Biography by Verena Blackburn: Jeremiah Hatch arrived in Winchester New Hampshire about 1766, from Connecticut. Per John Russell Hatch, great-great-grandson of Jeremiah, they moved in the wintertime by taking advantage of the frozen Connecticut River. This was an easy "road" for them, a convenient freeway. It even enabled them to go back to Connecticut for visits with family as they desired. Horses were hooked up to sleighs and the trips were accomplished in half the time of the conventional wheeled wagons of summer. The movement of farm animals was also done with this wintertime road. The records of the Winchester town council meetings are quite revealing of American history. In 1774 funds were sent to the Continental Congress and then in 1777 council members authorized the recruitment of soldiers from the town. Jeremiah Hatch is mentioned in town minutes as living south of town. He was active in those meetings and held offices, including hog reeve (manager of stray animals) and was surveyor of roads. However, his service in town offices ceased when his wife Mary died in 1777. It was a difficult time for him, as he had a wide age range of children from toddler to grown. His oldest son John left with only an hour's notice to participate in major Revolutionary war battles. References of deed activity for Jeremiah Hatch and his oldest son John can be found in Land Records of Cheshire County. One deed transfer gave specific plot lines and measurements for the "old Jeremiah Hatch farm" enabling a clear understanding of where this farm was located. Jeremiah's original farm was 100 acres. Inventory at his death at 86 still included equipment for a decent-sized farming operation: ox sled; plow; hay knife; yoke staple and ring; 1 iron bar (leads from the cart or plow to the oxen); hand tools including a dung fork, pitchfork and iron shovel; harrow teeth, 2 draft chains; 1 set horse chains. His last animals were: 1 yoke oxen, 1 mare, a colt, 1 cow, 2 sheep, 1 two-year-old steer, and 1 one-year-old steer. Ira was only four years old when Mary died, and not long afterwards Jeremiah married Dorcas Mastcraft. She was Ira's stepmother and would have been the main mother in his life. In 1808 Dorcas passed away just a few months before Jeremiah. The household effects noted in Jeremiah's probate inventory were definitely influenced by these two women. The kitchen contained the necessary equipment of an iron kettle, baskets, two tables, 6 pewter plates, and a set of kitchen chairs. There was also a "grate chair" for comfortable seating, and suites of bedroom furniture including three feather beds with "all the furniture belonging to them." Four subsequent families occupied Jeremiah's house for the next nearly hundred years, raising families of up to 8 or 9 each, until the widow Annis Curtis Warner passed away in 1902. Though the dwelling house is now gone, the land is still being used for farming.
NOTE: Please read Notes and Discussion in Collaboration Page before making any further changes. Many changes have been made recently that go contrary to what has been researched/ learned before. Example: Birthdate and Birthplace - A 1905 Death Record from Winchester and Find A Grave are in error of date. All we know for certain about Jeremiah's birth is from his gravestone which places the year of his birth at 1721. Also from History of the area: Winchester, Cheshire, New Hampshire did not exist in 1721. It was wilderness and not inhabited. The first English inhabitants were by land grant in 1733.
Jeremiah Hatch with his 1st wife Mary Bates and 2nd wife Dorcas Mastcraft
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