A prominent representative of the Church of Latter Day Saints is Lorenzo Lafayette Hatch, who is now bishop of the Franklin ward in the Oneida stake of Zion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and who makes his home in the pretty little town of Franklin. He was born in Lehi, Utah, December 25, 185 1, and is of English lineage, his ancestors having been among the early settlers of Vermont. They were participants in the events which form the early history of this country, and representatives of the name loyally served in the Revolutionary war. The grandfather, Hezekiah Hatch, was born in Vermont, and was among the first to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when that organization, was first established. From his native state of Vermont he removed to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he died at a ripe old age. Lorenzo Hill Hatch, father of our subject, was born in the Green Mountain state, and with his father went to Nauvoo when fourteen years of age. There he became an active member of the church and was sent on a mission to the eastern states, the object of his journey being to work for the nomination of the prophet, Joseph Smith, as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. In 1850 he crossed the plains with oxen to Utah. He had been married when twenty years of age, and his wife died at Council Bluffs while on the way to the west. At Salt Lake Mr. Hatch became a farmer and carpenter and built a gristmill at Lehi, one of the first mills in that section of the country. Soon after its completion it was burned down, probably by the Indians, but he rebuilt it and carried on business there for some time. He was married in Salt Lake City, in 1850, to Sylvia Eastman, a native of Vermont, and in 1864 he came to Franklin, sent by the church as presiding bishop of the ward, in which honorable office he capably served until 1877, when he removed to St. George, Utah. Subsequently he went to Woodruff, Arizona, where he formed a settlement of the church and was counselor to the president of the stake. He has been a patriarch for twenty years and is very prominent in the society. There were in all twenty-two children born to him, and he has one hundred grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is now seventy-four years of age, and is still hale and hearty.
Bishop Hatch of this review is the eldest of the family. He acquired the greater part of his education in Franklin, one of his teachers being the pioneer educator, William Woodward. He attended school for about three months each year, and the remainder of the time worked hard on the farm, since which time he has carried on agricultural pursuits as a life work. He has a valuable tract of land, comprising one hundred acres, which he has acquired through his own well directed and energetic efforts, and is now engaged in raising grain, hay and stock, making a specialty of the sheep and wool-growing industry. He and his company have six thousand head of sheep, and the gross income from the flock in 1898 was over eleven thousand dollars. Mr. Hatch has a large and commodious residence, surrounded by a beautiful grove of large trees of his own planting, and the neat and thrifty appearance of his place indicates the careful supervision of the owner.
In his political affiliations Mr. Hatch is a Republican. He embraced the religious belief of his fathers, and is a highly valued member of the church. Upon the departure of his father from Franklin, in 1877, he was ordained bishop, and has since creditably and satisfactorily served in that capacity. From 1884 until 1886 he was on a mission in Great Britain, where he did all in his power to promote the interests of the church of whose principles he is a worthy exponent.
Bishop Hatch was happily married, in 1873, to Miss Annie Scarborough, a native of England, and their union has been blessed with ten children, of whom nine are living, the entire number being as follows: Lorenzo Fayette; Delia Savonia; Ina Elizabeth; Ruth Blanche; Artie Brooks, who died in infancy; Hezekiah James; Unita, Leah, Aura and Catherine. The eldest son is a graduate of the Brigham Young College, at Logan, and in 1896, when twenty-one years of age, went on a mission to the Samoa islands, but after six months spent in the work he lost his voice, and is now aiding his father in the care of the sheep, hoping to regain his health through outdoor life and exercise. In addition to the children mentioned, there is also another child who is a member of the Hatch household, an infant boy having been left on the doorstep at one time, and this child they are now rearing on their own. The Bishop’s family is one of prominence in the community and their friends are many. In his political views Mr. Hatch is a Republican, and he is now serving as postmaster of Franklin. His daughter Delia is acting as his deputy, and she is also the telegraph operator at this point, the Deseret telegraph line having been built by the church to Franklin.