When Elmer Ray Hatch was born on 6 June 1898, in Blakeman, Rawlins, Kansas, United States, his father, Merritt Lewis Hatch, was 37 and his mother, Mary Louisa Cook, was 35. He married Rachel Amanda Underhill about 1919. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. He lived in Hayes, Nebraska, United States in 1935 and Wauneta Election Precinct, Chase, Nebraska, United States in 1940. He died on 17 September 1955, in Wauneta, Chase, Nebraska, United States, at the age of 57, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Wauneta, Chase, Nebraska, United States.