Collection is open for research.
The collection is arranged in two series:
Peter Holt Hatch was born in 1810 in Parsonfield, Maine. Originally trained as a blacksmith, he served on whaling expeditions; in 1839, he traveled to the Hawaiian Islands, where he worked for a time as a missionary. In 1843, he came to Oregon with his first wife, Charlotte Colcord Hatch, and his son David, at first residing in Oregon City. With Osborne Russell and Robert Moore, Hatch organized the First Presbyterian Church of Willamette Falls, and was later ordained an elder or deacon. After running a flat boat service between Portland and Oregon City, he moved to Salem around 1863 and began a house-moving business, which he ran until his retirement. He married his second wife, Sarah Locey, in 1847, and the couple had seven children. Hatch died in 1898.
Original Edwin Thompson Hatch scrapbook is held at the Clark County Historical Museum, Vancouver, Washington.
Peter Holt Hatch papers, Mss 1124, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection guide was revised in August 2023 to correct errors and conform to current standard.
See the Hatch family papers, Mss 2961, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, for additional genealogical information.
Papers include extensive weather and daily diaries (1874-1897) of Peter Holt Hatch, containing brief entries, with information on the moving of various houses and buildings in Salem and environs. Also included are Hatch's account books (1866-1893). Other materials include an 1843 letter sent from Hawaii by Charlotte Colcord Hatch (Peter Hatch's first wife) to her brother, David Colcord; Peter Hatch's 1846 letter proposing marriage to his second wife, Sarah Cornelia Locey; a deed from Absolom F. Hedges; genealogical data, additional correspondence, and ephemera, some of which is related to other Hatch family members; obituaries for Peter Hatch; and materials related to the funerals of Peter Hatch and Sarah Locey Hatch. The collection also includes a scrapbook of Edwin Thompson Hatch (1852-1931), son of Peter Hatch.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.