Fayette Smith Hatch was born on October 9, 1832, in New York to Jethro Hatch and Minerva Pierce. His father was a farmer who owned $5,000 of real estate in 1850. He grew up in New York, and the family moved to Sugar Grove, Illinois, around 1847. He attended Beloit College in the mid-1850s before working as a schoolteacher. He joined the Republican Party and reportedly cast his first vote for Republican candidate John C. Frémont in the election of 1856. He married Teresa Peirce in the late 1850s, and they had at least three children: Mary, born around 1859; Lawson, born around 1862; and Arthur, born around 1871. They lived in Big Rock, Illinois, and Hatch worked as a farmer.

 

Hatch enlisted in the Union army on May 12, 1864, and he mustered in as a private in the 141^st Illinois Infantry on June 16. He was eventually promoted to sergeant. The regiment was stationed near Columbus, Kentucky, and the men mustered out on October 27, 1864. He remained staunchly loyal to the Union. In April 1865, he insisted that the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln “will justify our nation in all coming time if we only crush [the rebellion] body and soul beyond the least future resuscitation. The blood of Abraham Lincoln is death to traitors and closes the door of general amnesty at once.”

 

He settled in Kankakee, Illinois, after leaving the army. By 1870, he was working as a furniture merchant, and he owned $3,500 of personal property. He also employed at least one white domestic servant. In 1886, he was elected Superintendent of Schools of Kankakee County, and according to one writer, he “proved an efficient and able officer during the succeeding four years.” His wife died in the late 1800s, and by 1900, he was living in his daughter Mary’s household in Kankakee. He applied for a federal pension in April 1904 and eventually secured one. He died on November 27, 1905.

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