Peter Holt Hatch

Hatch, Peter Holt, 1810-1898. NWDA

Biographical History

Peter Holt Hatch was born in 1810 in Parsonfield, Maine. Originally trained as a blacksmith, he joined a whaling expedition and travelled to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked for a time as a missionary. In 1843 he came to Oregon with his first wife, Charlotte Colcord Hatch, and his son David, settling at first in Oregon City. With Osborne Russell and Robert Moore, Hatch organized the First Presbyterian Church of Willamette Falls, and was later ordained an elder or deacon. After running a flat boat service between Portland and Oregon City, he moved to Salem in 1863 and began a house-moving business, which he ran until his retirement. He married his second wife, Sarah Locey, in 1847, and the couple had seven children.

From the finding aid for Peter Holt Hatch papers 1843-1991 1843-1897 (Oregon Historical Society)

Peter Holt Hatch

• Birth: Dec. 28, 1810 - Parsonsfield, York County, Maine, USA
• Death: Aug., 1898 - Salem, Marion County, Oregon, USA
• age 87 y's, 8 m's 1 day.

ALMOST DEAD - Peter H. Hatch, of Salem, in his 88th year, a pioneer of '42, was stricken with paralysis Sunday and his recovery is beyond hope. He was one of the jurors who convicted the perpetrators of the Whitman massacre. There are seven living children, 17 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Woodburn Independent Volume 10 January - December 1898, p.142

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OBITUARY:

AN HONORED CITIZEN DEAD; P. H. Hatch Passed Away Yesterday; Sketch of the Life of a Pioneer Who Helped to Make the History of Oregon What it is.

Peter H. Hatch, an Oregon pioneer and for many years a highly respected resident of the Capital City, passed away at the home of his son, George E. Hatch, at No. 456 Front street, at 1:40 p.m. yesterday, aged 87 years and 8 months, the direct cause of his demise being a stroke of paralysis, suffered at an early hour last Sunday morning.

The death of this aged pioneer of the state of Oregon closed an eventful career, and passed into the beyond the soul of a man whose life, during the past fifty-five years, has been closely merged in with the history of Oregon; who, in fact helped to a large extent, to make that history. Peter H. Hatch was born at Parsonsfield, York county, Maine, in the southwestern corner of the state, on December 26, 1810. At the age of 9 years he went to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was apprenticed to a blacksmith, which trade he learned, with New England thoroughness and having completed his years of service there, he shipped on a whaler for the Polar regions. He followed the sea for eight years, being employed as a blacksmith on the whaling vessels.

In 1839 Mr. Hatch, like many other hardy New Englanders, turned his eye to the West, and he immediately set sail for the Pacific ocean, but instead of landing on the west shore of the continent, he went to Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands, landing there in the early part of 1840. Here the subject of this sketch followed his trade, for three years. Here he met Charlotte S. Colcord, and she became his wife on August 7, 1841. In 1842 he, with his wife and 1 child, sailed for the American continent, entering the Columbia river, and landing at Oregon City on May 11th of that year. He secured a good tract of land and established a home on Tualatin plain near there, where for many years the family lived.

On June 30, 1846, his wife died, leaving the stricken husband and two children, David C., and Susan, to mourn her demise. The son is still living, but the daughter passed to her eternal rest many years ago.

In January 1847, Mr. Hatch was married to Miss Sarah Locy, whose death occurred in this city on February 11, 1890. In 1862 Mr. Hatch sold his property near Oregon City and removed to Salem, locating at No. 256 Front street, at which place he died yesterday.

Deceased was a man of sterling worth and unquestioned rectitude and was ever on the side of right and good government. He was one of the first, if not the first, commissioned officers of the American army in Oregon. The first trial by jury, had in Oregon was held in his house, and he was a member of the jury that tried the perpetrators of the Whitman massacre. Later, when he came to Salem, he was made Justice of the peace, and he it was, who conducted the preliminary hearing of Beal and Baker, and bound them over to the grand jury. He brought the first boat from Portland to Oregon City, and for a long time controlled the freight traffic on the river between the two cities, and on different times commanded river steamers in the early days.

His home on Tualatin Plains was open for all travelers coming into the new country, and here they received a welcome and good substantial fare, when passing that way. His strict morality and temperance principles were always well known and respected and when an adventurer started a small distillery on the Clackamas river, Captain P. H. Hatch, accompanied by a crowd of the best citizens, stepped in and destroyed the plant for the benefit of the section of the country they inhabited.

After coming to Salem, Mr. Hatch for many years followed the business of house moving and he was always very much interested in road building, having himself constructed the highway between Oregon City and Canemah, which is today on the of best thoroughfares in the state.

Mr. Hatch was always religiously inclined, and soon after coming to Salem he united himself with the First M. E. church of which organization he has ever since been a consistent and most enthusiastic member, and one of the most regular attendants. He was also a constant attendant of the auxiliary societies of the church, and labored for these societies he counted as his best and highest pleasure.

He leaves, seven children to mourn his demise, as follows:

• D. C. Hatch, of Portland;
• Mrs. A. H. Farrar, of Salem;
• E. T. Hatch of St. Michaels, Alaska;
• Captain Bert Hatch, Juneau, Alaska;
• Payson Hatch of Portland and
• George P. Hatch, of this city;

there are also eighteeen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Willamette Farmer 2 September 1898 3:1

Death of Peter H. Hatch

Peter H. Hatch who was stricken with paralysis died at 1 p.m. on Thursday last at the family home in Salem. Peter H Hatch was born in Parsonfield, Me., December 26, 1810. In early life he was a blacksmith and plied his trade in Massachusetts. While yet young he joined a whaling expedition and at the end of three years arrived at the Sandwich islands. From there he came to Oregon, landing in Oregon City in 1843. He went to Salem in 1863 and lived there the remainder of his life. In early days he ran a flatboat between Portland and Oregon City. For 20 years after his arrival in Salem he followed the trade of house moving. He served a term as state librarian and was a member of the jury that tried and convicted persons engaged in the Whitman massacre.

Deceased first wife was Miss C. B. Colcord, to whom he was married in the Sandwich islands, August 7, 1841. He was married February 9, 1847 to Miss Sarah Locey, in Oregon City. Seven children, 17 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren survive him. The children are

• David Hatch, of Portland,
• Mrs. A. H. Farrar, of Salem;
• Edwin T. Hatch, collector of customs at St. Michaels, Alaska;
• Payson H. Hatch, captain of the government snag-boat, Mathloma:
• H. L. Hatch, on his way to Alaska;
• George E. Hatch, city mail carrier in Salem and
• Mrs. Alice Manning, Matagulpa, Central America.

Woodburn Independent Volume 10 January - December 1898, p.150

• (bio source: Salem Pioneer Cemetery Website)

Family links: Spouse:

• Sarah Cornelia Locey Hatch (1829 - 1890)

Children:

• George Elmer Hatch (1863 - 1917)

Inscription:

• Peter Holt Hatch
• 1810 - 1898

Burial: Salem Pioneer Cemetery, Salem, Marion County, Oregon, USA

• Plot: 408
• Created by: Patty C
• Record added: Feb 09, 2008
• Find A Grave Memorial# 24498290