Jethro Ayers Hatch was born on June 18, 1837, in Pitcher, New York, to Jethro Hatch and Minerva Pierce. His father was a farmer who owned $5,000 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Sugar Grove, Illinois, around 1847, and he grew up and attended school there. He attended the Batavia Institute before graduating from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois, in February 1860. He began practicing medicine soon afterward, and by 1860, he owned $500 of personal property.
On March 12, 1863, he received a commission as an assistant surgeon in the 36th Illinois Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta Campaign, the Battle of Franklin, and the Battle of Nashville. In July 1863, he rejoiced at the news of Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. "I expect the war will close soon to our entire satisfaction," he wrote, "and we will all be home again. Then Our Country will be purer and better in every respect." He added that "Slavery will be known as a thing of the past and the southern states will be settled by a different race of beings who will have more energy than the lordly slaveholders who are now becoming extinct." He was promoted to surgeon on May 8, 1865. He opposed Black suffrage, and he predicted that the "Army will sustain [President Andrew Johnson] when they come home to vote." He mustered out on October 8, 1865.
Hatch settled in Kentland, Indiana, after the war and resumed his medical practice. He served as a local health officer and served as secretary of the local pension examining board. By 1870, he owned $500 of real estate and $5,000 of personal property. He joined the Republican Party, and he served in the Indiana legislature from 1872 until 1873. He married Sarah Melissa Shaeffer on May 26, 1881, and they had at least two children: Darwin, born around 1883; and Hazel, born around 1886.
He was elected to Congress in 1894, and he served for one term. He returned to Kentland after leaving Congress, and he moved to Victoria, Texas, around 1907. He worked as a real estate agent there. He died there of apoplexy on August 3, 1912.
Image: Jethro Ayers Hatch (courtesy Wikicommons)