P00927Thomas W. Hatten (c. 1855-1936) was born in Ohio and died in Hingham,
Massachusetts. He became interested in Christian Science when he acquired a copy of
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures while living in Kansas in 1887. He studied
with Janet T. Colman, a student of Mary Baker Eddy's, in St. Louis, Missouri, in June
1887. Hatten later became a student of Eddy's himself, completing the Primary class in
February 1889. He returned home afterwards and became a Christian Science practitioner
in Belleville, Kansas. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in February 1892 and started
working for the Christian Science Publishing House in 1893. Hatten joined The First
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1892 and was
elected as an executive member on August 18, 1896. He was a member of the National
Christian Scientist Association. Eddy secured the copyright of the
Church Manual when it was first issued in 1895 in the names of Hatten and
James A. Neal, who was another student of Eddy's, until Eddy assumed the copyright in
1903. Hatten was made a Trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898, a
position he held until 1917. He served as Sunday School Superintendent of The First
Church of Christ, Scientist, from 1898 to 1902. He also served as a member of the
Committee on Business. Hatten worked as an associate secretary at Pleasant View, Eddy's
home in Concord, New Hampshire, from November 1901 to January 1902 and again for a short
time in November 1904. In 1906, Hatten served on the Building Committee for The Mother
Church Extension. Hatten was listed in the directory of
The Christian
Science Journal as a Christian Science practitioner in Kansas in 1890 and in
Massachusetts from 1892 until his passing.
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