Mingo County, West Virginia Biography of Joseph P. HATFIELD ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 92-93 JOSEPH P. HATFIELD is giving characteristically efficient service as clerk of the Circuit Court for Mingo County, and is one of the popular citizens of Williamson, the county seat. He was born at Meador, this county, July 17, 1888, and is a son of Floyd and Esther (Staten) Hatfield, the former of whom was born on Guyon River, near the present site of Gilbert, this county, then a part of Logan County, Virginia, September 4, 1846, and the latter of whom was born where the Village of Sprigg, this county, is now estab- lished, the year of her nativity having been 1851. John Hatfield, father of Floyd, was a representative of a family founded in Virginia in the Colonial era, and upon coming to what is now West Virginia in the pioneer days the abundant supply of wild game led him to make permanent location, he having been a nimrod of marked skill and great enthusiasm, and his son Floyd likewise having become a crack shot. Floyd Hatfield gave two years of loyal service as a gallant young soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, and his active career has been one of close association with farm industry, both he and his wife being now vener- able and honored pioneer citizens of Mingo County and both having long been zealous members of the Christian Church, in which he has held various official positions. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party. Of their eleven children nine are living, and of the number the subject of this sketch was the ninth in order of birth. The public schools of his native county afforded Joseph P. Hatfield his early education, and that he made good use of his advantages is shown by the fact that when eight- een years of age he became a successful teacher in the rural schools. By his pedagogic service he earned the funds that enabled him to complete a course in the Concord State Normal School at Athens, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1916. He taught seven years in the rural schools of Mingo County, served one year as assistant principal of the Iaeger High School, was assistant prin- cipal of the Matewan High School one year, and for one year served as supervisor of the schools of Lee District. In 1920 he was elected circuit clerk of the county, on the democratic ticket, and his able executive service has fully justified his election. His brother Alexander, formerly a popular teacher, is now his deputy in the office of circuit clerk. The sister Mary is the wife of Toler Sipple, of Red Jacket, this state. Six of the children of the family at- tended the Concord Normal School. Mr. Hatfield is affiliated with the Masonic Blue Lodge at Thacker, Lodge of Perfection No. 4, Scottish Rite, in the City of Huntington, where also he is a member of the Knights of the Rose Croix, he having received the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite in the Consistory at Wheeling, and his maximum York Rite affiliation is with the Commandery of Knights Templars. He is an active member of the Christian Church and his wife of the Baptist Church. On the 12th of June, 1917, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hatfield and Miss Elizabeth Adair, daughter of Harvey and Nancy Adair, of Panther, McDowell County. Mrs. Hatfield and her husband were fellow students at the Concord Normal School, and, like him, she taught school to pay tlie expenses of her course in this institution, she having been for eleven years a successful and popular teacher in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield have one son, William Adair.