Nathaniel Hatch and Elizabeth (Hatch) Hatch had several children including Betsy born 1778 [married William Roberts], Hannah born 1780[married Jeremiah Johnson], Sally born 1783 [married Reuben Cobb], Nathaniel born 1789 (who died in Virginia), Harriet born 1794,died 1811, George born 1797[married Mary Staples]
                     It seemed at one time, many of the families on Saco Street were related. The Johnson, Roberts and Hatch families were all intertwined .The Johnson family had a sawmill and the original home still stands today. When traveling up Saco Street, there is a store on the right before traveling up the hill. The original house is a large box type home very near that store, but across the street. It is one of the last homes, near the bridge. James Johnson, from Scotland (but of Irish descent), was a weaver by trade. According to Fabius Ray’s book, he had 100 acres of land near Stroudwater bought from General Waldo. He had a son named George who then had a son named Jeremiah. This Jeremiah married the above named Hannah Hatch, daughter of Nathaniel Hatch. Jeremiah and Hannah had three known sons, Gardner, Rufus and Nathaniel. Rufus was a farmer like most men of his time, however interestingly enough, he was skilled at making fine organs by hand. He made the organ for an early church on Saco Street. Today the Maine State Museum has one of his fine handcrafted organs in their collection. He was known to have made three in his lifetime.
                     Of interest, one of Nathaniel Hatch’s sons, also Nathaniel was born in Gorham but went to Virginia. A diary entry, by William Roberts [1843-1923] written in the 1860’s mentions a visit to the Hatch home at 477 Saco Street by two young officers who had probably served during the Civil War, Nathaniel Hatch and his brother John Hatch who were up from Richmond ,Virginia.. They could have been the sons of this Nathaniel Hatch. 
                     George Hatch, son of the Reverend Nathaniel Hatch, was born in 1797 and died in 1870. He married Mary Staples. His second wife was listed as Emily Higgins born in 1810 and died in 1862.From the census of 1850 Westbrook, Maine, the children of George Hatch are listed as John , age 22, Mary, age 20, Sarah E., age 17, Adeline, age 15, Harriet , age 14, Emily H., age 12, Josephine, age 9, Sylvanus, age 7, Martha J. age 5, Melvina, age 3, and lastly Abigail, age 78 (grandmother-2nd wife of Rev. Nathaniel Hatch)
                     I read a great deal about this particular Hatch family in the diary of Martha Roberts and the diaries of William Roberts. Martha’s diary of 1863 mentions frequent visits by the Hatch girls, usually for tea, or bringing slips of flowers to plant. Quite often they would walk in the woods to gather cones to make crafts, sometimes picture frames from pine cones. All four Hatch girls: Emily, Harriet , Josephine and Melvina would visit Martha often, who lived at 341 Saco Street in another brick home. 
                    Another story of Interest is regarding Sylvanus Hatch, who was born the same year as William Roberts, of the diaries, in 1843. William lived at 547 Saco Street, home of his granddaughter today. William and Sylvanus put in long hours at their farms over the years, but were very competitive with each other. After a long days work, they would play a great deal of croquet. They even went camping with each other and some neighbors out to Higgins Beach. When they were both very young men at the age of 24, perhaps feeling restless as so many young people do… they headed West one April Day in 1867. William Roberts had a cousin visit from Australia named Charles Sefton Roberts. Charles and Sylvanus headed West together and William left one week after they had left. West for them was not as far as California. Sylvanus headed to Ohio, where he must have met his future wife[Nancy] as she was listed in the 1880 census as being from Ohio. Together they had one child that died very young at 3 months, a solemn sentence in a diary entry by William, the best friend of Sylvanus. I do not know where Sylvanus died but it was in 1914 and he is buried at Saccarappa. I have not found an obituary yet. Willaim Roberts went to Waterloo, Iowa for six months. A year or so later, he went back but this time for a year. Letters from his mother at that time, spoke of wanting him to come home if he was not using his time well. They wanted him home, and being a dutiful son to family, he did come back home to run the farm. They had hoped that he may have gotten some of that restlessness out of his system.
                    I hoped someday to connect with any descendants of this family as I would love to see what all these Hatch people looked like. There was mention of Sylvanus as being fat and jolly, which is difficult to imagine in those days. The Hatch and Johnson family are all buried in one lot at Saccarappa.