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History of Bay County Michigan
pub. H. R. Page & Co., Chicago - 1883

         [p. 63]

           HON. HERSCHEL H. HATCH, of Bay City, member of Congress
	 from the Tenth Congressional District, was born in Morris-
	 ville, Madison Co., N.Y., February 17, 1837. The experiences
	 of his early life were similar to those of the average American
	 youth of that day. He was naturally studious and ambitious, and
	 received the best education a boy could secure from the public
	 schools of his native village and from the instruction of his
	 father. When he came to decide upon a life pursuit,he chose the
	 law and was admitted to the law department of Hamilton College,
	 from which he graduated in 1859. He then opened an office and
	 began the practice of law in his native village, where he re-
	 mained until 1863. In March of that year he came to Bay City,
	 and the same month became associated with ISAAC MARSTON in the
	 practice of law. The next year JAMES BIRNEY was admitted io the
	 firm, which then became BIRNEY, MARSTON & HATCH. In about a year
	 MR. BIRNEY retired, and the firm of MARSTON & HATCH continued,
	 and was recognized as one of the leading law firms in the state.
	 This firm was dissolved by the election of MR. MARSTON to the
	 Supreme Bench in 1875. MR. HATCH was one of the first aldermen
	 of Bay City, being elected to that position on the incorporation
	 of the city in 1865. In the Fall of 1868 he was elected judge of
	 probate of Bay County, and held the office until 1872. In 1874,
	 the Legislature having directed GOV. BAGLEY to appoint a com-
	 mission to revise and amend the constitution, and Mr. Hatch
	 having gained a state reputation as a lawyer, he was selected
	 by GOV. BAGLEY as one of the eighteen commissioners to perform
	 the work, GOV. JEROME being his colleague from the Saginaw
	 district. In 1881 he was one of the five commissioners appointed
	 by the Governor, under the bill passed by the Legislature to
	 revise the tax laws of Michigan. The present tax law is the work
	 of that commission, of which MR. HATCH was a leading and in-
         fluential member. He has held various other positions of trust
         and influence, and especially in educational matters he has
         always taken an active interest and has done much toward their
         advancement. While MR. HATCH has been almost continuously in
         public service,he has never been considered a politician in the
         commonly accepted meaning of that term. His ambition and energies
         have been directed to his profession, in which he is recognized
         as one of the leading lawyers of Michigan, and has been associated
         with some of the most important cases that have aiisen in this part
         of the state. He is a man of great energy, and is a hard worker,
         both as a student and practitioner. He possesses many marked
         characteristics, prominent among which are decision of character,
         and directness of speech and action. In the Fall of 1882 he re-
         ceived the nomination of Bepresentative in Congress, from the
         Bepublicans of the Tenth District, and was elected by a majority
         as surprisingly large as it was satisfactory to himself and poli-
         tical friends. He was married in June, 1864, at Morrisville, N.Y.,
         to Miss ELIZA E. HOUGHTON, of that place. They have four children.
         Their family residence is on the corner of Tenth and Washington
         Streets.

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