Life Story of Jane Tinto Bee Hatch

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Jane Tinto Bee Hatch was born the 25th of February, 1827, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her father Was George Bee and her mother Jannett Atchison. She had 1 brother and 4  sisters: Jane, Joanna, Richard John Moxey, Elizabeth and Jannett. Her father was able to support his family fairly well. 

On July 14, 1844 she married John McKechnie in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. He was a bell molder by trade and a very good workman. He received good pay for his work but was unable to secure enough work to support his family and Jane had to help whenever and in what ways she could. She became the Mother of three children by this marriage, Georgina, Jane and John. The youngest John was born two months after the death of her husband who died from typhoid fever in 1848. 

After the death of her husband, she secured work nursing a rich old lady as she was very much in need of money to support her family. While working here she was visited one day by two Mormon Elders who succeeded in getting her very much interested in their teachings. After studying the principles of the Gospel and listening to the Elders teachings for some time, she decided to join the Mormon Church. Her Mother opposed this step very strongly and begged her not to take it and finally they persuaded her to go and talk with their Minister about the Mormons. She had very little to say to him other than that she believed wholeheartedly in the messages of the Elders. She asked this Minister to have a talk with the Elders, but he refused to do so. This refusal made it easier for her to convince her Mother that the Minister must not be sure of himself or he would not hesitate about meeting the Elders and discussing religion with them. 

She joined the Church in Feb. 1850 and finally succeeded in converting her mother and brother and sisters and getting them to join also. Very soon after this she decided to come to the Western States and Utah. Here again she met strong protests from her Mother and also from the wealthy lady she worked for. This lady promised to make Jane the heir to her great fortune if she would remain with her in Scotland. However, her faith meant far more to her than this promise of money and after overcoming her Mother's objections, she with her family, her Mother, brother and sisters set sail for America on Sept. 4, 1850 on the ship "North Atlantic.” 

Their voyage was a rough disagreeable one which laster four months. They landed at New Orleans, Louisiana, then came up the Mississippi River, reaching St. Louis, Missouri in December 1850. The rest of the winter they stayed at St. Louis and while there suffered many severe hardships. When telling of it in her later years, she said there were hundreds of meals she could have eaten all herself which had to be divided among her three children. The only shoes they had for a long time were some made from soldiers old coats. 

In the spring of 1951 she went to Council Bluffs, Iowa and later to Little Vigcon, a small town on the Missouri River not far from Council Bluffs. With her children she left there for Salt Lake Valley on June 9, 1852 in the Thomas Howell's Company. During the trip to the Valley and for sometime after arriving here, their only food was corn meal with a little meat occasionally. They arrived in Salt Lake City in Sept. 1852. 

On November 27, 1852 Jane married Ira Stearns Hatch and the following day November, 28, came to Bountiful to live. Her first home here was a little log cabin located just east of the home in which Glen Hatch lived. Her husband owned a farm there. Later he built a larger home for her where this first cabin stood. 

Through this marriage she became the mother of eight children, seven of whom were living at the time of her husbands death Sept. 30, 1869. Once again left alone with the responsibilities of caring for a large family, she faced the future bravely, never faltering, though suffering many hardships. The year of her husband's death her crops were completely destroyed by grasshoppers. But the generosity of a neighbor who shared with her kept them supplied with food until another crop was harvested. Through hard work and careful planning she managed to get enough for her family to eat, even making a kind of beer from roots of plants for them to drink. Hardships and trials seemed to strengthen her faith in her religion and she was always a faithful devoted Latter Day Saint. 

The following children were born to Jane and Ira Stearns Hatch: Stearns Hatch, Philander Hatch, Abram Hatch, Ira Ette Elzina Hatch, Lucinda Jennette Hatch,  Leonard Hatch Alvin, Willard Hatch, Iraetta Alina Hatch. She was also mother to Georgina, Jane, and John from her first marriage to John McKechnie.

 At the time of her death she had the following descendants. Children, 11; living 5; Grandchildren 54; living 39; Gr. Grand children 75; living 63; Gr. Gr. Grandchildren 24; living 24.

Written by Sarah Hatch Smith, daughter of Stearns Hatch and a granddaughter of Jane Tinto Bee Hatch.