Abram Chase Hatch (January 3, 1830 – December 3, 1911) was an American

Mormon pioneer The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the S ...

and

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

and was a politician in

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...

Biography

Hatch settled in Lehi, Utah, where he established himself as a merchant and innkeeper. He often traveled east to obtain merchandise and to help other Mormon pioneers come to Utah. He made a total of 11 trips between the Missouri River and Utah Territory before the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. From 1864 to 1867, Hatch was a missionary for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) in the United Kingdom. During this time, he was the president of the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and then

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

conferences A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

of the LDS Church. Hatch returned home to Utah after touring western Europe in 1867. Abram Hatch House

Upon arriving in Utah, Hatch became the presiding

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Wasatch County Wasatch County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 23,530. Its county seat and largest city is Heber City. The county was named for a Ute Native American word meaning ''mountain pa ...

Andrew Jenson Andrew Jenson, born Anders Jensen, (December 11, 1850 – November 18, 1941) was a Danish immigrant to the United States who acted as an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for much of the ea ...

, ''LDS Biographical Encyclopedia'', Vol. 1, p. 358. In the mid-19th century the Church had regional presiding bishops that oversaw multiple local bishops in temporal matters. This office was especially prevalent in the Salt Lake Stake which covered multiple counties in Utah. With the organization of Wasatch and several other new stakes in 1877 the office of regional presiding bishop was largely eliminated, which also coincided with Hatch's release from this office and calling as a stake president. When the Wasatch Stake was organized in 1877, Hatch became its first president and would hold this position until 1901. In this capacity, Hatch helped to found many settlements in Wasatch County and elsewhere in Utah: today, along with his brother Jeremiah Hatch, he is recognized as the founder of

Vernal, Utah Vernal, the county seat and largest city in Uintah County is in northeastern Utah, approximately east of Salt Lake City and west of the Colorado border. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,089. The population has since grown t ...

. Hatch served as probate judge of Wasatch County, the main judicial office in Territorial Utah, especially since it was the highest judicial office that the people and not the outsider federal appointment process chose. Hatch was a member of the

Utah Territorial Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term ...

for 23 years. Hatch was the first representative who proposed that women in Utah be given the vote; the territory granted the vote to women in 1870. The voting rights of women in the territory were abolished by the federal

Edmunds–Tucker Act The Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1887 was an Act of Congress that focused on restricting some practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). An amendment to the earlier Edmunds Act, it was passed in response to the dispute ...

in 1887. Hatch became a member of the

Council of Fifty "The Council of Fifty" (also known as "the Living Constitution", "the Kingdom of God", or its name by revelation, "The Kingdom of God and His Laws with the Keys and Power thereof, and Judgment in the Hands of His Servants, Ahman Christ") was a La ...

on June 29, 1883, and was a member until his death. Hatch was married to Parmelia Jane Lott from 1852 until her death in 1880; the couple had seven children. In 1882, after his first wife's death, Hatch married Ruth Woolley, with whom he had six children, including Vermont Hatch. Hatch died in

Heber City, Utah Heber City is a city and county seat of Wasatch County, Utah, United States. The population was 11,362 at the time of the 2010 census. It is located 43 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. History Heber City was first settled in 1859 by Robert ...

at age 81. He was buried in Heber City Cemetery.

Legacy

In 1975, Hatch's house in Heber City was added to the

National Register of Historic Places listings in Wasatch County, Utah This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Wasatch County, Utah. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Wasatch County, Utah, United State ...

. Hatch's older brother Jeremiah is a great-grandfather of U.S. Senator

Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senato ...

Notes

References

* Wm. James Mortimer (1963). ''How Beautiful Upon the Mountains: A Centennial History of Wasatch County''. (Heber, Utah: Wasatch County Chapter of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers). * Richard S. Van Wagoner (1990). ''Lehi: Portraits of a Utah Town''. (Lehi, Utah: Lehi City Corporation).

External links

*Jeffrey S. Hardy
"Abram C. Hatch"
Mormon missionary diaries, byu.edu * *
Abram C. Hatch's diary
from a
L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatch, Abram 1830 births 1911 deaths American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American Mormon missionaries in England Converts to Mormonism Members of the Utah Territorial Legislature 19th-century American politicians Mormon pioneers 19th-century Mormon missionaries American city founders People from Lehi, Utah People from Heber City, Utah Latter Day Saints from Vermont Latter Day Saints from Illinois Latter Day Saints from Utah People from Vernal, Utah