Prince Hatch, carpenter, sailor, prisoner, husband, father and Shaker

Prince Hatch, my 5^th great grandfather was born November 16, 1754 in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of Jonathan and Agatha (Phillips) Hatch.  Prince spent his childhood in Marshfield, Massachusetts and early on took the trade of a carpenter.  When the American Revolution began, Prince became a carpenter on a Navy ship and continued throughout the War.

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, vol 7, p. 501

The Frigate “Protector” which Prince served onboard had 28 guns and captured the British Ship, the “Admiral Duff” in 1780, but she herself was captured in May 1781 by the British.  Prince was then taken captive by the British for 15 month and 6 days before his release on August 11, 1782.   His name appears on most lists of American Prisoners of the Revolutionary War. Prisoners were treated poorly by the British and many did not survive.  In the pension application by his children in 1847, Elisha Sherman testified to hearing stories of Prince Hatch's suffering while a prisoner by the British during the war.  

His last date of service was when he was discharged April 9, 1783.   That November of the same year, he married his wife, Hannah Phillips.  They became parents to seven children all born in Marshfield, Massachusetts between 1784-1799. 

He was the first Hatch to come to Waldo County, Maine.  He came to Knox, Maine in 1803, where he took up land and built a log cabin and a hovel for his cattle.  He returned to Marshfield for his family in 1804, bringing them to Maine by schooner, together with their cattle & all his belongings.  The ship reached Belfast, where it lay in the harbor sometime after arrival and his daughter Lucy who was married to Elisha Sherman had her first child aboard ship during that period.  Later, Prince rigged up a frame of poles with one extending to the Ox yoke, and the family dragged their belongings, and drove their cattle, walking to Knox, a distance of 15 miles.  There seems to be some uncertainty in regard to the record concerning Prince Hatch.  A genealogical record in Damariscotta states that Elisha Hatch immigrated to the Damariscotta area from Marshfield in 1790, together with several of his brothers, one of whom was Prince.  Other impressions are that his first trip to Maine was the one made to Knox in 1803, but not verified, and may be that he went to Damariscotta & then to Knox.  However it is known that he spent most of his life thereafter in Knox.  (Jeffrey A. Linscott, Ancestors and Descendants of William Hatch, of Scituate, Massachusetts, [2001] p. 56).

In 1810, Prince Hatch was living in Knox, Maine with his wife and children, but within a few years, he would leav his wife and chidlkren to join the Shaker community in new Gloucester, Maine.  
Originally, I assumed he probably joined the community after the death of his wife in 1825 as his children appear to have settled elsewhere in the State of Maine.  However, records from the Shaker Library provided by archivist Chuck Rand revealed that Prince Hatch was appointed 1st elder of the Square House Family (part of the Sabbathday Lake community) on February 1, 1820.  The square house being the place where the all the shakers lived and slept.  This explains why Prince was not located on the 1820 census as head of household.  All the Shakers were counted in one group in one household of an elder of the community. 

The orginal Shaker meeting house

Shaker house

The Shakers were not like the Amish of America.  The Shakers of New Gloucester were founded in 1794, coming from Gorham, Maine.  The shakers believed that anyone could find God within him or herself without the rituals and clergy of a church.  They believed in a life of purity and pursuing a life of perfection by confessing sins and trying case sinning.   Men and Women were equal but separate.  Members were celibate and had to come from outside the church as no new members could be born.

The pension application by Prince's surviving children include testimony as to when exactly Prince left his family.  Elisha Sherman of Knox stated on 17 April 1847  "In the year 1813, said Prince Hatch embraced the faith of a certain religious sect called the Shakers and in the Fall of the same year removed from his residence in Knox to New Gloucester."

It would be interesting to know what would make Prince leave his wife of 30 years and children for this life and what he hoped to find from this lifestyle.  Prince being a carpenter would have been a prized skill for the Shakers and he would have been welcomed into the community.  The Shakers were progressive with modern things and were constantly looking for things of value to make and sell to support the community.  Did Prince have any contact with his wife and children after he left?  As Prince’s wife, Hannah at this time period would been reliant on her husband to support her.  It seems that by 1820, Hannah Hatch was now living and being supported by one of her children.

By 1830, Prince would have been 76 years old, only 3 men aged 70-79 appear on the census of that year of the New Gloucester Shaker community, one of which would have been Prince.  In 1840, Prince would have been 86 years old and only 2 males between ages 80-89 were living with the Shakers.  From the Shaker records of Prince Hatch, it appears some information was provided by himself at the time he joined, although no record of the date he joined was found.  The Shaker Library contained the record of his bith date, nmaes of his wife and children as well any children that had died.  

Only handful of the buildings from the time Prince lived there survive. 

Prince died January 11, 1846 in New Gloucester, Maine.  He was buried in Grave 76 in the Shaker cemetery.  There are no grave markers in the cemetery.  His name appears on the gravestone of his wife stating he died in New Gloucester.

On February 2, 1847, the five surviving children of Prince Hatch, namely, Hannah Cross, Alvan Hatch, Lucy Sherman, Harry Hatch and Hiram Hatch applied for their father's pension for his service in the Revolutionary War.  They stated his had never appled for a pension while alive and that he left no widow and they were his heirs.   In the pension application, there was a deposoition from Briggs Hatch of Nobleboro, Maine, brother of Prince Hatch which stated the following "More than 30 years ago, Prince Hatch united himself with a religious society called the Shakers at new Gloucester and lived with them from that time until he died.  And that it was on account of his connection with the said religious society that he did no apply for a pension himself." dated April 14, 1847.