HATTON-William Melvin - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

No man in Montgomery county is more deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by the general public than William Melvin Hatton, one of the able and popular, faithful and conscientious county commissioners, and for many years one of our leading agriculturists. He is a man of broad mind and correct habits, believing in progress in all lines of endeavor, and is an advocate of good government and clean living. Mr. Hatton comes of a fine old family of the Wabash country, and while much of his life has been spent in and about the town of Wingate, this county, he is a native of Fountain county, his birth having occurred in Logan township, on October 6, 1849. He is a son of Thomas Schooley Hatton and Julia Ann (Swank) Hatton and the grandson of William Hatton and wife, natives of Ohio. William M. Hatton was reared on the home farm where he worked hard when a boy, remaining in this line of endeavor until 1878. He received his education in the common schools. When about thirty years old he purchased a farm in Fountain county, which he managed with much success until 1887 when he sold out and purchased his present fine farm in Coal Creek township, Montgomery county, which he has since operated on an extensive scale, keeping it well improved and under a high state of cultivation, and handling an excellent grade of live stock. He moved to his pleasant home in Wingate in 1905. Mr. Hatton has long taken an abiding interest in the affairs of his county, and in 1910 he was elected county commissioner which position he has since held in a most acceptable and praiseworthy manner, doing much in the meantime for the permanent good of the county. He however, will not be a candidate for the office again, much to the regret of his constituents and friends. He is loyal to the Democratic party. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Masonic Order, also belongs to the Methodist church. Mr. Hatton was married on March 27, 1873 to Nancy Catherine Houts, a native of Fountain county, Indiana, of Pennsylvanian ancestry. Her birth occurred on December 17, 1850, and she grew to womanhood and was educated in Fountain county. To Mr. and Mrs. Hatton have been born two children, Charles E., who is farming in Coal Creek township; and Clarence Lee, who is a hardware merchant at Wingate.

William M. HATTON, Farmer, Attica, was born in Logan Twp Oct 6, 1849. His grandfather Hatton was an early settler from ohio locating Sec 17, Tw 21 Rg 7 in 1826. The farm which he improved and on which he lived and died is now the property of Henry Nave by recent purchase. His grandfather Swank was another pioneer, who came two or three years later than the Hattons, and set up at his trade of blacksmithing close by Henry Nave's. He afterward bought on the NE 1/4 of Sec 20. The Swank homestead has recently been purchased by the subject of this sketch, who also had just disposed of the Hatton homstead. Thomas S. Hatton was born 1823 and came here with his father from Ohio. He married Julia SWANK and the fruits of this union were 10 children 9 living: Thomas S; James E (born 1848); William M; Charles T; Mary C (deceased); John A; Frank E (born Oct 7, 1857); Joseph B; David H; Sarah E and Walter B. William M. was married March 27, 1873 to Nancy C, daughter of Leonard and Ann Eliza HOUTS. She was born in Logan Twp, Dec 17, 1850. Her parents came from Ohio at an early day and settled on Lopp's Prairie. They ahve one child, Charles Edmund, born Dec 31, 1873. James E. Married Jan 24, 1870 to Mary A. Coppock who died July 7, 1878, leaving 3 children. Charles has been in business a short time in Attica, but recently sold out to his brothers, James E. and Frank, who now carry on the grocery trade. John A. is in the same business in Williamsport.