The early summer heat of June 1917 hung heavy over the small community of Ruffin. On the Hatchel family farm, the daily rhythms of life carried a quiet, anxious anticipation. Sadie was heavily pregnant, and her husband, Tom, was doing his best to keep the household running smoothly with the help of their older children, Jack, Sam, and Johney, while keeping an eye on the energetic toddlers, Allen and Arthur.
The world beyond West Tennessee was changing rapidly. America had just entered the Great War, automobiles were beginning to appear on dusty country roads, and electricity was still a luxury in most rural homes. Yet for John Thomas Hatchel and his wife, Sadie Esther Miles Hatchel, the most important events of that year were not happening overseas—they were taking place beneath the roof of their own home.
John Thomas “Tom” Hatchel, a hardworking farmer born in 1876, and Sadie Esther Miles Hatchel, born in 1882, had already built a growing family together. They had married in Tipton County in December 1903 and spent the following years raising children while working the rich farmland of the county. Their lives revolved around crops, livestock, church gatherings, and family connections that stretched throughout the Hatchel and Miles clans.
Sadie came from the Miles family, the daughter of Lewis A. Miles and Roseanna Baskins Miles. John came from the Hatchel family, the son of James Edward Hatchel and Martha M. Evans Hatchel. Between them stood a large network of brothers, sisters, cousins, and neighbors who shared both the hardships and joys of rural life. Tom could look across the fields and find comfort knowing his brothers—Melvin Harvey, James Absolem, Cleveland, and William Duffie—were never too far away. Sadie, though missing her mother Roseanna who had passed away when Sadie was just a little girl, felt the steady, reassuring presence of her brothers Levi, Otie, Jeard, Jerry, and Will.
A Rare Blessing and Sudden Sorrow
During the early days of June 1917, Sadie gave birth to twins—a boy and a girl.
The birth of twins was a rare and exciting event in any farming community. Family members likely traveled by wagon or horseback to hear the news. The older Hatchel children would have crowded around the house, curious about the tiny newcomers. For a brief moment, the family must have imagined the future—two children growing up side by side, working the fields together, attending church together, and sharing a bond that only twins can know.
But tragedy arrived almost immediately.
The Tennessee death certificates reveal a heartbreaking story. The infant girl and infant boy were both born on June 9, 1917. Their father was listed as Tom Hatchel, and their mother as Sadie Miles Hatchel. Both children died the very same day they were born.
The cause of death was not recorded on the certificates, a common occurrence in rural Tennessee during that era, especially when infant deaths occurred shortly after birth. Medical care was limited, and many births took place at home under the care of local physicians or midwives. The official certificates noted that there was not a doctor in attendance, so premature births, complications of delivery, and illnesses that today might be treatable often proved fatal in 1917.
A brief notice in The Covington Leader captured the loss in only a few words:
“The twin infants of Mr. and Mrs. Hatchel, of Ruffin, died Saturday night and were buried Sunday.”
Those simple lines concealed an enormous grief.
The babies lived only hours, yet they were mourned by an entire family. Their father, John Thomas Hatchel, served as the informant on both death certificates. One can only imagine the sorrow he felt standing before the registrar, P. H. Taylor, providing his own name and signature to record lives that had barely begun.
The twins were buried at Sharron Cemetery near Covington on June 11, 1917. George Glass, a local undertaker from Covington, helped prepare the final arrangements. There were no long obituaries, no photographs, and no surviving letters that tell us what their parents felt. Families of that era often carried such grief quietly. Life on the farm demanded that work continue. Crops still had to be planted and harvested. Livestock still needed feeding. Other children still needed care.
Moving Forward Through the Years
Yet losses like these were never forgotten. For Sadie, the pain was likely especially deep. She had carried the children for months, prepared for their arrival, and then lost both of them almost immediately. Mothers of her generation often bore such tragedies with remarkable strength, though the sorrow remained throughout their lives.
The Hatchel family moved forward, as families must. In 1919, another daughter, Rosy Nell, was born but tragically died in infancy. The following year brought a lasting light with the birth of their daughter, Ollie Mae. The household grew, and the names of Johney, Allen, Arthur, Ollie Mae, and others filled the busy home.
Ten years after the twins’ passing, in October 1927, Sadie succumbed to broncho pneumonia at the age of 45. Her final resting place was at Smyrna Cemetery in Burlison. Tom had to stay strong for the children who remained. By 1930, the census records show “Hatchel Thomas” still farming in Tipton County, a resilient patriarch living with his children, including Velmor, Arthur, Allen, and young Ollie Mae.
The legacy of the family carried on. Velmor (also known as Thelmor Bill) eventually grew up, worked the Tipton County land as a farmer, and married Annie Bernice Martin on May 15, 1937—a milestone preserved in the county’s official documents.
John Thomas Hatchel lived until November 29, 1956, passing away from pneumonia at the age of 80. He was laid to rest next to Sadie at Smyrna Cemetery. Neither parent left a written account of their oldest sorrow, but the surviving records allow us to glimpse a chapter of their lives that might otherwise have vanished from memory.
An Enduring Remembrance
Today, more than a century later, the twins remain largely anonymous. Their death certificates record them simply as an infant girl and an infant boy. No given names appear in the surviving records. Their lives lasted only a single day.
Yet they were real children.
They were the son and daughter of John Thomas Hatchel and Sadie Esther Miles Hatchel. They were grandchildren of James Edward Hatchel and Martha Evans Hatchel, and of Lewis A. Miles and Roseanna Baskins Miles. They were part of a large Tennessee family whose roots stretched deep into Tipton County soil.
Though they never had the chance to grow up, marry, raise families, or leave descendants, their brief lives became an indelible part of the Hatchel story. The old death certificates, census records, marriage licenses, and newspaper notices preserve their memory. In doing so, they remind us that every name—or in this case, every unnamed child—in the historical record was once loved, hoped for, and mourned.
For one short day in June 1917, the Hatchel family welcomed twins into the world. By the next day, they were gone. More than a century later, their story endures as a quiet reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring strength of family memory.