THE HAZARD FAMILY OF RHODE ISLAND, by Caroline Robinson, page 1 & 2.
m. 1st Martha, who died in 1669.
m. 2nd Martha, widow of Thomas Sheirff, she died in 1691.
His name is first found in Boston MA in 1635. In 1638 he was admitted freeman of Portsmouth, RI. In 1639, he and eight others signed the the following contract,preparatory of the settlement of Newport, RI.
The founders and first officers of the town of Newport were William Coddington, Judge; Nicholas Easton, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, John Clarke, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull, Elders; William Dyer, Clerk.
Sept. 2, 1639 he was admitted freemen of Newport, and 1640, March 12, he was appointed a member of the General Court of Elections.
In the early history of the family it was almost an exception to find a Hazard who did not marry a cousin, and it is a curious fact that the lines in which these marriages were the most frequent, were often marked by the strongest men and women, both mentally and physically.
Thomas R. Hazard, in his "Recollections of Olden Times", has given an account of the family that goes back, about 1060, on the borders of Switzerland. From the Duke de Charante he has given an interesting account of the changes in the name, until towards the close of the eighteenth century, when it was written Hazard.
Info from: Bertie Hinman Hoch, 55 Towne House Lane, Corpus Chirstie, TX 78412 DIRECTORY OF HEADS OF N.E. FAMILIES, "he was a ship carpenter, on record at Boston 1635, freeman 1636: removed in a few years to RI; signed the Covenant of Cities 1639; was at Newtown, L.I. 1656. He died 1669."
His parents were William HASSARD and Ellinor SACHERVELL, and her father was Henry SACHERVELL, Esq.
RHODE ISLAND ROOTS, June 1986, by Mildred Mosher Chamberlain, C.G.
In 1656 he was of Newtown Long Island for a short time being back in Portsmouth in 1658.
In 1669 he made a will which was rendered void by later ones. His final will dated 13 Nov. 1676 mentions wife Martha, son Robert, daughters Hannah Wilcox and Martha Potter.
Three of his sons were of Newtown, Long Island - Thomas about 1652-3; Jonathan 1664 and Nathaniel 1659.
Children: Robert m. Mary Brownell; Thomas; Jonathan; Nathaniel; Elizabeth m. George Lawton; Hannah m. Stephen Wilcox; Martha m. (1) Ichabod Potter (202 Benjamin Bowry.
SUGGESTED READING:
THE HAZARD FAMILY OF RHODE ISLAND 1635-1894 (Boston MA 1895) by Caroline E. Robinson.
GENEALOGICAL DICTIONARY OF RI, by James O. Austin. (Baltimore MD rev. 1978 ed) THE EARLY RECORDS OF THE TOWN OF PORTSMOUTH, (Providence RI 1901)
Sources: Babcock and Allied Families by Louis E. De Forest; Potter-Richardson Memorial; Potter Families and Descendants in America; The Hazard Family of RI; Genealogies of RI Families, "One Line of the Haszard Family"; Savage; The Albro Family History; Ancestral Lines Revised (1981) by Carl Boyer 3rd; Founders of Early American Families; National Society, Daughters of Colonial Wars, 1958-1966 (973, D2dcw); Hazard-Potter Records (film 1,033,990, It. 3); The Great Migration Begins, v2, p1314; A Witter Family History.
De Forest: Thomas Hazard, born 1610, died 1680. He was a ship's carpenter
who emigrated to Boston in 1635, freeman 25 March 1636. He moved to Portsmouth, RI, in 1638 and on 28 April 1639, he was admitted as an inhabitant of the Island of Aquidneck. In that year he and eight other men signed an agreement preparatory to settling Newport. On 5 June 1639 he was one of the four proportioners of land at Newport. He was made a freeman 2 Sept. 1639. He was in in Middelburg (Newtown), Long Island, New York, where he a magistrate from 1652 to 1655; was back in Portsmouth in 1655; returned to Middelburg for short time in 1656; later returned to Portsmouth. He made his will 30 Nov. 1669. Married (1) Martha, (2) 1675 Martha Sheriff, widow of Thomas Sheriff. Made a new will 6 Nov. 1676, giving one shilling to each of his children, with the widow getting "all movable and immovable estate" and 30 acres in Portsmouth in which she would have a life interest.
Memorial: Thomas Hazard, born about 1610, probably in Dorsetshire, England. He was in Boston by 1635 and was freeman there in 1638; removed to Portsmouth, RI, where he was admitted a freeman in 1640. Married (1) Martha ________, (2) Martha (________) Sheriff, widow of Thomas Sheriff. Thomas Hazard died in 1680 in Portsmouth. This source says he may also have had three more sons: Thomas, Nathaniel and Jonathan, mother not specified. On page 180 it says Thomas was from Nottinghamshire; was appointed with three others to lay out the town of Newport in 1639. He also was a founder of Newton, Long Island, NY, where he was a magistrate, 1652-1655, under the Dutch. He and his wife Martha had four children. He was a ship's carpenter and a surveyor.
Potter Families: Thomas Hazard, came to America from Wales.
