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Shadows Over Us Part II

Authors' Note

A word from the authors……..
Although we have tried in every way to present material as accurately as possible, there remain many unanswered questions relating to descendant lines. When one is unraveling several hundred years of history, the chances of errors are ever present; therefore, we welcome your comments, additions or corrections. If you have information that you believe will be useful in future writings, please do not hesitate to let us know. You may write to:

               
Jerry R. Hatmaker               Rhonda A. Hatmaker

We hope you will find this book interesting and enlightening, and that it will serve as a source for your continuing genealogical research, not only for those who carry "a touch of Melchior," but for those associated with the many surnames cited herein. We are proud to present you with Shadows Over Us, Part II.

Jerry R. Hatmaker
Rhonda A. Hatmaker

Bradley N. Hatmaker
Webmaster

When I first heard about this project I didn't think too much of it. My dad (Jerry) along with others, was going to write a book?  To my knowledge he didn't know anything about writing books and I knew he knew nothing about computers!   My first real involvement in the project was in May of '97 when I built him a computer. I knew there would be a lot of pain learning how to use his computer and MS Word, email, and the internet (not to mention many hours of tech support calls to me) but I must say that I am impressed with his painfully slow but steady progress.

Web design is not my cup of tea.  When Part I was complete, I put up the first web site when the web was just coming into its own.  It quickly became obsolete and I did not have occasion to do anything about it.  Because I didn't have the time, someone else worked on the page.  It turned out okay, but it just didn't have the "family" touch.  I think this site does.  I thoroughly enjoyed working on it and hope you like it.

Bradley N. Hatmaker

 

Rhonda A. Hatmaker

Ever since I can remember as a little girl, my parents, three younger sisters, dogs and a bird would pack up in the station wagon each summer and head to the Oak Grove community of Lake City, Tennessee. There waiting for us were grandpa and grandma Hatmaker (Parse Carden and Nevada Shoopman Hatmaker), my father’s 7 brothers and sisters and their spouses, countless cousins, and a lot of curvy roads that made me carsick. I am older now and still attend my family reunions but not as frequently. My grandparents and several uncles and aunts are no longer with us physically but are in our memories eternally. Each time that I go back to Lake City, I feel just as I did when I was a little girl. This is a place that as soon as you tell someone your last name, they do not look at you in surprise, sort of chuckle and ask, "do you make hats?" This is a place where there are more Hatmakers listed in the phone book than there are Smiths. This is a place where a large family loves me unconditionally because I am one of them, a Hatmaker. I love this place and I love them. You see, my father was in the military and we lived all over the United States. As an adult, I have traveled and lived all over the country. My family and I are usually the only Hatmakers for miles around wherever we live.

For the past 17 years, my sister Jennifer has been collecting bits and pieces on our family tree. We were not making much progress. As large as my family is, we did not know much about our Hatmaker line beyond my great-grandparents, John L. and Laura Belle Lawson Hatmaker.

My curiosity about my line renewed after I moved to Alexandria, Virginia and began working in Washington, DC. My supervisor, Bob Cammaroto, is a historian and licensed guide with the National Park Service, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He would come back from the Archives loaded with fantastic stories about the military history of men that he was researching. I just knew there were Hatmaker stories that had been waiting there in that building for 100 years or more, begging to be told. All I needed to do was find them, but I did not know where to begin.

In April 1999, I purchased a family tree software program, determined to document and gather more information on my Hatmaker line. About that time, Uncle Lonnie surprised us with some information that he found out from a Disney. John L.’s parents were Jacob and Nancy Jane Murray Hatmaker! I had another lead now, and was determined to find out more. I jumped on the Internet to start searching and typed in the word "Hatmaker." I was shocked to instantly find a web site developed by Jerry R. Hatmaker from Ohio. I couldn't’t believe my luck, a Hatmaker had written a book for all Hatmakers, tracing the line from Germany to Pennsylvania, to New York, North Carolina and EAST TENNESSEE. Surely I had to be connected to this Hatmaker family! Without hesitating, I ordered the book, Shadows Over Us, Part 1. In less than a week the book arrived. I was thrilled, I called my sister Karen twice with new discoveries about the family and I had only begun reading 3 minutes into the book up to the Preface – the third page! I hung up the phone and debated whether I should bother Jerry and ask him if he knew how Jacob and Nancy Jane Murray Hatmaker fit in to the line. I was hooked and captivated with a need to know more. Where I fit in to the Huthmacher/Hatmaker puzzle? My mind was made up. The e-mail was sent. The next day, I anxiously checked my e-mail messages, would he write me back? There was a reply from Jerry! I read the message with wonderment, there unfolding before me was my line, my ancestors. I was looking at my heritage. I was amazed - I really AM "kin" to Melchior and Catharina Bub Huthmacher! I immediately called my parents and sisters. I could hardly wait for the two months until our next scheduled family reunion in July 1999 at Lake City so I could tell my aunts, uncles and cousins about their heritage. It was great, the information was a big hit and surprise to them.

