Brown-Bartholomew County IN Archives Biographies.....Hatchett, Bartlett 1835 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 26, 2007, 11:35 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

BARTLETT HATCHETT.

   In point of continuous residence the subject of this review is one of the
oldest citizens of Brown county, also one of its leading farmers and
enterprising men of affairs. Born nearly seventy years ago in the neighboring
county of Bartholomew and practically spending his life within a few miles of
where he first saw the light of day, he has seen this part of Indiana redeemed
from a wilderness to its present advanced civilization, the meanwhile
contributing of his labor and influence to bring about the results that now
obtain. Bartlett Hatchett is the fourth in a family of seven children whose
parents were Thomas and Betsy (Cox) Hatchett, the names of his brothers and
sisters being John, Greene, Patty, Malinda, Jane and Emily, all living except
the last named.

   Thomas Hatchett, the father of these children, when a youth entered the
American army under General Washington, as driver of a baggage or freight wagon,
in which capacity he served during the greater part of the Revolutionary war. In
the discharge of his duties he was frequently brought into personal contact with
the commander-in-chief, between whom and himself a warm friendship appears to
have sprung up, the former having always reposed great confidence in the
efficiency and faithfulness of the young driver. A number of years after the war
Mr. Hatchett came west and settled in Bartholomew county, Indiana, where he
purchased land, developed a good farm, reared his family and became an
enterprising and progressive citizen. He also settled on land now included in
the farm of his son, the subject of this review. He came of a long lived family
and was himself noted for longevity, having died about the year 1863, after
passing the one hundredth milestone on life's journey.

   Bartlett Hatchett was born July 4, 1835, on the paternal homestead in
Bartholomew county, and grew up familiar with the varied vicissitudes of life in
a sparsely developed country, becoming acquainted with the rugged duties of the
farm as soon as old enough to labor to advantage. In 1842 he accompanied the
family to Brown county, where he attained manhood's estate, and at the proper
age beginning life for himself as a tiller of the soil. When the Southern states
seceded and armed hosts of treason attempted to disrupt the Union, he tendered
his services to the government, enlisting in the Ninety-third Indiana Infantry,
with which he experienced the fortunes and vicissitudes of war for a period of
nearly two years, during which time he took part in a number of campaigns,
participated in several hard-fought battles and earned an honorable record as a
brave and gallant soldier.

   At the close of the war Mr. Hatchett returned to Brown county and resumed
agricultural pursuits, which he has since followed with success and profit,
owning at this time a fine farm of one hundred and fifteen acres, which was
settled by his father over sixty years ago and which, under his able and
persevering labors, has been brought to a high state of cultivation, besides
being otherwise well improved. As a farmer, Mr. Hatchett has always been
industrious, methodical and up to date, and the handsome competency now in his
possession and the home, supplied with all that is calculated to minister to his
comfort and to make rural life pleasant and desirable, bear witness to the
energy which he has displayed in his work and to the intelligent and efficient
manner in which he has managed his business affairs.

   In the year 1863 Mr. Hatchett entered the marriage relation with Miss Susan
Skirmiger, who was born in Virginia, but grew to young womanhood in Kentucky,
her parents, James and Delia (Boyd) Skirmiger, having moved to the latter state
when she was an infant. The family of James and Delia Skirmiger originally
consisted of eight children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: John,
Bartholomew, Phoebe, Lutia, Ann, Mary, Jewell and Susan, wife of the subject.

   Mr. Hatchett has long manifested a decided interest in the growth and
development of his community besides taking an active part in the public affairs
of the same. He has kept in close touch with current events and is well informed
on the leading questions of the times, and in politics has been an earnest
supporter of the Democratic party ever since old enough to exercise the rights
and prerogatives of citizenship. While thoroughly posted concerning issues upon
which men and parties are divided, and firm and unyielding in the defense of his
opinions, he has never entered the political arena as an office-seeker, his
tastes and inclinations leading him to prefer the quiet, unostentatious life of
a farmer to any honors within the power of his fellow citizens to confer. Being
a reader and a thinker, it is naturally supposed that such a mind as his would
easily become interested in investigating the claims of revealed religion, and
such indeed has been the case. For many years he has been identified with the
Baptist church, and as a faithful and consistent member of the local
congregation to which he and his wife belong his influence has been salutary and
his life eminently worthy of imitation.

   To Mr. and Mrs. Hatchett seven children have been born, the oldest being a
son by the name of James, who is now one of the enterprising and prosperous
farmers of Brown county. He married some years ago Miss Mollie Stevens, of this
county, and is now the father of an interesting family of five children. Andrew,
the second in order of birth, is also a married man and the head of a family,
his-wife, formerly Miss Stella Hynes, having borne him two offspring. soil,
owning a good farm in the county of Like his brother, he too is a tiller of the
Brown, on which he has made a number of substantial improvements. Malinda, the
third of the subject's children, is the wife of William Fryes, and Rosa, the
youngest of the number, married Jack Woods.

As already stated, Mr. Hatchett spent his childhood and youth in a new and
comparatively undeveloped country and, growing to manhood amid such
surroundings, retains vivid recollections of those early and eventful days.   
He easily recalls the time when the woods were full of all kinds of wild game,
and remembers seeing wolves in such numbers as to cause the settlers great
uneasiness on account of their destructive-ness to live stock. These ferocious
animals he says were often seen in packs of a hundred or more and when ravenous
with hunger they would come boldly into the fields and barnyards and kill sheep
by the dozen, while cattle and horses did not always escape their ruthless
attacks. When a boy Mr. Hatchett witnessed the destruction of fifteen sheep by
these pests in about as many minutes, and he also saw a large and powerful wolf
attack and drag down a cow, kill and eat her, the subject not being able to
frighten the animal away. Brought up amid such scenes, he early became an expert
hunter and many a turkey, deer and wolf fell before his unerring aim, to say
nothing of smaller game, such as ducks, geese, squirrels, rabbits, etc., with
which the forests abounded. Brown county, being remote from other early settled
portions of southern Indiana, was of comparatively slow growth, and for various
reasons its development was retarded. In its recent advancement, however, it has
kept pace with its sister counties, and to the progress of the last third of a
century no one has contributed in a greater degree than the subject of this
review. Every laudable enterprise for the good of the country has had his
sanction, influence and earnest support, and he has also encouraged to the best
of his ability all progressive measures for the social, educational and moral
welfare of the community in which he resides. In every relation of life his
character and integrity have been above reproach, and as a citizen he has
discharged the duties and obligations incumbent upon him in a manner becoming a
loyal American with the good of his country, state and nation at heart.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


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