William Hatcher ^117,257

  General Notes:

William was 21-year old teacher in a primitive log school house in Linn County, Missouri, when he first noticed Sarah Frances Mullins, age 15, who would become his wife when the school year ended.

They moved to Sullivan County, Missouri, but on April 20, 1852 with 5 yoke of cattle and a wagon, they joined with a train of 10 wagons and started across the plains to California.

There were many hardships, lack of water, dying stock, cholera and other sicknesses, and there were miles of burning sand to walk on, graves to dig and sick persons to comfort.

On September 2, they arrived in Amador County and William tried his hand at mining. In six months he made only $150, but when he put in a vegetable garden and peddled his produce to the miners along Dry Creek, he sometimes made as much as $100 in a single day.

Wonderful stories of the richness of the farming land on the western side of the Sacramento River began to reach Amador County and in September 1853, William "Billy" and Sarah Frances "Fanny" with their first son, drove through Woodland, finding just one house, that of Thomas Morrison, and then through Cacheville, a town of 2 houses, and camped their first night in Yolo County under a large oak tree on what would become their property the next day. Billy paid the two young men who held it $750 for their squatters' rights and it became his to farm until his death in 1913.

  Life Events:

1. Occupation: Teacher. ²⁵⁷

William married Sarah Frances "Fannie" Mullins on 27 Mar 1849 in Linn County, Missouri, USA.²⁵⁷ (Sarah Frances "Fannie" Mullins was born on 24 Oct 1833 in Howard County, Missouri, USA,²⁵⁷ died on 31 Oct 1926 in Yolo County, California, USA ²⁵⁷ and was buried in Mary's Chapel Cemetery (Yolo County, California, USA) ²⁶⁹.)