Reuben Hatch
Reuben Hatch—Among the men whom New England has furnished to the great northwest is Judge Reuben Hatch, who was born October 11, 1847, in the town of Alstead, N. H. His ancestors came to America from England in 1630 and settled in Massachusetts, where the township of Falmouth, in Barnstable county, is now situated. His father, also named Reuben, was a learned and able divine of the Congregational church, and during a long and useful life ministered to congregations in Windom, Vt., York, Ohio, Union City, Mich., and other places.
The elder Hatch was married December 16, 1846, in Hudson, Ohio, to Miss Elmir Kilbourne, a native of Hudson, and by her had a family of six children, namely: Reuben, whose name introduces this article; Julia, who died at the age of three years; Asa, a talented young man of ripe scholarship who prepared for the ministry, and who at the time—of his death, in 1889, had charge of an institution for the education of colored people at Lexington, Ky., maintained by the American Missionary association, Edward, died when but twelve years old; Jennie, at the age of two, and Mina while but an infant. The mother of these children, a lady of culture and refinement, was called from the earthly life in August, 1858. Subsequently Mr. Hatch was united in marriage at York, Ohio to Miss Marion J. Pierce, who has borne him the following children: Winfield P., of Oberlin, Ohio; Arthur, a stenographer of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leonard, who holds a position in the statistical department of the state of New York; and Walter, who is still under the paternal roof. Mr. Hatch has reached the ripe old age of eighty-five years and makes his home in Oberlin, Ohio, where he and his estimable wife are widely and favorably known. He has always taken a deep and active interest in the cause of higher education, and was one of the leading spirits and founders of Olivet college, Michigan, and also assisted in planting a similar institution at Benzonia, this state. He was, for some years, a member of the prudential committee of Oberlin college, and. Notwithstanding his advanced age, still takes an active interest in religious and educational work in the town where he resides.
Reuben Hatch, Jr., the leading facts of whose life are here set forth, attended the schools in the different towns where his father held pastorates, and also received instruction in the higher branches of learning under his father’s immediate tutelage. After receiving a liberal literary training, he began reading law at the age of twenty in Traverse City, Mich., and on the 12th day of May, 1870, was admitted to the bar. He practiced his profession at Traverse City until 1875, and such was his success that in that year he was elected judge upon the duties of the position in January, 1876. He continued in the bench for a period of six years, and, after retiring therefrom, resumed the practice at Traverse City until 1888, at which time he removed to Grand Rapids, where he has since conducted a large and lucrative practice in the state and federal courts. For a limited period, Judge Hatch was associated with Hon. Harry D. Jewell, and later effected a co-partnership with Hugh E. Wilson, with whom he has since practiced.
The professional career of Judge Hatch been highly creditable, and he occupies a conspicuous place among the leading attorneys in city noted for the high order of its legal talent. As a lawyer, he us well grounded in the principles of his profession and the high character he has attained as a practitioner is attested by the large volume of business which has come to him since locating in Grand Rapids. For a number of years he was a leading spirit of the Traverse City bar, where he maintained a lucrative practice, being generally engaged in the prosecution or defense of cases requiring the highest order of legal talent, and not infrequently were his service retained in important litigation in courts remote from his place of residence.
The honorable distinction acquired at the bar was not dimmed by his judicial experience. He acquired a high reputation for soundness in the knowledge of law, and for the clearness of his rulings. But few of his decisions ever met with reversal at the hands of the supreme court of Michigan. One of these cases was later carried to the supreme court of the United States, where the decision of the state supreme court was reversed and Judge Hatch’s decision affirmed. He presided with dignity, and his impartiality in dispensing justice made him popular with both lawyers and litigants.
The judge possesses a vigorous personality and commanding presence and impresses all with whom he comes in contact as a typical representative of symmetrically developed manhood—one of the best products physically and mentally of American soil and American institutions.
With all his eminent ability as a lawyer and judge, Mr. Hatch is entirely without ostentation, and to the humblest of his fellow citizens he is easily accessible. Profound as a jurist and popular with his fellow men in the private walks of life, it may be truly said of him that he is indeed one of the notable men of his adopted city. He was married in Traverse City, August 28, 1872, to Mrs. Esther H. Spague Day, and resides in a hospitable home at No. 81 Sheldon street. Politically he is a republican, and in religion an attendant of the Congregational church, to which his wife belongs.