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Note: ON APRIL 30,1851, IN SURRY COUNTY,NORTH CAROLINA,JESSE LAFAYETTE HIATT WAS BORN OF HUMBLE,YET NOBLE PARENTS. HE WAS THE SECOND SON OF WILLIAM AND MARY (TAYLOR) HIATT WHO LIVED IN A VERY SPARSELY SETTLE(D) COMMUNITY. THE PARENTS HAD LITTLE OR NO PROPERTY, SAVE AND EXCEPT SOME LITTLE GOODS
AND CHATTELS AND A LITTLE TRACT OF LAND WHICH PROPERTY, AS THE WRITER IS INFORMED, WAS GIVEN TO THEM BY THEIR PARENTS. THEY DEPENDED FOR A LIVING UPON THE PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. THE FIRST GREAT PROBLEM PRESENDED TO THEM AS THEY BEGAN TO TRAVEL ALONG LIFE'S 'HIGHWAY' WAS THE BUILDING FOR THEMSELVES A HOME AND CLEARING AWAY THE PRIMEVALFOREST THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LAND TO CULTIVATE AND THUS GROW THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE. THEIR LOWLY COTTAGE WAS LOCATED SOME FOUR OR FIVE MILES SOUTH OF THE TOWN OF MOUNT
AIRY, ON THE WATERS OF STONEY CREEK. THIS COMMUNITY WAS VERY ROLLING AND RATHER MOUNTAINOUS AND THERE WERE FEW NEIGHBORS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY. IN EARLY MANHOOD THE FATHER, WILLIAM HIATT, BECAME AFFLICTED WITH HERNIA, WHICH DISABILITY MADE GREATER DEMANDS UPON THE WORTHY LITTLE HEROIC MOTHER AND THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY.''AT THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF BROTHER JESSE LAFAYETTE HIATT THE COUNTRY WAS NOT GREATLY DEVELOPLED AND THE SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL FACILITIES WERE VERY POOR. BY THE TIME HE REACHED SCHOOL AGE THE BITTER CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH HAD MATERIALIZED. THIS DEADLY CONFLICT CONTINUED FOR FOUR YEARS AND IT'S ECONOMIC EFFECT DID NOT END WITH THE WAR. DURING THIS TIME THERE WERE NO SCHOOLS AND BY THE
CLOSE OF THE WAR BROTHER HIATT HAD REACHED THE AGE OF FOURTEEN YEARS. THEN, UPON HIM, HIS ELDER BROTHER, JAMES MADISON HIATT, AND HIS BRAVE LITTLE MOTHER LARGELY DEPENDED ON THE FAMILY ON SUPPORT. THEY HAD THROUGH SHARE NECESSITY DECIDED THAT BREAD CAME BEFORE AN EDUATION. THESE CIRCUMSTANCES PREVENTED HIS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE MEAGER OPPORTUNITIES TO OBTAIN SCHOLASTIC TRAINING. ''THE WRITER RECALLS HAVING HEARD BROTHER HIATT MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT 'HE ATTENDED SCHOOL A TOTAL OF ABOUT TWO WEEKS'. NEVERTHELESS, HE LEARNED TO READ PRINT AND TO WRITE A LITTLE. THIS BECAME
A SOURCE OF GREAT SATISFACTION TO HIM AS HE GREW OLDER, FOR HE ENJOYED SUPREMELY READING AND DISCUSSING THE BEAUTIFUL DISCOURSES IN THE ''LIAHONA'' AND OTHER GOOD PUBLICATIONS. ''TIME HAD FLITTED AWAY WHILE BROTHER HIATT WORKED WITH HIS FATHER, MOTHER, AND BROTHERS ON THE LITTLE FARM AND NOW HE HAD BECOME A YOUNG MAN OF FULL STATURE, BEING ABOUT FIVE FEET AND SIX
