Hearing stories of my grandma's childhood in this small Utah town hadn't prepared me for how enchanted my children would be to stay there! What is a hardship for Scipio natives (school an hour away in Fillmore, no grocery store) created a country retreat that felt more than a two hours' drive from our suburban home.
 |
| 198 W Center Street, Scipio |
William Ira and
Maggie Muir Hatch were early settlers of Skip-10 (as my grandpa called it), and raised their family of ten children there (although we were not able to identify which house they had lived in). William served as a bishop during the flu epidemic of 1918, which killed him. Their oldest son
Frank graduated from the U, but returned to Scipio about the time his father died, to help with the family farm and the electrification of rural Utah. He brought his wife
Charlotte and their young family, eventually raising nine children in Scipio. Their grandchildren came back to Scipio every summer to work on the farm, forging lifelong friendships as Hatch cousins.
My dad's cousin has recently restored Frank and Lottie's home (which was lived in by my great-uncle Bill until 2007), and was gracious enough to let us stay there for a weekend. We loved the ancestral photos on the walls, the rural experience in the yard/barn/town, riding cousin Steve's ATVs and touring his ranch, and attending church with folks who remembered my grandparents.
 |
| riding great-great-uncle Bill's aged horse |
 |
| the old cabin on the Hatch ranch |
 |
| Frank's books |
 |
photo in church of Scipio bishops
William Ira Hatch 2nd row, 2nd from right |
 |
| their graves at the Scipio cemetery |
 |
| city slickers enjoying a rural retreat |
Posts
What a positively adorable little house. It looks so comfortable and homey. I love how your dad's cousin has hung family photographs on the walls.
ReplyDelete