Edward I. "Ed" Hiatt (or Edward on one source?)

Birth: Born around 1873 in Iowa.  

Family Information: Brother of Will Anna Skinner.

Uncle of James Skinner.  

Description: In 1934 he was described as being "horny-handed."  

Pre-Colony History: In 1880 he was living with his parents and siblings at Iowa.

In 1910 he was living in Woodward, Oklahoma with his wife and three children and working as a farmer.

In 1928 he came to the colony from Shreveport, Louisiana.  

Home in Colony: In 1930 he was listed as a boarder with the Theodore Atworth family. He was still listed as being married, but there is no mention of his wife and children ever being in the colony.  

Job in Colony: In March 1928 he was put to work helping Ben Roe in the garden.

In January 1929 he was put in charge of the orchard, having been a fruit grower in California.

In November 1929 Comrade Atwood was head of the garden group and had Comrade Davis on the Hiatt team plowing; with Mardfin picking vegetables; Shutt, Hartman and Ruth hoeing; Miss Watson was picking green beans and Mrs. Garrett had a group of little folks picking beans out on the farm.

He was a gardener for the colony, in 1930 he had charge of the orchard and was listed as the horticulturist for the colony. In June he was congratulated for his orchard of plums, berries, grapes and peaches, as well as a few apples, along with Ben Roe for his successful gardens -- "the colony ha[d] never had such a showing as [wa]s then being made."

In September 1931 he and his nephew, Jimmie Skinner, went to Hot Springs for a fortnight to recuperate. In their absence, Ross Brannon, assisted by Bill Tuber, was cultivating the orchard. In October 1931 the two had returned and were once again busy in the orchard.

In February 1932 the orchard was "looking fine" due to good work being done by Hiatt, Skinner, Dore and Jaufroid.

In 1934 he was out working "among the cumquats [sic]."

In February 1934 he was a member of the Sunday Volunteer Gang including: Bill Heath, Charles Brown, Rob Roe, Walter Gaulke, Dad Thomas, Ernest Prodon, Bert Busick, Roscoe Busick, Gossett, Jack Carnahan, Ed Hiatt, John Calgarry, Tom Cunningham, Phillips, Real Baril, Nick Lentz, Ed Mansfield, Septer Baldwin, F.W. Fay and F.S. Hammond. They spent the day cutting some eight hundred feet of cypress lumber into two-inch planks, twenty inches wide and as clear as a hound's tooth to be used for shingles.  

Other Info: His experiment in 1930 with sugar beets looked promising - it was a small patch, but worthwhile to show what could be done with them. Later, that same year he was wiring the grapes in order to train them for future growth.

In June 1931 the Kittle family and Comrade Hiatt gave an exhibition of the square dance much to the enjoyment of the crowd. Also Robert Kittle entertained with three numbers on his guitar while his father demonstrated a "clog".

In 1932 he and Doug Bridger returned from Mena, Arkansas where they had seen Billy and Viola Gilbert and Mrs. Voorhees of "California memory".

In 1932 he, along with many other colonists, signed a protest against colonists E.G. Webb and Walter Groth remaining in the colony "to save them".

As of April 1933, he had been busy all the time - planting trees and vines and making cuttings and root grafts for future nursery stock; they had transplanted 50 large pecan trees from the Lenahan place to the colony orchard, set out over 300 grape vines, 300 persimmon trees and 1,480 Young-berries. They had made 300 root grafts of choice Japanese persimmons, 2,000 grape cuttings, 1,000 plum cuttings, 1,200 pear cuttings, 500 apple cuttings and many more varieties and all are starting nicely.  

Post-Colony History: In 1940 he was living alone in California and was divorced.  

Death: He died in 1962 at Stanislaus, California and was buried in Acacia Memorial Park at Modesto, California.  

Sources: US Census: 1880, 1910, 1930, 1940; "Llano Colonist": January 26, 1929, November 16, 1929, May 3, 1930, June 21, 1930, June 6, 1931, September 5, 1931, October 3, 1931, February 27, 1932, May 7, 1932, April 29, 1933, February 3, 1934, April 28, 1934, May 5, 1934; California Death Index; FindAGrave.com