I finally had a chance to get back to my Hatfield Project. The question my friend asked was her Hatfield family related to the infamous Hatfields of West Virginia/Kentucky fame.
In previous work I had found that my friend’s great-grandfather was Arthur R. Hatfield (1868-1931) – See “Not everything is on the Internet – Arthur R Hatfield.” I had hit a small snag and asked my friend to order a copy of Arthur’s death certificate in hopes it would provide his parents names. She did and it answered the questions. Also, in some of her family documentation, she found a couple obituaries for Arthur which provide more detail about the family in 1931.
According to his death certificate, Arthur’s parents were Nathan Hatfield and “Delfa” Bird. Further research would indicate that Arthur’s mother name was actually Delphia Bird.
Nathan Hatfield was born on 26 December 1831 in Wayne County, Indiana. He grew up in Wayne County (per 1840 & 1850 Censuses). He married Delphia in Wayne County. After his marriage to Delphia the family moved around Indiana several times and ended up in Mound City, MO before 1910 where he died in 1910.
Nathan’s father was Jonas Hatfield. Jonas was born about 1798 in Kentucky. Jonas’ father was also Jonas Hatfield, however, that Jonas was born in 1764 in Yorkshire, England.
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| The Hatfield Clan of the Hatfield-McCoy-feud. William Anderson Hatfield is second from left sitting with gun. Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia.Commons |
William Anderson Hatfield (aka Devil Anse Hatfield) was the patriarch of the Hatfield family during the infamous feud. His pedigree is fairly well known and available on the internet. Apparently Devil Anse’s immigrant ancestor was Matthias Hatfield who was born in Prussia.
So, I let my friend know that her Hatfields came from England in the late 1700s and Devil Anse Hatfield’s ancestors came from Prussia in the mid-1600s. No apparent relationship on this side of the pond. Could she still be related? Sure, there is over 100 years of history for the Hatfields in Europe that can still be explored and connections found, but for now, her family’s oral tradition about being related to THE Hatfields does not appear to stand up to modest research. Sorry, my friend.
[Caveat: I did not do an in-depth study of each of the individuals in the family line. Such a study could reveal mistakes or errors in my thought processes or facts.]
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