ELDER William HATCH (William, Thomas, John the Younger, Thomas, Thomas, John), of Ashford, Wye, and Sandwich, co. Kent, and of Scituate in the Plymouth Colony, woollen draper and merchant, born about 1598, died at Scituate 6 Nov. 1651. He probably married first ;* and secondly, probably at Thanington, near Canterbury, co. Kent, by licence of 9 July 1624, Jane YOUNG of Thanington, born about 1596, who married secondly, at Scituate, 31 Mar. 1653, Elder Thomas King of Scituate (who succeeded William Hatch in the office of elder), and died at Scituate 8 Oct. 1653. Her parentage has not yet been discovered, but it is likely that Edward Young of Thanington, husbandrnan, one of the bondsmen on the marriage licence, was her kinsman, perhaps her brother.
About 1634 William Hatch and his family removed from Wye to Sandwich, Co. Kent, The statement that he was at Scituate in the Plymouth Colony in 1633 is incorrect, and is due to the assumption that the date after the names of the assistants in the records applied to all the names following. He embarked for America for the first time in Mar. 1634/5, sailing from Sandwich in the ship Hercules with his wife Jane, five children, and six servants. In the same ship sailed his cousin, Lydia (Huckstep) Tilden (7,1, 7), with her husband Nathaniel Tilden, and their children. William Hatch and his family settled at Scituate, where he built a house on Kent Street and was admitted freeman on 5 Jan. 1635/6. He returned to England, but came back to New England in Apr. 1638, in the ship Castle. It is probable that his brother Thomas (10) with his wife and children and his sister Elizabeth Soan (12) with her son William came with him on this voyage. In 1643 William Hatch was chosen the flr~t ruling elder of the Second Church of Scituate, and in August of that year he with his sons Walter and John appears on the list of those in Scituate able to bear arms (that is, they were between 16 and 60 years of age). In the same year also he was lieutenant of the trainband
Printed from NEHG Register, Volume 70, July 1916, New England Historic Genealogical Society & Broderbund Software, Inc., Banner Blue Division, February 22, 2001
WILLIAM HATCH (William, Thomas) was the son of William and Anne (Tilden) Hatch and was born about 1592, presumably in Ashford, Kent. He, his wife Jane, and five children sailed from Sandwich, Kent in the spring of 1634 aboard the Hercules of Sandwich, John Witherley, Master. On the passenger list he was noted as being a merchant of Sandwich. With his family came five employees. William and his family settled in Scituate, Massachusetts. William Hatch had a first wife whose identity is unknown. She died, leaving a son Walter. He remarried, by license issued at Canterbury, probably at Thannington, Kent, 9 July 1624, Jane Young who was born there about 1596. William Hatch died 6 November 1651 at Scituate, Mass. Jane remarried 31 March 1653, Elder Thomas King. William's will was dated 5 November, the day before he died.
Ref: Canterbury MarriageLicenses, 2nd series, 1619-family on passenger list. 1650, edited by Joseph Meadows Cowper; Parish Registers; v .r. of Scituate; Savage
THE WILL AND INVENTORY OF WILLIAM HATCH, SENIOR, OF SCITUATE
Transcribed from the Original Records,
By GEORGE ERNEST BOWMAN
WILLIAM HATCH, SR. , of Scituate, died at that place on 6 November, 1651, the day following the date of his will, which is found in the Plymouth Colony Records of Wills, Volume 1, folio 125.