INCHES IN HEIGHT AND WEIGHING APPROXIMATELY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY POUNDS. HE WAS BLESSED WITH GREAT PHYSICAL STRENGTH WHICH COULD NOT BE EXCELLED BY ANY OF HIS COMRADES. THIS GREAT PHYSICAL ENDURANCE ENABLED HIM TO SUCESSFULLY PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR HIMSELF AND HIS PARTIAL DEPENDANTS. ''AT
THE EARLY AGE OF A LITTLE MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS BROTHER HIATT WAS MARRIED TO SUSAN MIDKIFF, ON NOVEMBER 9TH. 1871, THE CERMONY BEING PERFORMED BY ONE MR. WILLIAM TAYLOR. BROTHER HIATT HAD NOW TAKEN UPON HIMSELF ADDED DUTIES. HE OBSERVED THE GREAT COMMANDMENT 'MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH' AND UNTO THIS UNION WERE BORN FIVE DAUGHTERS AND SIX SONS. TWO OF THE DAUGHTERS AND ONE OF THE SONS DIED SOME YEARS AGO. THROUGHOUT HIS MARRIED LIFE OF
MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS HE WAS A VERY KIND AND DEVOTED HUSBAND. THE NEIGHBORS FREQUENTLY COMMENT ON THE VERY HARMONIOUS LIFE OF BROTHER AND SISTER HIATT. FROM CHILD-HOOD THE WRITER HAS BEEN A FREQUENT VISITER IN THE HOME AND DOES NOT RECALL HEARING ONE WORD OF DISCORD. AS A FATHER HE WAS VERY TENDER AND LOVING, ALWAYS PUTTING THE INTERESTS OF HIS CHILDREN BEFORE HIMSELF AND LABORING UNTIRINGLY FOR THEM. ALL HIS CHILDREN LIVED TO BE ADULTS AND WERE MARRIED. THEY ALL RECEIVED THE ADVANTAGES OF A FREE-SCHOOL EDUCATION. FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF HIS SON, COLUMBUS, HE TOOK ONE OF HIS GRANDSONS, LUNIE ALMA, AND REARED HIM. ''THE ONLY OCCUPATION THAT BROTHER HIATT EVER HAD WAS THAT OF FARMING. THE LAND WAS NOT FERTILE AND WOULD NOT PRODUCE BOUNTIFULLY. THIS FACT NECESSITATED HIS CULTIVATING MORE EXTENSIVELY IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING FOR HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN TO EAT AND WEAR. AT THIS TIME THERE WERE VERY FEW LABOR-SAVING DEVICES AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, SO THAT PRINCIPALLY ALL OF BROTHER HIATT'S WORK
WAS DONE BY HAND. DESPITE ALL THIS HE NEVER WANTED FOR THE ACTUAL NECESSARIES OF LIFE, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND WAS ENABLED THROGH HIS ALERTNESS AND THRIFT TO PURCHASE OTHER LANDS AND BUILD A HOME THEREON, SO THAT HIS ESTATE WAS WORTH A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS NET. BROTHER HIATT DURING HIS
ENTIRE LIFE OF MORE THAN THREE SCORE AND TEN YEARS NEVER WENT TO LAW WITH HIS NEIGHBOR. WITHOUT EXCEPTION HIS FELLOW CITIZENS TESTIFY OF HIS SCRUPULOUS HONESTY AND UNCHALLENGED INTEGRITY. ''IN JULY, 1881, BROTHER HIATT BECAME A BAPTIZED MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, ELDER GEORGE PASSEY PERFORMING THE ORDINANCE.HE WAS CONFIRMED A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH BY ELDER LASHBROOK LAKER. AT THIS TIME THE CHURCH HAD MANY AND BITTER FOES. ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE LIVED AWAY FROM THE ORGANIZED STAKES OF ZION OR HAVE VISITED EXTENSIVELY IN THIS AND OTHER SECTIONS OF
