Lorenzo Hill Hatch was born January 4, 1826 in Lincoln, Vermont, the son of Hezekiah Hatch and Aldura Sumner Hatch. During Lorenzo’s youth he worked on the family farm in Lincoln. In 1840 the Hatch family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1842 the family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. That same year Lorenzo’s mother died and his father also died the following year.
In April 1844 Lorenzo was ordained into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Quorum of the Seventy and called to serve as a missionary in Vermont. After serving as a missionary for a few months, Lorenzo was called to return to Nauvoo when Joseph Smith, Jr., the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was assassinated in June 1844.
On February 3, 1845 Lorenzo married Hannah Fuller. Shortly thereafter the couple joined George Miller’s Camp, a group of fellow Latter-day Saints who were migrating toward the Rocky Mountains. For the next six years Lorenzo worked to build bridges, make roads, aid other migrating Latter-day Saints, oversee the farming activity at Winter Quarters and operate a wagon-shop at St. Joseph, Missouri. His wife died in 1847.
In 1851 Lorenzo settled in Lehi, Utah Territory and opened a grist mill with other local settlers. Shortly thereafter he was elected mayor of Lehi and served three terms in the Utah Legislature. In 1851 he married Sylvia Savonia Eastman. On November 11, 1854 he took a second wife, Catherine Karren (polygamy, or the practice of taking multiple wives, was a common among Latter-day Saint men during this time period). In 1856 he was called to serve as a missionary in England and labored there for two years. On January 2, 1860 he took third wife, Alice Hansen. Over the course of his life, these three wives combined bore him twenty-four children in total.
In 1863 Lorenzo was a called by his church to serve as a Bishop in Franklin, Idaho, a calling that required him to move to the southern part of the Idaho Territory. He served in this capacity until 1872 when he was elected to serve as Franklin’s first mayor and in the Idaho Legislature. In 1873 he was ordained by his church to the office of Patriarch.
In 1875 he was again called to serve as a missionary, this time in parts of the Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona Territories, and in Mexico. During this time some of his family members traveled with him as he proselyted among various Native American Indian tribes, such as the Navajo, and Apache. He continued as a missionary until 1901 when he returned to Utah and settled in Logan, Utah. Lorenzo remained in Logan until his death on April 20, 1910.
Source: Woodland, Blanch Hatch, “History of Lorenzo Hill Hatch, 1840-1910,” family account, undated, 4 pages. (See USU Special Collections & Archives; Item Mss 44.)
Provenance Note:
The material in this collection was donated to USU Special Collections & Archives in 1984 by Eastman Hatch, Sr., a descendant of Lorenzo H. Hatch.
Scope & Content Note:
This collection consists of Lorenzo Hill Hatch’s outgoing correspondence to his son Hezekiah E. Hatch between the
years of 1880 and 1899. This collection contains over one-hundred letters written by Hatch while serving as a missionary
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to various western Native American Indian tribes of the American
Southwest. Hatch’s letters document his missionary labors among various Native American Indian tribes, his life as a
missionary-itinerant in the American Southwest, living conditions, his family’s status, financial difficulties, polygamy,
his political and theological views, and the dialogue shared between a father and son. Hatch’s correspondence has been
arranged chronologically and the city or location where the letter was written has been listed. The materials in this
collection have been encapsulated for preservation purposes.
For more information: 435/797-2663; Manuscript Librarian.
Special Collections & Archives, Merrill Library, Utah State University Libraries, Utah State University 84322-3000
