California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 CHARLES MELZAR HATCH. Shortly after the Mayflower had landed its passengers on the dreary and ice-bound coasts of Massachusetts, two brothers bearing the name of Hatch came from Wales to the new world and identified themselves with the destinies of its pioneers. While one went some distance south, the other settled at Scituate, Plymouth county, Mass., and from him descended the branch of the family represented by Charles M. Hatch of Tulare county. One of the ancestors, Mark Hatch, a native of Bristol, Me., and for years a farmer in that neighborhood, left his plow at the outbreak of the Revolution, and followed the fortunes of the patriots in more than one sanguinary engagement with the British troops. Mark Hatch, Jr., who was a son of this Revolutionary soldier, and a native of Bristol, in early manhood settled upon a farm in Knox county, Me., where the remaining years of his life were uneventfully and busily passed. Among his children was a son who bore the name of father and grandfather and who was born near Washington, Knox county, Me., but at twenty years of age removed to Bangor, the same state, and took up the trade of a builder. When the discovery of gold allured thousands to the Pacific coast, he took passage on a ship that sailed south on the Atlantic, rounded the Horn, then went north on the Pacific to San Francisco, where he landed in May, 1850. The climate and conditions for future success in California at- tracted him from the first, but the thought of the dreary miles of mountains and desert sep- arating him from old friends and home gave him a feeling of homesickness, and in 1852 he re- turned to his home at the other extreme of the country. For some years he carried on a mer- cantile business at Charleston, Me., and also held the office of postmaster. Meanwhile, in 1857, his son, Charles M., came to California and the following year he joined him in Calaveras coun- ty, where he engaged in mining. Later he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad at Sacramento. At the time of his death, in 1877, he was sixty-four years of age. His wife, Jane Stevens, was born at Stark, Me., and died in Charleston, same state, at forty-two years of age. The family of Mark and Jane Hatch consisted of seven children, six of whom attained mature years and settled in California : Charles Melzar, of Tulare county ; Roscoe Green, a contractor at Woodland, Yolo county ; Jane A., wife of C. L. Chase, of Lodi ; Florence Adelle, wife of Dr. W. A. Patterson, of Wheatland, Yuba county ; Ann, who died in Sacramento; and Helen, wife of Walker Bagby, of Tipton, Tulare county. Charles Melzar Hatch was born in Bangor, Me., October 29, 1836, and received a district school education, supplemented by attendance at Charles- ton Academy. In 1857 he came via Panama to California, arriving on the 1st of August at San Andreas, Calaveras county, where first he engaged in lumbering and saw-milling, then became a placer miner at Eldorado. From 1871 to 1873 he was with the Southern Pacific at Sacramento, after which he clerked in San Francisco for one year, and in 1874 went to Lathrop, San Joaquin county, as clerk in the motive power department of that division of the Southern Pacific system. When the shops were located at Tulare, in 1875, he came to this place in the employ of the road, being the first division shop clerk in the plant at this place, and continuing as chief clerk until November, 1890. Upon resigning his position with the railroad he turned his attention to agri- culture, having bought one hundred and sixty acres of land near Tulare. Immediately after settling on the land he put out an orchard of twenty-two acres. Later a vineyard of twenty acres was started. The balance of the land is under alfalfa, thus rendering the place available for a dairy industry. The irrigation system was completed about the time he settled there and in addition he had an artesian well from which to obtain a supply of water for the land. Under his wise oversight the value of the property has greatly increased and the income derived there- from has assumed gratifying proportions. In Dexter, Me., September 17, 1866, occurred the marriage of Charles Melzar Hatch and Miss Clara P. Dugans, a native of Orono, Penobscot county, Me., and next to the youngest of twelve children, of whom two, Newell and William, were killed in battle while serving with a Maine regi- ment in the Civil war. Her father, William, who was born near Bangor, was employed in early life as a pilot, then became a lumberman, but finally settled on a farm near Medford, Me., and there remained until his death at eighty-eight years of age. He was a son of William Dugans, Sr., a Revolutionary soldier, who married Miss McPheaters, member of an old Scotch family. The mother of Mrs. Hatch bore the maiden name of Mary Parsons, and was born in Bangor. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Hatch there were five children, but only two reached maturity, namely : Laura Alma, who married W. B. Cartmill, and died in Stockton, March 30, 1889; and Luella Augusta, Mrs. James B. Gist, of Los Angeles. For years Mr. Hatch was a member of the county central committee of the Republican party, and for two terms he was a member of the board of irrigation district directors. Largely through his efforts the Tulare Building & Loan Association was organized, and he officiated as its first president. To him is due the credit for securing the location of the cemetery and interesting the people in its establishment ; while acting as director of the company having the movement in charge he succeeded in securing as a gift from the Southern Pacific road an acreage twice as large as originally planned. After com- ing to California he was made a Mason in Calaveras Lodge No. 78, F. & A. M., at San Andreas, and is now connected with Olive Branch Lodge No. 269, and is also a member of Tulare Lodge No. 78, A. O. U. W., in which he is past master workman. While aiding in the progress of the community along material lines, he was not forgetful of its needs from the standpoint of religion. Both he and his wife are ardent church workers, and to their efforts in no small degree is due the organization of the Christian Church of Tulare, in which he now officiates as a deacon and chairman of the board of trustees. The responsible task of building the new house of worship, which was dedicated in May, 1887, fell largely upon him as chairman of the building committee. It is the unanimous opinion of the people that the edifice, which was erected at a cost of $10,- 000, is substantial, modern and appropriately finished, its quiet elegance within and harmonious effects without all combining to produce a result as desirable as it is rare.