Thomas HATCH

                   New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol LXX, 1916, page 256:
Much confusion has arisen and numerous errors have appeared in various printed works regarding two settlers in Plymouth Colony named Thomas Hatch.  Besides Thomas Hatch of Scituate, there was a Thomas Hatch, an early proprietor of Dorchester, Mass., ... He had land in both Yarmouth and Barnstable, and took the oath of fidelity in Yarmouth in 1657. ... On 3 Mar. 1662/3 administration on his estate was granted to Jonathan Hatch and to Lydia, wife of Henry Taylor, who were without doubt his children.  (Plymouth Colony Records, Court Orders, v4 p31.)  This Thomas Hatch of Dorchester, Yarmouth, and Barnstable did not belong to the Hatch family of Scituate, which came from Kent.

Genealogy and History of the Hatch Family:
It was probably early in the year of 1634 that Thomas Hatch removed with his family to the wilderness of the New World, during the great Puritan emigration from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  May 14, 1634 he was by vote of the court of General Assembly made a freeman of Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The court at that time was very strict as to whom they admitted the right to vote and have a voice in the management of the public affairs of the colony.  To become a freeman of the colony one must be 25 years of age, a man having a family, a freeholder (or land owner) and be a member of the Puritan or Congregational church.  They admitted no vagabonds or irresponsible persons into public affairs at that time.

Thomas Hatch was a public spirited citizen and a man of business ability, and during his residence in Massachusetts Bay Colony must have acquired some property and been a man of influence in the locality where he lived.  According to the town records of Dorchester Mass., under date of December 29, 1634, "It is ordered that John Philips and Thomas Hatch shall have each of them two acres of land that lies betwixt the ends of the great lots, and three acres that is granted to Alexander Miller if so much there be, provided they leave sufficient highway at their great lots."  These two acres were apparently some remnants of land that did not come within the bounds of "their great lots" as laid out.

January 7, 1639, Thomas Hatch and nine others whose names are given applied to Plymouth Colony for grant of leave to purchase land and form a new township at a place now known as Yarmouth on the Cape Cod peninsula.  The leave was granted and Thomas Hatch and the other grantees at once went there and built themselves log houses.  The town was incroporated January 17, 1639 and named Yarmouth.  A committee was soon appointed to have charge of the division or allotment of lands and the sale of the same.  These first settlers were people of strict moral and religious character, they had no intention of admitting ito their new settlement any persons who might be a disturbing element in it.  In March 1640 the committee for the sale of lands was instructed to have a strict care to admit no settlers into the town except such as bring certificates from well known men as to their "religious and honest carriage" in the places whence they came.  By the close of 1640 about 25 families had settled in the new town.

It would seem that some difficulty arose over the first grants or division of land among the incorporators.  The early records of the town were destroyed in a fire so that it is difficult now to determine just the nature of the dispute.  At a court held at Yarmouth, June 17, 1642 by three of the Governor's Assistants as attempt was made to straighten matters out but it appears was only partially successful.  It was during and probably on account of this dispute over these lands that Thomas Hatch moved to the town of Barnstable June 1, 1641.  Thomas Hatch was an upright man and he may have felt that he had not been fairly dealt with or at any rate that he would prefer to reside where he could live amicably with his neighbors and in undisputed possession of his property.  That his lands were included among others in the dispute is evident from the records of a hearing held before Capt. Standish in 1648 by order of the Court designed to clear up and put an end to such differences as still remained, for among several other names that of "Thomas Hatch" is mentioned.  At this time, too "Anthony Thacher claimed 80 acres in the west field in Yarmouth that had been bought of Thomas Hatch."

Thomas Hatch resided in the town of Barnstable for the balance of his life and was probably a member of the church of the celebrated Rev. John Lathrop.  In 1643 his name appears on the roll of those "able to bear arms in Barnstable."  He was at this time about 40 years of age.  In Jan. 1644 his name is on the list of approved inhabitants of Barnstable showing that he was a man of good character and influence and held in esteem by his fellow townsmen.  It seems evident that he must have acquired some landed estate in this town, for we know he acquired land at other places where he resided in Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies.  The records of deeds and transfer of land in Barnstable previous to 1700 were destroyed in a fire so there is now no official record of the lands owned by any of the early settlers but everything points to the conclusion that he must have been a land holder in the town.

He died in Barnstable in 1661 probably in April or May.  May 27, 1661 an inventory of his personal estate was taken by Isaac Robinson and Thomas Ewer and sworn to by his widow Grace.  It amounted to L17-18s.  Authorities are agreed that he was of exemplary character and a very pious man.  What became of his widow Grace, seems not to be known.

Inventory:
Working tools (2/14)
Cubbert not fully finished (1/10)
Wearing cloyes (3/00)
Beding and bedsted (6/00)
Potts, pewter and brass (1/02)
Books (0/06)
Other lumber (1/12)
Timber and glew (0/14)
Instrument called a violen (1/00)