Hugh Hatch
Hugh Hatch was born in what is now Farnham Park around 1834. He was the uncle of Cooper Browning Hatch, who served as Mayor of Camden NJ from 1898 to 1902 and as the Sheriff of Camden County from 1908 to 1911. Hugh Hatch married Caroline Stone and ran a truck farm, making his home during the 1870s in the Delair section of Pennsauken Township. A son, Hugh Morgan Hatch, was born on April 14, 1873.
Hugh Hatch was best known as the co-founder, with his brother, Joseph Hatch, of the Fairview Brick Works, which had its offices in the 1880s on Kaighn Avenue and in the 1910s on Federal Street at 14th Street. Hugh Hatch remained a part of the firm until his death in 1924, at the age of 90. He was predeceased by wife Caroline, who had passed on in 1911. Hugh and Caroline Hatch rest in the Hatch family plot at Evergreen Cemetery in Camden.
Son Hugh Morgan Hatch, in September of 1911, entered into a partnership with J.R. Mick to operate an automobile dealership in Camden. The business, N.J. Auto & Supply, was primarily a Buick agency, but also sold Cadillac, Peerless, Hupmobile, Ford, and Pontiac autos at different periods through the 1920s. In 1916 the partners erected a new building on Delaware Avenue, where the business remained through February of 1942, when the agency was moved to the southwest corner of Federal Street and Wright Avenue. The business was sold to the Masson family in the 1950s, who, operating as Masson Buick, remained in Camden into the 1970s before moving to Route 70 in the eastern section of Cherry Hill NJ.
Fire at South Front Street
Philadelphia Inquirer —
The Camden firemen also had their share of hard work. At eleven o’clock in the morning they were called to the engine house of Henry B. Wilson, kindling wood manufacturer, on Front street, above Kaighn’s avenue. The flames spread at once to the adjoining houses and sheds and to a one-story frame coal office belonging to Mr. Wilson. The firemen worked hard in the blazing sun, but for some time the terrestrial blaze defied their efforts. Half a dozen families set their goods out on the pavement. Nos. 1159 and 1161 South Front street were burned, Mrs. Anderson escaping from one house and Mrs. Williams from the other just in time to save their clothing from taking fire. The flames spread to Webb’s barber shop, to a neighboring spar yard and to the residences of Mr. W. M. Day, No. 27; Mr. Keifer, No. 29, and Mr. Vasey, No. 31 Kaighn’s avenue, and also to No. 33. The total loss is about $14,000. Mr. Wilson suffering to the extent of $2000; Mr. Baymore, $5000, Hatch & Brothers, $1000, and John Dobbins & Sons and the others between $500 and $700 each.
Land Condemnation Proceedings
Philadelphia Inquirer —
A struck panel of forty-eight jurors, from which the jury to try the land condemnation proceedings of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Railroad Co. vs. Hugh Hatch, et als., was drawn yesterday by Judge Miller.
Trolley Collision on River Road
Philadelphia Inquirer —
In a collision between a trolley car and a wagon at Twenty-fourth and River road, Camden, yesterday, Hugh Hatch, a prominent brick manufacturer, and Mrs. Elizabeth Haley, his sister, were thrown out and severely injured.
Fairview Brick Works Advertisement
1917 Camden City Directory
Hugh Hatch — Fairview Brick Works. Office: Federal Street and Fourteenth Street. Telephone 288. Camden, N. J.