John Preston Hatton
There’s something about old photographs that lingers longer than the ink in a record book. In this one, John Preston Hatton sits beside his wife, Mary Ann Pitts Hatton, with a quilt hanging behind them—each piece stitched by hand, much like the life they built together.
This photograph was passed down through the family, once belonging to Grandma Hazel, later kept by Aunt Ruth, and carefully preserved through a simple act— someone taking the time to scan it before it was lost to time.
By the time this image was taken, John had already lived a full life— through war, sickness, loss, and the raising of a large family in the hills of Kentucky.
Early Life
John Preston Hatton was born on March 1, 1837, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Records name his parents as George Hatton and Betsy Hall. Though born in Indiana, John’s life became deeply rooted in Kentucky, especially in the counties of Estill and Menifee.
Like many men of his time, John made his living from the land. His military records describe him as a farmer, and that occupation followed him through much of his life. The old records give only small glimpses of his early years, but by the time the Civil War came, John was living in Kentucky and would soon step into the service of the Union.
First Marriage and Loss
John first married Louisa Yarber on May 21, 1857, in Powell County, Kentucky. Their marriage was brief, as Louisa died on May 25, 1859. John was still a young man when he was left a widower.
That early loss was only the beginning of a life marked by both hardship and endurance. Within a few years, the country would be at war, and John would find himself enlisted among Kentucky’s Union soldiers.
Civil War Service
Like so many men of his generation, the quiet rhythm of farm life would not last. When the war came, it reached even into the hills of Kentucky, calling men away from their homes, their fields, and their families.
On September 23, 1861, John Preston Hatton enlisted at Estill Springs, Kentucky, in Company B of the 8th Kentucky Infantry, a Union regiment. He was mustered into service as a private on January 15, 1862.
His service in the 8th Kentucky was cut short by illness. Records show that he was sent to the hospital at Murfreesboro on August 24, 1862, and was later discharged for disability on or about December 5, 1862, at Camp near Nashville, Tennessee.
Illness and Discharge
During his first enlistment, John’s health began to fail. A surviving discharge certificate shows that he had been unfit for duty before his release. Stationed near Nashville, Tennessee, he was examined and found incapable of continuing his service.
The record notes a lingering illness, described as chronic diarrhea, that had weakened him over the course of months. On December 5, 1862, he was formally discharged from the army on account of disability.
For many soldiers, sickness proved as dangerous as battle itself. For John, the war was not marked only by marching and service, but by endurance—the kind that followed him long after he left the field.
Less than a year later, John enlisted again. On October 27, 1863, he enrolled in Company I of the 47th Kentucky Infantry, also a Union regiment, to serve one year. He was mustered into service at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, on October 31, 1863.
His service tells of a man who, though weakened by illness during his first enlistment, returned again to military duty. In a border state like Kentucky, where families and communities were often divided by the war, John’s service in two Union regiments is an important part of his story.
Mary Ann Pitts and Family
In March of 1863, John married a woman recorded in Estill County records as Mary Frisby. Later family records, pension information, and community records identify her as Mary Ann Pitts. The evidence suggests that Mary Frisby and Mary Ann Pitts were the same woman, with the Frisby name likely reflecting a family or household connection at the time of her marriage.
Mary Ann Pitts appears in the 1863 marriage record under the name Mary Frisby. Census records identify her as Mary A. Pitts in the household of George Washington Pitts and Sarah A. Pitts before her marriage. The Frisby name may reflect a family, household, or record-keeping connection at the time of marriage.
Mary Ann was the daughter of George Washington Pitts and Sarah A. Pitts. She and John built a long life together in Kentucky, raising a large family in Menifee County.
John and Mary Ann were the parents of ten children:
- Francis Marion Hatton
- John Henry “Bud” Hatton
- Sarah Elizabeth Hatton
- Clementine “Annie” Hatton
- Emmie Hatton
- Mary Hatton
- Izane Hatton
- Amanda “Mandy” Hatton
- George Washington Hatton
- Mina Hatton
Mary Ann Hatton later appears as John’s widow in his Civil War pension record. This supports her identity as his surviving wife and connects her directly to his military service.
A Life in Menifee County
After the war, John returned to farming and family life. He and Mary Ann were connected with the Taber area of Menifee County, Kentucky. Land and community records place them among the families who shaped that section of the county during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The family photograph of John and Mary Ann offers something the written records cannot. Sitting together before a quilt backdrop, they appear not as names in a ledger, but as people who had weathered many years side by side. Their lives were not easy, but they endured.
A Tragic Ending
John Preston Hatton died at his home in Menifee County on November 10, 1912, at the age of seventy-five. His death certificate lists morphine poisoning as the cause of death, with accidental circumstances noted.
Newspaper accounts reported that John had been ill, and that morphine was accidentally given to him instead of quinine. He passed into a sleep from which he never rallied. One report remembered him as “one of the best-known citizens in that section.”
It was a sorrowful ending to a long life. Yet the mistake appears to have happened in the midst of care, not harm. Mary Ann, his aged wife, was trying to tend him in sickness, as wives had done in homes and cabins for generations.
Final Rest and Legacy
He was laid to rest in Menifee County, where the land he lived on and worked would keep his name long after his voice was gone.
His military stone, weathered by time, stands as a quiet marker of his service. Set among the hills of Menifee County, it reflects not only his time as a soldier, but the long years he spent as part of that community.
Co I
47 Ky. Inf.
Though the stone records only one part of his military service, John’s full record shows that he served in both Company B, 8th Kentucky Infantry, and Company I, 47th Kentucky Infantry—both Union regiments.
John Preston Hatton’s life stretched from Indiana to Kentucky, from farm fields to army camps, from sickness and loss to family and old age. He was a soldier, a farmer, a husband, and a father whose descendants carried his story forward.
Military Records
The following records help document John Preston Hatton’s Civil War service, offering a closer look at his enlistment, illness, and discharge from the army. These documents provide insight into the physical toll of war and the conditions faced by soldiers serving far from home.
Family Records and Images
he was a life lived, and remembered.
His name remains stitched into the family story.