Notes for William HATFIELD

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Notes for William HATFIELD

Killed by the British after taken prisoner - see Matthias Hatfield Genealogy, page 55.
Married Mercy DeCamp.
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STATEN ISLAND November 8, 1781
Peter Terrat, a noted thief who "supports himself by robbing and plundering" shoots and kills William Hetfield (Am.).
Reference: Clayton, Middlesex, 94.
[http://www.westjerseyhistory.org/books/battlesmunn/partfive.shtml [accessed 1/2013]
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See "History of Elizabeth, New Jersey" by Edwin Hatfield. p. 507. Supposedly left a widow and several children.
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY [NY], p. 215
The incident related in the following paragraph, taken from
a newspaper of November 12, 1781, shows the social possibili-
ties under a martial condition such as that in which Staten
Island then lay :
" Last Saturday William Hetfield, an inhabitant of Elizabeth-
Town, Railway, came to Staten Island with a small quantity of
flour to dispose of, that he might get some hard money which
would enable him to pay the taxes imposed by the rebel Gov-
ernor : On his return in the evening, he was met in the Sound
by one Peter Terrat, a noted thief, who supports himself and a
gang of such miscreants, by robbing and plundering ; to him
and his party Hettield surrendered himself; but after he was
a prisoner, Terrat thought Hetfield threw something overboard,
on which the infernal fiend took a pistol out of his pocket and
shot him dead, laid the body on the bank of the Sound, and
went off exulting with the other prisoners he had taken.
" Hetfield has left a wife and several children to lament their
loss. It is said the people of the county, detesting such horrid
violence, intend making enquiry into the murder, and punish
the villain as he deserves.
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MARRIAGE: 1781; New York Co., NY; marriage list - JTC [6275]
Mercy DECAMP 1781 03 Nov + William HATFIELD
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