Richard Thomas Hiatt was a Birmingham boy who became a chronometer maker in London and ended his days in Liverpool. He had two wives, and for some fifteen years he had two families at the same time. His son William J. Hiatt took the family trade to Boston and was the grandfather of Edith Hiatt.
A Handcuff Maker's Son
Richard was baptized on June 10, 1808, at St. Martin's Church in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He was the son of Thomas Griffin Hiatt and Elizabeth Wall. Richard's marriage record of 1853 calls his father a handcuff maker. Birmingham was the center of the English metal trades, a town of small workshops turning out buttons, buckles, guns, locks, chains and all kinds of small hardware.
Richard learned a much finer trade. He became a watchmaker and then a chronometer maker, building and repairing the precise timekeepers that ships carried to find their way at sea. By the time he was seventeen he was living in London.
Caroline Simmonds
On February 27, 1826, Richard Thomas Hiatt, bachelor, married Caroline Simmonds, spinster, by banns at St. Mary's, Newington, in Surrey, just south of the Thames. Both were "of this parish." Richard signed his name. Caroline could not write and made her mark. The witnesses were W. Williams and Rebecca Mason.
Richard was only seventeen. Caroline was twenty-three. She was born on December 4, 1802, and baptized on December 26 at St. Giles, Camberwell, the daughter of Richard Simmonds and his wife Catherine. Six months after the wedding, on August 27, 1826, their first child, Richard Thomas, was baptized at St. Giles, Camberwell. That may explain why so young a man married.
Richard and Caroline had eight children. The oldest five were baptized at St. Giles, Camberwell:
- Richard Thomas, baptized August 27, 1826, who married Eliza Mitchell in 1853 and went to Massachusetts
- Elizabeth, baptized March 30, 1828, who died as a child
- Elizabeth, baptized July 19, 1829, who married George Wilks in 1870
- Emma, baptized January 2, 1831, who married William Rose at Edgbaston, Birmingham, in 1855
- Cordelia, baptized October 28, 1832, who married William Sewell in 1850
- Susannah, born about 1836, who married Alfred Richard Amory in 1857
- William John, born about 1837, who went to Boston in 1859
- Catherine Frances, born about 1843, who married Walter William Cooksley at Birmingham in 1863
In the 1841 census the family was living in Lambeth: Richard, 30; Caroline, 35; Richard, 15; Emma, 10; Cordelia, 8; Susannah, 5; and William, 4. No baptism has been found for William.
Caroline died on December 9, 1849, at 3 Garden Row, Hill Street, Walworth, of phthisis, or tuberculosis, which she had had for many months. She was 47. Richard was with her. She was buried at St. Giles, Camberwell, on December 16.
In the 1851 census Richard Thos. Hiatt, a widower of 42 and a chronometer maker born in Birmingham, was still at 3 Garden Row, in the district of St. Peter, Walworth. With him were Cordelia, 18, and Susan, 16, both dressmakers; William John, 14, a scholar; and Catherine F., 8.
Mary Ann Sherlock
Not far away, in Camberwell, lived Mary Ann Sherlock, the daughter of William Sherlock, a wheelwright. She had been baptized at St. Giles, Camberwell, on February 10, 1811. In the 1841 census she was living in Camberwell with a one-year-old son, Charles Sherlock.
Charles was Richard's son. In fact, while Richard was married to Caroline, Mary Ann had several children by him. When they were baptized at St. Peter's, Walworth, the register named their father as Richard Thomas Hiatt, watch or chronometer maker:
- Elizabeth, born March 5, 1834, baptized June 1, 1834
- Henry James, born November 15, 1836, baptized July 19, 1837
- Charles, born April 10, 1840, baptized October 21, 1840
- Edward, born in May 1845, baptized at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, in September 1847, and buried at St. Giles on January 31, 1848
So Henry James was born only months before William, and Charles three years before Catherine. In 1851, a year and a half after Caroline's death, Mary Ann was living at 1 Palmers Place, Camberwell, as Mary Ann Hiatt, wife, a laundress, with her sons Henry J., 14, Charles, 10, and Edwin, 1, all named Hiatt. No husband was in the house.
On April 28, 1853, Richard Thomas Hiatt, widower, watchmaker, of St. George's Street, married Mary Ann Sherlock, spinster, of Albany Road, at the parish church of St. George, Camberwell. Both were "of full age." The record names his father as Thomas Griffin Hiatt, handcuff maker, and hers as William Sherlock, wheelwright.
Two more sons were born: Albert in October 1852, a few months before the wedding, and Alfred in 1855. In the 1861 census Richard, Mary Ann, Edwin, Albert and Alfred were living in Walworth.
How do we know Mary Ann's children were Richard's?
The evidence is indirect, but it all points the same way. The baptisms of Elizabeth, Henry James, Charles and Edward name the father as Richard Thomas Hiatt, a watch or chronometer maker, the same name and the same trade as Caroline's husband. In 1851 Mary Ann called herself Mary Ann Hiatt, a married woman, and her sons were all Hiatts. She married Richard two years later, and Edwin, Albert and Alfred lived with Richard and Mary Ann as their sons in 1861 and 1871. Edwin was buried in the same grave as Richard and Mary Ann. Richard was the father of both families.
Two Sons in America
Richard's oldest son, Richard Thomas, married Eliza Mitchell at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, on March 10, 1853, and went to Massachusetts. He must have sailed soon after the wedding, for by 1862 he had worked for William Bond & Son, the Boston chronometer makers, for nearly nine years. By 1856 he and Eliza were living in Melrose, where their son Richard Young Hiatt was born that February. His brother William followed in 1859 and spent his whole working life at the Bond firm.
