Heritage Trails: Hatches in Vermont

Pioneer Lorenzo Hill Hatch left Vermont as a teenager with his family moving to Nauvoo, after being orphaned returned again to Vermont as a missionary for a few years, and later married Sylvia Eastman in Utah after they bonded over their shared Vermont heritage. A half-century later, he drew up a map of his hometown for his kids--after a son-in-law had written that Lorenzo's terrible sense of direction had gotten him in some serious trouble during his pioneering days. 

And it turned out that map wasn't especially helpful for us. There are no Potato Hills around, the Green Mountains and Montpelier are miles away (Montpelier, top left, is actually 60 miles east of Bristol, labeled on middle left and also bottom right). There are many schools, farms, and big hills or small mountains in the vicinity. Alas, we were not able to find those exact farm and birthplace spots. We did find the Four Corners in Bristol he may have referred to:

However, it was an amazing experience to see the towns and areas he knew, and learn more about the heritage of his parents Hezekiah and Aldura, and his brother John's college town, and his grandparents Jeremiah and Elizabeth, and the lands they farmed and settled in Vermont. It was a bonus that these villages feel like a step back in time, with their general stores and steeples and lack of modern chains, so it was easy to imagine the past there.

Revolutionary War vet Jeremiah Hatch might be very happy to know that there is a war memorial and cannon in the middle of Bristol these days, even though it dates to the Civil War (interestingly, his namesake son who married Sidney Rigdon's daughter died in the Civil War).

Jeremiah and his wife Elizabeth Haight had a 1200 acre farm and orchard in the New Haven River Valley! That's probably most of the area we drove through, around Lincoln and Bristol towns where their children and grandchildren lived. 

Their son Hezekiah was born while they were living in Charlotte, Vermont, which is on the shores of Lake Champlain. Interestingly, the Shelburne Museum had some buildings from Charlotte of the right era:

settler's house, East Charlotte VT c. 1800

barn and house at Shelburne Museum

Charlotte's covered bridge with purported photo of Hezekiah Hatch

historic building in Charlotte, Vermont

smokehouse from Charlotte Vermont c. 1820, Shelburne Museum

Stagecoach Inn from Charlotte, VT c. 1787, Shelburne Museum

Hezekiah and his wife Aldura were living in Lincoln, Vermont, when their seven children were born. Lorenzo remembered that he, his mom Aldura, and his uncle Cyrus were baptized in the Lincoln River when he was a teenager; it was winter so they had to cut a hole in the foot-thick ice. We couldn't find a Lincoln River, but there is a New Haven River by the town of Lincoln. It also wasn't deep or icy right now, but we loved seeing a possibility for this holy spot.

imagining Lorenzo and Aldura's baptism in this river

historic farmhouse we drove past outside of Lincoln

Lincoln Historical Society

Lincoln General Store

the Lord's prayer was randomly on this large stone exiting Bristol;
Aldura loved reading her Bible so that made me happy to see even though it was done in 1891 after her time

Aldura was born in the nearby town of Bristol. It has a charming main street and would have been somewhere Lorenzo visited when he returned for his mission

painting of historic Bristol, fortuitously in the cafe we stopped in for lunch

modern Bristol

Finding Aldura's headstone was the reason I started planning this trip, since there is only an old blurry one available online. She is one of my final pioneer cemetery pilgrimages! (She joined the church but died before coming to Nauvoo, hence the reason it's been harder to visit since her headstone isn't our direction west.)

We bought some flowers in town and drove through the rain and wooded areas up a gravel road (the cemetery is called Briggs Hill, shouldn't have been surprised it was on a hill). And we looked through all the headstones and were discouraged to not find her. Fortunately, I looked it up again and someone had commented on Findagrave that it was hard to see up against the fence. That was the helpful clue we needed!

Aldura's headstone, back facing us on left

back of headstone up against wire fence

my husband's camera had a zoom-out function that made it possible to take
these photos in between the headstone and fence

hurray! Anita & Aldura (my 4th great-grandmother)

farm view across from the cemetery

We were also interested in following Hezekiah's trail 60 miles east to the statehouse in Montpelier, which he attended for eight legislative sessions. We learned that the current gold-domed building there would not have been the earlier building he knew, which burned down in 1857.

And we hoped to track down a little more about their son John Sumner Hatch, who attended college in Vergennes but then died after the family went to Nauvoo. Unfortunately, we couldn't find his headstone in the cemetery. However, we explored charming Vergennes (pronounced Ver-jens; famous for producing boats for the War of 1812, with some neat waterfalls) looking for the college. Despite School Street, we couldn't find it. And then we were surprised the next day to run across an 1840 schoolhouse from Vergennes that had been moved to the Shelburne Museum! Not sure if it's the same one, but there was a graffiti J scratched on a desk...

School Street

J on the desk

interior schoolhouse desks

1840 schoolhouse from Vergennes at Shelburne Museum

town signs in French since Vermont borders Canada

One of the things I really came away with was a new appreciation for Aldura. She had a difficult life, and since she died shortly after her conversion, she isn't one of the celebrated pioneers who came west with faithful tales to tell. 

However, as the daughter of a Tory who fled to Canada, she understood a time of divided politics and family tension over different beliefs (her father-in-law Jeremiah, whom she knew well and lived near and worshipped with, was a Revolutionary War veteran). She must have had some wisdom about forgiveness and peace and tolerance and moving forward, since she named her first son John Sumner after her Loyalist dad, and her second son Jeremiah after her Patriot father-in-law. 

She worried about her son away at college, and about him being ill (I also had that this year with my son getting Covid at BYU). She herself died of a contagious illness. So living in a time of a pandemic would be something she could appreciate. Her community disapproved of her religious faith and decisions to be baptized and move west, and she felt isolated and at odds with them.

She loved reading her scriptures. Her husband was often busy and away with his legislative work. She prepared thoroughly for their upcoming move. She took care of her children, her household, and ministered to sick neighbors. And I'm honored to be her descendant, find her headstone, and learn more about our generations of Vermont Hatch heritage!