I had no clue when I ordered Part 1 that I would become so deeply involved with this book. I have forgotten when, perhaps July or August of 1999, I sent Jerry yet another E-mail message. I told him that I was going to the Archives to copy my Jacob’s Civil War military records and pension files, and asked if he wanted me to copy his Jacob’s Civil War military and pension files. It must have been around that same time that Jerry asked me if I would like to help write this book. Would I??! I know I must have been sending so many messages to him that he finally gave up and let me join in! I have enjoyed every minute of this project. Even my parents, Rondel Jerry and Frankie Annette Martin Hatmaker, are joining in the hunt for Hatmakers in Campbell and Anderson counties. On a recent visit to the Murrayville Church graveyard to find clues on the burial site of George "Tankman" Hatmaker in October 1999, they met Hascue Hatmaker of LaFollette, Tennessee, who told them that he had heard "TVA raised the dead and scattered the Hatmakers." The stories never end!

This research has carried me on a journey not only just a couple of blocks down the street to the National Archives, but through the American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish American War, Philippine Insurrection, and World War 1, to the Hatmaker settlement on the Clinch and Powell rivers up to the time when the TVA came to town.

I am so proud of this family, and cannot thank Jerry Hatmaker, my very admired 4^th cousin, enough for letting me share with you our family’s stories, trials and tribulations.

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Vernon Eugene and Bonnie Smith Dagley of Clinton, TN
Juergen von der Ehe of Pforzheim, Germany
Rondel Jerry and Frankie Hatmaker of Prattville, AL
Beuford T. "Boots" and Delsie Cooper Dagley of LaFollette, TN
Billy Warren and Carol Hatmaker of West Milton, OH
Robert G. Hatmaker of Groveport, OH
William G. Loveday, Jr. of Gloversville, NY
Mary Louisa Hatmaker Duncan of Lake City, TN
Marshall McGhee of LaFollette, TN
Mary Gaylor Harris, Anderson County Historian, of Clinton, TN
Boyd Stokes of Corryton, TN
Albert Norman, Sr. and Wilma Lorraine Lawrence Hatmaker of Pickerington, OH
Ray G. Hatmaker of Loudon, TN
Jo Anne Ryan Butler of Bradley, IL
Roberta "Bobbi" Hatmaker Ferg of Leavenworth, WA
Sandra F. Brown of Corbin, KY
Margaret Hatmaker Preston of Wallins Creek, KY
William "Bill" Franklin Hatmaker of Schaumburg, IL
Trulene Nash, Campbell County Historian of LaFollette, TN
Kyle H. Hatmaker of Kansas City, KS
Zola Hatmaker McKee of Lexington, KY
Mabel Huskey of Dayton, OH
Ray and Pauline Ellis of Evarts, KY
Jeffrey Lynn Hatmaker of Paint Lick, KY
Robert Ireland, PHD, of Hillsborough, NC
Elizabeth "Pat" Shaw Bailey of Graham, NC
Brenda Hatmaker Webb of Johnsonville, SC
Alice Jean Martin of Hanover, PA
Phyllis DeAngelis of Malibu, CA
Scott Hatmaker of Arlington, VA
Carol Janice Roy of Yulee, FL
Rufus J. and Mary Russell Dale of Burlington, NC
W. Carl Keck of Burlington, NC
Eloise Quarles Hatmaker of Pegram, TN
Dorothy Fuqua of Cushing, OK
Gloria Fay Burris of Lake City, TN
David Joy Hatmaker of Harrisonburg, VA
Charles Phillips of Yuma, AZ
Judy Hatmaker Person of Pleasanton, CA
Jerry W. Hatmaker of Cincinnati, OH
Donna Tye of Alexandria, KY
A. Lynn Ashley of Battle Creek, MI
Charles H. Abner of Clinton, TN
David Bader of Worthington, OH
Lonnie Coy and Nan Wade Hatmaker of Smyrna, GA
Elizabeth Jane Frederick Vander Schaaf of Cedar Rapids, IA
Jennifer Gale Hatmaker Murphree of Marbury, AL
Karen Lynn Hatmaker Williams of Galax, VA
Maria A. Brodeur of Pittsfield, MA
Mary Genay Hatmaker Peavey of Millbrook, AL
William Kingsley of NY; Edward A. Ebright of Woodbridge, VA
Robert J. Cammaroto of Annandale, VA
Arthur H. Laube and Merle Rummel, Historians of the United Brethren Church (not the Moravian United Brethren)
Lucy Hatmaker Farrar of Monument, CO
Christopher Putnam of Tybee Island, GA
Betty Hatmaker of Acworth, Georgia.