[1: 225] The Last Will and Testament of Mr Willam Hatch of Scittuate Deceased exhibited before the generall court holden at New Plym: the 3d of June 1652 on the oathes of Mr Willam Wetherell and James Torrey
November the fift 1651
I William hatch the elder of Scittuate in the collony of New Plymouth in america Planter being weake in body but
Will and inventory of William Hatch, Senior 39
of pfect memory Doe make this my last will and Testament in mannor and forme following;
Imprimis I give and bequeath unto Jane my wife two milch cowes and my executors to keep them Summer and Winter upon my meadow grounds them and theire encrease tell they exceed the number of six Item I Give unto her halfe my Dwelling house During her life time as allsoe halfe the fruites of the trees in my orchyard Item I will that my executors allow her yearly sixteen bushells of come viz foure of wheat foure of Rye foure of barley and foure of Indian Come; as alsoe sixteene Rods of broken up ground and to bee well Dunged yearly for to sow hempe seed on Item I give her the bed furnished wheron I lye with two paire of sheets two pillows two paire of pillow coates one bolster one Rugg one blankett therunto belonging Item I give her one chamber pott two houshold platters two pewter Dishes one pewter Drinking pott; alsoe a little brase pott and a brasse skillett two spining Wheeles a paire of wool carafes a Trunke halfe a Dozen of milke trayes a coupple of wooden Dishes two wooden platters a milke payle two chayres foure spoones one of them being of silver Item a warming pan one brandiron one paire of tonges one paire of pothangers a tier slice Item I give her a hogg and my great brase kettle Item I give my Daughter Jane Lovell one milch cow to bee Delivered to her by my executors att two yeares end after my Decease Item I give unto my grandchild John Lovell a cow calfe to bee Delivered by my executors at two yeares end after my Decease; And if the lord give my Daughter Jane any more children then my will is that her next child shall have the first calfe of that calfe that I have given to her son John Lovell and the next child the next calfe and soe Successively Item I give my Daughter Jane one paire of sheets Item a chest alsoe a pewter candlesticke one Sawcer two alchymy spoones Item I give to my Daughter Ann Torry one milch cowe to her and her heires to bee Delivered at two yeares end after my Decease by my executors; Item I give to my grandchild James Torrey a cow calfe and the first calfe of her breed to my grandchild Willam Torrey and the next calfe of her to my grandchild Josepth and the next to my grandchild Damaris &c alsoe I give my Daughter Torrey the shipp pott; All the Rest of my moveables goods lands and tenements I give and bequeath to my two sons Walter hatch and Willam hatch to them and theire heires for ever to bee equally Devided between them Whom I appoint to bee the executors of this my last will and Testament and
40 Will and Inventory of William Hatch, Senior
to pay all my Debts and legacies In Wittnes Wherof I have heerunto sett my hand and seale the Day and yeare above
Written
Witnesses Guilielmo Wetherell Willam Hatch
James Torrey (seal)
Willam hatch the son of Thomas hatch
Printed from Mayflower Descendant Legacy CD-ROM - All rights reserved. Copyright © 1996 - 1998 by Search & ReSearch Publishing Corp., Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
William Hatch
William Hatch, a resident of Sandwich, Kent, sailed for New England in 1635 on the Hercules. Upon arrival he settled in Scituate, where he resided until his death in 1651. He brought with him his second wife and five children, two other children having died in England prior to the family s migration. The town of Scituate granted him the usual course of land distributions.
Beyond these basics,William Hatch in some respects seemed to reflect the norm of the middle of the middle stratum. He became a freeman soon after arrival and served in several offices, including participation on grand and petit juries. He was, in fact, a little above the norm, in that he was in 1642 and again in 1645 Deputy from Scituate to the Plymouth Colony General Court, and in 1643 he was appointed Lieutenant of the Scituate trainband.
Were this the totality of what the surviving records had to tell us about William Hatch, we would account him a solid but unremarkable New England immigrant. But in addition to the details of his life which have been outlined above, we find also a steady stream of other notices of this man which tell us a different story.
The very first entry in the volume of "Judicial Acts of the General Court and Court of Assistants" of Plymouth Colony, dated January 3, 1636/7, was a law suit against William Hatch, instituted by Comfort Starr in a case of debt, the jury finding for the plaintiff This judgment in itself was not remarkable, but, as will be seen, was a portent of things to come. Barely six months later, on June 7, 1637, "whereas William Hatch, of Scituate, is presented for an incroachment upon a piece of ground on this side the river without license of this Court, it is therefore enacted by this Court that the said William Hatch shall reap the crop this year only, and leave the land, which is the mulct laid upon him for his presumption therein."
Not long after these events, Hatch returned to England, and then sailed again for New England on the Castle, bringing with him his brother Thomas and his family.While on this voyage,William Hatch formed a partnership with Thomas Ruck and Joseph Merriam to handle the affairs of the voyage. In August 1639, a year after this transatlantic passage, Ruck and Merriam sued Hatch, claimed he did "overreckon, misreckon, account short & mischarge" various items in the accounts.
Two years later, on September 7, 1641 ,Williani Hatch was accused of stating publicly that "the warrants sent from the governor were nothing but stinking commissary warrants. Finally, on March 5, 1643/4, the Court took notice of a dispute between Hatch and his servant Hercules, regarding the length of service of the latter. Very few men were so frequently recorded in so many forms of disagreeable behavior. Even so, throughout this period, William Hatch continued to hold offices at the colony and town level. 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.
New England Ancestors Fall 2002, pg 24, Robert Charles Andreson