In 1862 the younger Richard lost his infant son Frank, born that January, who died in October. Then, on November 21, 1862, Richard himself drowned when his train ran off an open drawbridge between Charlestown and Boston. He was about 35. Three days later a diver brought up his body from forty feet of water.
THE RECENT RAILROAD ACCIDENT ON THE MAINE ROAD. The body of Mr. Richard Hiatt, of Malden, was recovered yesterday afternoon by Mr. F. L. Merriam, the diver, who went down in sub-marine armor to the bottom of the channel, forty feet under water. This makes the sixth body recovered and one more, that of John Rafferty of Somerville, is yet missing.
The whole story of the accident is told on William's page.
Liverpool
Sometime in the 1860s Richard and Mary Ann left London for Liverpool, more than 200 miles to the north. Liverpool was one of the greatest seaports in the world, and its ships needed chronometers. Richard's brother, Henry James Hiatt, was also a chronometer maker there, and that may be what drew Richard north. In the 1871 census Richard T. Hiatt, 63, chronometer maker, born in Birmingham, was living at 29 Exmouth Street, Everton, with Mary A., 60, and their sons Edwin, 21, a butcher; Albert, 18, a pupil teacher; and Alfred, 15, a chronometer maker's apprentice. It looked as if Alfred would carry on the family trade, but he did not. He became a bookkeeper instead.
1877 was a hard year for Richard. In April his son Henry James was killed in London (see below). Then on September 29 his brother Henry James died at his home, 16 Harewood Street, off Whitefield Road in Liverpool.
HIATT—Sept. 29, at his residence, 16, Harewood-street, Whitefield-road, Henry J. Hiatt, chronometer maker, of this town.
Richard died at home, 29 Exmouth Street, on February 8, 1885, at 77. He was buried on February 12 in West Derby Cemetery, Lower House Lane. Mary Ann died at the same house on March 23, 1886, in her 76th year, and was buried with him.
HIATT—Feb. 8, at his residence, 29, Exmouth-street, Everton, aged 77 years, Richard T. Hiatt. Interment at West Derby Cemetery, Lower House-lane, on Thursday next, at three p.m.
HIATT—March 23, at her residence, 29, Exmouth-street, Everton, in her 76th year, Mary Ann, widow of the late Richard T. Hiatt. [Will be interred at West Derby Cemetery, to-morrow (Thursday), at 3 p.m.]
Their son Edwin, who never married, was buried with them in 1901. The stone reads:
RICHARD THOMAS HIATT
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 8 FEBRUARY 1885
AGED 77 YEARS
ALSO, MARY ANN THE BELOVED WIFE OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED 23 MARCH 1886 AGED 75 YEARS
ALSO, EDWIN, SON OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 5TH 1901
AGED 52 YEARS
Of Mary Ann's children, Elizabeth and Edward died young. Henry James, the oldest son, stayed in the London area and worked as a goods inspector for the Great Eastern Railway. On April 25, 1877, at West Ham, he was "accidentally killed by being run over by a certain engine and train upon the Great Eastern Line of Railway." He was 40. The deputy coroner for Essex held an inquest two days later.
Two Henry James Hiatts
Richard had a brother and a son who were both named Henry James Hiatt, and both died in 1877. The son died at West Ham, near London, on April 25, killed by a train at his work on the railway. The brother, a chronometer maker, died at his home in Liverpool on September 29. The two deaths are easy to mix up, but the place, the date and the trade keep them apart.
Charles died at Aston, Birmingham, in 1897. Albert and Alfred stayed on Merseyside and died at Wallasey in 1938 and 1939. Alfred's death record gives his occupation as bookkeeper.
The Grandchildren
Counting both families, Richard had fifteen children. Seven of Caroline's children and five of Mary Ann's lived to grow up, and they gave Richard at least twenty-eight grandchildren. They were scattered across England and beyond:
- Back to Birmingham. Three of Caroline's daughters made their homes in Birmingham, the town where Richard was born. Emma married William Rose at Edgbaston in 1855 and raised four children there, among them Richard William Rose, named for his grandfather, and Charles Hiatt Rose, who carried the family name. Cordelia and William Sewell moved from Walworth to Birmingham in the 1860s with Emma Cordelia, Caroline Frances, named for her grandmother, and Charles William, and had two more daughters there. Catherine married Walter William Cooksley at Birmingham in 1863. Their son Walter was born in 1871 at Newbridge, in Ireland.
- London. Susannah and Alfred Amory lived in Camberwell and Walworth. Their daughter Edith was born in Birmingham in 1863, and Emily and William in Camberwell. Elizabeth married George Wilks in Paddington in 1870, and their son Charles Robert Wilks was baptized there in 1871.
- Massachusetts. Richard Young Hiatt was born in Melrose in 1856, the son of Richard Jr. He grew up without his father and died in Stoneham in 1927. William's sons were Frederick, born in Somerville in 1863, and Winfield, the Boston actor.
- Liverpool and beyond. Albert married Annie Scaiff in 1872 and had six children in Liverpool, among them a Henry J. and a Margaret A. Alfred, the apprentice chronometer maker of 1871 who became a bookkeeper, did not have children until he was in his fifties. His son Douglas, born at Wallasey in 1917, lived until 1988, more than a century after his grandfather died. Charles's son Sidney Charles Hiatt was born at Reading in 1875.