Generation-VlII-1-Hatcher-Vansant

It appears that the family name changed from Thatcher to Hatcher over time. In the old manuscripts the capital H is often shown with a flourish that looks like TH, but without that flourish it looks like an "H". This was at a time when many did not know how to write their own names.and depended on the spelling or interpretation of others,

William appears on the 1724 Bensalem, Bucks Co., PA tax list as a wheelwright.

William and Ann Vansant were married November 13,1727 in Burlington, NJ, which is across the Delaware River from Bucks County. Ann's parents, Johannes and Leah Vansant, were close neighbors and had property adjoining that of Joseph Thatcher, so it is more than likely that William and Ann knew each other from childhood. This fits in with our theory about this family's origins.

Many Quaker families, as early as 1730, began moving south from Pennsylvania settling in northern Virginia along the banks and tributaries of Goose Creek which winds its way throughout much of the county. Their reasons for moving were that it was becoming crowded there, good land was scarce and expensive. There were others also seeking land, the so-called English stock (cavalier-style slave holders) who were well established in the southern part of the county. Germans and Quakers, who were small farmers and used to doing the work themselves, soon became established, encouraging their kin and friends to follow.

Their small lholdings of two to three hundred acres were scattered throughout the northern part of the county making it difficult for the slave holders to secure the 10,000 acre farms they wanted as they had done in the South. This literally stopped the spread of the manorial system northward.

In 1742 Fairfax County was established. This included what are now Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington Counties. In the central part of Loudoun County several small towns and villages sprang up along the branches of Goose Creek. Many of the old villages are gone, but Hamilton, Purcellville, Waterford and Lincoln, formerly called Goose Creek, remain active communities today.  This area became known as the "Quaker Settlement"  .More about Lincoln
 

                                           The William Hatcher Family move to Northern Virginia.

It was the practice of Friends to request permission from their home meeting to transfer to another meeting under a Certificate of Removal.  Among other things it was to give assurance that the certificate holder had no outstanding debt.

William Hatcher in 1744 received a Northern Neck Land Grant  from Lord Fairfax, the Proprietor of Fairfax Co., for 300 acres. William was then living in Pennsylvania.

Few Quakers could buy land when they first arrived. To obtain a site to live on, one had to lease it from a landowner. By the 1740's the speculators and the Proprietor (Lord Fairfax) began to sell for cash if the money offered was large enough, they began to sell more small parcels, but with a nominal rent still attached.  Rentals turned into ownership when the rentals were nullified after the Revolutionary War. You'll note William's grant includes the rental clause.

"William Hatcher & younger children recrq (received on certificate by request) 29 August 1754; his w Ann and dt Mary recrq 31 October 1754 by Women's Meeting."

This gives us the year of their move from Bucks Co., Pennsylvania to Fairfax County, Virginia.

Of the eight children born toWilliam and Ann seven of them located nearby on farms of their own. They cleared the land, built
log and stone houses and barns. Many of the homes are still occupied and in use by Hatcher families.

The village of Goose Creek grew up around the meeting house where retired folks came to live. The name was changed to Lincoln after the Civil War.

On First Day (Sunday)-eighth month, 1999 we went to meeting in Lincoln in what is now the third meeting house for Goose Creek Meeting.  Built of red brick in 1817; it is one of the few remaining in the area. The first one was built of logs and is no more. The second, built in 1765 is of stone and is now used by the caretaker.

This is an area that had been over-run during the Civil War many times by both Rebels and Union forces, several well known battle grounds are located nearby.

A "cousin", genealogically speaking, from Leesburg gave us a tour of the old Hatcher farms still in use and in some cases occupied by a Hatcher family. This had been a very productive wheat growing area for many years. The milled wheat packed in wooden barrels were sent by wagons to Baltimore, some of it exported to England and Barbados.

Loudoun Co, VA was formed from Fairfax Co.on July 1, 1757. Leesburg was established as the county seat.

Quakers kept good records, birth, death, marriage and their travels were recorded by the local meeting. The deeds and miss deeds of the members were recorded by the Meeting. Members were held accountable and disciplined when they broke the rules. Marrying out of the faith was cause for expulsion. Other offenses called for disownment, but reinstatement often occurred following "acknowledgment".

William did not stay in the good graces of the Meeting for long.

From the records of the Goose Creek Meeting the following minute is of interest

"1758 he violated the chastity of Rachel Tanner; was reinstated for membership 1761; January 1764 was disowned for abusing his family, drinking and fighting; reinstated January 1773; disowned July 1773 for "walking contrary to discipline."

William wasn't the only "transgressor". On the edge of the Quaker settlement, the worldly influence was at work in many families. Offenses calling for disownment were gambling, fighting, quarreling, keeping libertine company, profane language, drunkenness and joining the militia. Nineteen committed fornication in the eyes of Friends by marrying out of union (i.e. not according to Quaker discipline). In one family, 36 out of 49 members were lost by not adhering to the "rules". It didn't take much to be disowned. The attrition rate after a time caused the Friends to be less rigorous in their demands for conformity as they realized there might soon be no membership left.

"In October of 1760, William Hatcher purchased 626 acres of land East side of a drain of NW fork of Goose Creek which heads near the Water Lick," this originally had been given in a patent to Abel Janney by Thomas Lord Fairfax.

In 1769, He buys a town lot in Leesburg on the corner of King and Cornwell St., he and Ann sold it two years later

Ann died sometime before 1780, William died in 1781. He made a will.