THE COUNTRY WHERE THE VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE ARE VERY NARROW AND PREJUDICED CAN IMAGINE THE HOSTILLE FEELING THAT THEN EXISTED AGAINST THE CHURCH. IT IS TO THIS DAY CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE SLANDEROUS TO CALL A PERSON A 'MORMON'. BROTHER HIATT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MORAL HERO, SO HE JOINED THE CHURCH WHEN HE WAS CONVINCED OF THE TRUTHFULNESS OF IT'S TEACHINGS, AND TO THESE PRINCIPLES HE REMAINED TRUE. EVERYONE WILL ADMIT THAT IT REQUIRED A COURAGEOUS MAN TO LEAVE HIS HOME AND LOVED ONES TO MAKE
A NEW HABITATION IN A NEW AND STRANGE LAND, BUT MAY THE WRITER ASK:'DID IT NOT ALSO REQUIRE A MAN OF FORTITUDE TO EMBRACE THIS SAME 'MORMON DOCTRINE, AND CONTINUE HERE AMONG HIS NEIGHBORS TO RECEIVE THEIR FROWNS AND
PERSECUTIONS?'''BROTHER HIATT HAD A GREAT MISSION TO PEFORM IN THIS THE LAND OF HIS NATIVITY, FOR MANY ARE THE TRAVELLING ELDERS OF THE CHURCH WHO HAVE FOUND REFUGE IN HIS HOME. WHEN THEY COULD GET NEITHER FOOD NOR SHELTER AT OTHER PLACES THEY CAME TO THIS HUMBLE COTTAGE WHICH WAS AS WELCOMED BY THEM AS THE CASIS. DURING HIS MANY YEARS AS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH HE THUS SERVED AND CONVERSED WITH HIS ASSOCIATES, MANY OF WHOM BECAME MORE LIBERAL IN THEIR VIEWS AND CONSEQUENTLY MORE TOLERANT TOWARD HIM AND HIS RELIGION. ''FINALLY THE TIME HAD ARRIVED WHEM BROTHER HIATT WAS TOLD THAT HE HAD BEEN FAITHFUL AND THAT HE WAS IN LINE FOR THE HOLY PRIESTHOOD, IF HE WOULD REFRAIN FROM THE USE OF COFFEE AND TOBACCO WHICH HE HAD USED DURING HIS EARLY LIFE. HE
PROMPTLY REPLIED BY TOTAL ABSTINENCE FROM THE USE OF THESE POISONOUS STIM- ULANTS AND A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW OF GOD AS PERTAINING TO THE 'WORD OF WISDOM'. THIS DECISION AND MANIFEST CONTROL OVER HIMSELF WAS OF NO LITTLE SIGNIFICANCE. ON THE 6TH DAY OF MAY, 1917, BROTHER HIATT WAS ORDAINED AN ELDER IN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS UNDER THE HANDS OF
HIS SON, JAMES MONROE. HE EVER AFTERWARDS ENDEAVORED TO HONOR THIS PRIEST- HOOD. MANY ARE THE FERVENT TESTIMONIES WHICH HE HAS BORNE TO THE WORLD AND ESPECIALLY TO HIS NEIGHBORS. CLEARLY DOES HIS BEAUTIFUL AND UNFALTERING TESTIMONY DELIVERED AT THE CHAPEL AT SHELTONTOWN DURING THE TESTIMONY MEETING HELD THE FIRST SUNDAY IN APRIL, 1929, PRIOR TO HIS DEATH ON THE
18TH, DAY OF APRIL, RING IN THE EARS OF THE WRITER. HE DECLARED THAT HE KNEW THAT THE PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL AS THEY WERE TAUGHT BY THE LATTER DAY SAINTS WERE SUFFICIENT TO SAVE AND EXALT MANKIND IF OBEYED. THIS WAS THE
CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH IN THE LONG AND TRUTHFUL SERMON WHICH BROTHER JESSE LAFAYETTE HIATT HAD BEEN PROCLAIMING FOR ALMOST SEVENTY-EIGHT YEARS. HE DIED ON APRIL 18, 1929, BUT BEFORE HIS DEATH, AT HIS REQUEST, LOCAL ELDERS ADMINISTERED TO HIM, AND GOD'S WILL IN THIS PARTICULAR WAS FINISHED.''
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