Josepheus Hatch

Josepheus Hatch was born June 26, 1866, in Smithfield, Utah, to Louisa Pool Alexander and Jeremiah Hatch. He was the youngest of eleven children and his mother died when he was three. His older brother, Alva Alexander raised him. His father, Jeremiah was sent to colonize the Uintah Basin in eastern Utah in 1878.

Joe married Martha Luella Thomas on March 13, 1885. “While they were courting, they had to meet in secret because Luella’s father, Benjamin Clark Thomas objected to them seeing each other. He was a very strict person.” Joe and Luella had thirteen children: Josephus, Jr, Luella Mae, Effel, Marion Clark, Sarah Ellen, James Harvey, Louisa Pool, Norman Sharp (Oden), Oris Theodocia, Jesse and Essie (twins), Erma and Maggie Veola.

“Joe loved horses and had about fifteen or twenty. He worked in the coal mines, sheared sheep, and did what he could to make a living for his family. Joe was a kind and loving father and loved his wife very much. Sarah often stated ‘that she had never seen anyone so much in love as her father and mother.’

“Joe was hit over the head with a butt of a gun and it formed a blood clot on his brain, which later caused him to have seizures. He became so bad that Luella had to have him committed to the State Hospital in Provo, Utah. He was there about three years, and while he was there, he was killed. He died October 26, 1915 in Provo, and was buried in Vernal, Utah.” 

See Martha Luella Thomas and Josephus Hatch Family History, by Jerry Gillies Christansen Griffin, July 1985, 5.

An interesting story about Jeremiah and Josephus helping to stop an Indian massacre can be found in the above book.