Hatton - William Melvin
Source: History of Montgomery County, Indiana. Indianapolis: AW
Bowen, 1913, pp 1167-1168.
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.