows, half the fruit from his orchard and various crops and a detailed list of household items. Names daughter Jane Lovell and grandson John Lovell; daughter Ann Torrey and grandchildren James, William, Joseph and Damaris Torrey; sons Walter and William whom he named executors of his will. Witnessed by William Wetherell, James Torrey, William Hatch (the son of Thomas Hatch). Inventory taken by Thomas Chambers, Ephraim Kempton and James Torrey. Estate did not include his real estate and amounted to 95 pounds, 3 shillings, 4 pence.

William died in Scituate, Mass., on 6 November 1651, at about 53 years of age.

His inventory was presented on 3 June 1653. Some of the items include: two oxen, four cows, one bull, one heifer, one mare colt, calves, hog, two pigs, sword, brass vessels, powder and shot, hemp, flax, butter, cheese, door lock, books, pewter, brass scales, iron vessels.

Jane married, second, Elder Thomas King of Scituate on 31 Mar 1653. She died 8 Oct 1653 at Scituate, although I don’t know the source for that date. She was about 56 years old.

Sources Not Listed Above:

Otis, Amos, Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, being a reprint of the Amos Otis Papers, Volumes 1 and 2, 1888

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony, Its History and People, 1986

Elizabeth French, NEHGR, Genealogical Research in England: Hatch, vol. 70 (1916):