Andrew Lee and Charity Hatchell

Beaufort, North Carolina as seen from Morehead City - Civil War Sketch

Andrew Lee Hatchell 1803-1841
Charity Fuller 1807-1891

In 1826 Andrew Lee Hatchell came to Beaufort and married Charity Fuller. They had the following children in the 1827 Hatsell house on Orange Street:

William Fuller Hatsel was born about 1828. After Andrew Lee died in 1841, William and his siblings lived with his mother and stepfather William Read. At the age of 27, William married Rebecca S. Pigott on August 19, 1855. William and Rebecca had four children: Kesiah Hatsel born 1857, Ruth Magnolia Hatsel born 1858, Andrew Hatsel born 1862 and William K. Hatsel (1865-1921). They lived with Rebecca's mother for a while, then for a short time on Orange Street. A ship's carpenter by trade, William became the Principal Keeper of the Bodie Island Lighthouse on October 29, 1872. He served until December 7, 1878. Nathaniel H. Bishop's diary of 1874, Voyage of the Paper Canoe, noted a "Captain William F. Hatzel (sic), a loyal North Carolinian, is the principal keeper, and a most efficient one he is."

Jane Belcher Hatsell was born in 1831. She married Thomas Elwood Mace on September 14, 1853. They had six children: Aurora Mace born 1854, Ulysses Mace born 1856, Jeremiah Mace born 1857, Leonidas Mace (1862-1865), Rosalea Mace (1864-1865) and Rose Mace born 1867.

George Andrew Hatsell was born October 2, 1833. On May 25, 1861, George Andrew, 22, carpenter, enlisted as a Confederate in Carteret County. He was sergeant in the 1st Regiment NC Artillery. At sunrise on April 25, 1862, it is said that his mother Charity Hatchell Read, along with her 16-year-old daughter Julia Read, stood on the south end of her upper porch on Orange Street with Emmeline Pigott, a confederate spy, to watch the shelling at Fort Macon. The attack began just before 6 a.m. Charity Hatchell recalled, “The noise of the explosions was terrific. Window frames shook, houses trembled and even the waters of the sound seemed to ruffle with each shock. At four o’clock in the afternoon the fire from the fort ceased, and a white flag was run up.” George Andrew survived the one-day battle at Fort Macon, but was captured on April 26, 1862. He was paroled and exchanged as a prisoner in August of 1862.

About 1869 George Andrew married Julia Ellen Mace (circa 1845-January 20, 1892), daughter of Benjamin Mace and Susannah Stanton. George was a mail agent in Beaufort before becoming a hotel caterer. They had seven children. (See George Andrew Hatsel and Julia Ellen Mace)

Mary Elizabeth Hatsell was born in 1838. Mary Elizabeth married Bryan Griffin Credle. On January 1, 1901, their daughter Charity Credle married Caleb Davis Bradham - the New Bern pharmacist who had invented Pepsi-Cola in 1898. When Charity and Caleb married, Caleb gave his father-in-law, Bryan Griffin Credle, one share of Pepsi-Cola stock. Charity and Caleb's daughter, Mary McCan Bradham, was pictured in a photo ad when she was about four years old - making her the first and youngest "Pepsi Girl". Charity and Caleb had two other children - Caleb Davis Bradham Jr., born in 1905 and George Washington Bradham born in 1907. Mary McCann Bradham married William Dossey Pruden Sr.
_______________

Andrew Lee Hatchell died in 1841. On November 7, 1844, Charity Fuller Hatchell married William Read - a mechanic. They continued to live in the 1827 Orange Street house and raised Andrew and Charity's children as well as two children born to Charity and William - Julia born in 1848 and Charity born in 1850. “Miss Julia,” a teacher, once used the outside kitchen as a private school. Charity Fuller Hatsell Read died in 1891. Her daughter Julia Read lived in the 1827 house until all of her nephews were grown. Before 1910 she moved to live with her nephew George L. Hatsell (Charlie's brother) and his two children in Richmond, Georgia. The 1827 house was then rented by part of the Duncan family. The 1910 census shows Fannie Duncan 33, with David 11 and Emily Frances 9.

Andrew Lee Hatchell and Charity Fuller Hatchell are buried in Beaufort's Old Burial Ground. Two of their grandchildren, Leonidas Mace (1862-1865), Rosalea Mace (1864-1865) are commemorated on their grandparents' headstone. Next to this headstone is Ruth Magnolia Hatsel born in 1858 to William Fuller Hatsel and Rebecca S. Pigott. Click below images to enlarge.