Hazard Family: Thomas Hazard, progenitor of the family in America, born
1610; will proved 1680; married (1) Martha ___, (2) Martha, widow of
Thomas Sheriff. His name is first found in Boston in 1635, where he was admitted a freeman 25 March 1638. Two years later he was admitted a freeman in Portsmouth, RI. Admitted a freeman of Newport, RI, 2 Sept. 1639 and 12 March 1640 appointed a member of the General Board of Elections. In 1665, he was for a short time in Newtown, Long Island.
RI Families: "Thomas Haszard came to Portsmouth in the colony of Rhode
Island, the north town of Aquidneck, with three children about the year 1639."
He married his second wife, Martha, the widow of Thomas Sheriffe of Portsmouth, about 1675, by whom he had no offspring. His will, signed 6 Aug. 1677, is recorded in Portsmouth, in which he empowers "my loving wife, Martha Hazard, whole and sole executrix of all and every part of my estate." He was buried on the farm lying on the west shore of the island next north of Lawton's Valley, which farm is now (date?) occupied as an asylum for the poor of the town of Portsmouth. (From an article by John B. Pierce, town clerk of North Kingstown, which names only three children: Hannah who married Stephen Wilcox, Martha who married Ichabod Potter and Robert, no wife listed, who was four years old when he came to Portsmouth.) An article in Vol. 1, on page 289, says Thomas Hazard signed the Newport Compact, which was drawn up after the Portsmouth Compact of 7 March 1637/38, by men in disagreement with the latter compact. These men settled Newport.
Savage: Thomas Hazard, Boston, 1635, ship carpenter; freeman 25 May 1636;
removed in few years to RI; signed the cov. of citiz. 24 Jan. 1639 and is on the list of 1655, but in 1656 was in Newtown, L.I. Thence he soon came back to Portsmouth, R.I. and died there in 1669. Will that year names wife Martha; daughters Elizabeth, wife of George Laighton; Hannah, wife of Stephen Wilcox of Misquamacuck, that part of the Narraganset now Westerly; and Martha, wife of Ichabod Potter of Portsmouth, besides son Robert and grandson Thomas Hazard.
Tradition in the family is that he came from Wales, bringing son Robert, age 4.
Albro: Thomas Hazard, born 1610, came from England to Boston in 1635. Listed as a freeman and ship's carpenter. Removed to Rhode Island in 1636. His will names wife Martha, son Robert and daughters Elizabeth, Hannah and Martha. Two other sons are known: George, born in Providence, RI, in 1646, and Thomas Jr. He married (1) Martha ____ and (2) Martha____, widow of Thomas Sheriff/Shreve after 29 May 1675. Thomas Hazard died in 1680.
Ancestral Lines: Thomas Hazard, born in Nottinghamshire (several sources,
probably following family tradition) or Dorsetshire (Sumner) in 1610. Died in
Kings Town (now South Kingston) RI in 1680. His first wife, Martha, died about 1670. Married (2), about 1675, Martha, widow of Thomas Sheriff. She married (3) Lewis Hues and died in 1691. He and his first wife were the ancestors of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry of Commodire Matthew C. Perry. Thomas Hazard was in Boston in 1635 (Sumner), having perhaps sailed from Wales (Parker, 6), and was freeman 25 March 1636 (Austin). He was a ship carpenter (Sumner, 101). He moved to Portsmouth, RI, in 1638, and a freeman there in 1639. One of the founders and owners of Newport, 28 April 1639. He was a freeman in Newport 2 Sept. 1639 and a member of the General Court of Elections on 12 March 1640, when the people of Portsmouth and Newport united under one government. He was a member of the Governor's Council in 1654 and served as a magistrate from 1652 to 1655. He moved to Middleburg (now Newton), Long Island, in 1656 (Holmes), but lived there only a short time (Austin). On 16 Oct. 1674 he testified he was aged 64 (Austin). His will, dated 13 Nov. 1676, was proven in 1680. His wife was executrix.
Founders: Thomas Hazard. Boston, MA, 1635. Newport 1639. Portsmouth 1640. Newtown, Long Island, 1665. Died by 1680. Freeman. Magistrate, Ship carpenter.
Colonial Wars: Thomas Hazard, 1610-1680, R.I. and N.Y. Founder of Newport, R.I., 1639. Member, General Court of Elections, 1640. Delegate from Middlebury (Newton), Long Island, to convention of 1653 at New amsterdam. Magistrate at Middlebury, 1653-1655. Signed the Compact of Aquidneck, R.I. Governor's Council, 1654.
Witter Family: Thomas Hazard, born 1610, Nottingham, England. Died 1680,
Kingstown, R.I. He was a ship's carpenter. In Boston 1635. Lived at Portsmouth,
R.I., and settled Newport. Lived Middleburg, Long Island, and Kingstown, R.I.
Freeman of Boston 1636. Member of the R.I. General Court 1640 and of the
Governor's Council 1654. Magistrate 1652-55. Married (1) Martha ___ and
(2) Martha Potter, widow of Thomas Sheriff. Thomas Hazard's parents probably were William Hazard/Hassard and Ellianor Sachrverell of Nottinghamshire. This line is continued another 12 generations back to the Duke of Charante. See Chart 20A.