Thomas Hazard
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Thomas Hazard (1610 - after 1677) was one of the nine founding settlers of
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...
on
Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island ( ), officially known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as ...
(Rhode Island) in the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...
. He settled in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
before settling Newport, but later returned to Portsmouth. His descendants include Commodores
Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and Captain Christo ...
and
Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...
and three colonial Rhode Island deputy governors.


Life

Thomas Hazard was a founding settler of Newport, Rhode Island, who, upon arriving from England, first settled in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, and then came to
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
before settling in Newport. Moriarity suggested that he had come from
Dorsetshire Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to th ...
, England, but Anderson concluded there is insufficient evidence for this assertion. He was a ship carpenter, and was in Boston in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...
as early as 1635, and admitted to the church there on 22 May 1636. He was made a freeman of Boston in 1636, but by 1638 he was admitted as an inhabitant of
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
on Aquidneck Island, where many followers of
Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (; July 1591 – August 1643) was an English-born religious figure who was an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious formal d ...
had settled. On 28 April 1639, he and eight others signed a compact, and soon established the town of Newport at the southern end of Aquidneck Island. Once there, he was named as one of four assigned to proportion the land, and to collect four pence for each acre laid out. In September he was made a
freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...
of Newport, and the following March was a member of the general court of elections. On 20 June 1644 he sold to Henry Bull certain parcels of land that had been granted to him by the freemen of Newport. In 1655 Hazard was once again in Portsmouth, where his name appears on a list of freemen, and where, in 1658, he deeded land to Stephen Wilcox, who married his daughter Hannah. The same year he was chosen to sit on the colony's petit jury, but was fined five shillings for not serving. Hazard wrote a will on 30 November 1669, naming his son and his three married daughters. His circumstances later changed, and on 13 November 1676 he wrote another will with much different provisions (see Family, below). He was still alive on 6 August 1677 when he further modified his estate plans. Austin has him paying a tax in 1680, but Anderson does not find this to be valid.


Family

Hazard first married a woman named Martha, about whom little is known. Based on the probable birth dates of his children, his wife and at least two children likely sailed with him from England to
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
. Hazard had a friendly relationship with Thomas Sheriff of Portsmouth, and when the latter died, Hazard married, as his second wife, Sheriff's widow, also named Martha. In his first will in 1669, Hazard made his son executor, and named all three daughters, but in his later will, his son and daughters were disinherited, with all of his estate going to his "beloved yoakfellow Martha Hassard now living." Following Hazard's death, his widow then married Lewis Hues, who abandoned her within a few weeks, apparently "taking away great part of her estate, that was hers in her former husband's time." Of Hazard's four known children, Robert married Mary Brownell; Elizabeth married George Lawton; Hannah married Stephen Wilcox; and Martha married first Ichabod Potter, and later married Benjamin Mowry. Hazard's great grandson,
George Hazard George Hazard (9 October 1700 – 1738) was a deputy governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Life George Hazard was the son of George and Penelope (Arnold) Hazard of South Kingstown in the Rhode Island colony. His ...
was the deputy governor of the Rhode Island colony from 1734 to 1738, and his great grandson
Robert Hazard Robert Hazard (''né'' Rimato; August 21, 1948 – August 5, 2008) was an American rock musician from Philadelphia. He wrote, composed, and recorded (as a demo) the song " Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in 1979, which was recorded in 198 ...
was the deputy governor from 1750 to 1751. Colonial deputy governor Jonathan Nichols, Jr., and the first Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Gideon Cornell were descendants, as were the brothers, Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was a United States Navy officer from South Kingstown, Rhode Island. A prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and Captain Christo ...
and Commodore
Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...
. Most early writers on the family suggest that Hazard was the same person as a Thomas Hazard living in Newtown on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, but Anderson presents evidence that the two are different men.


See also

*
List of early settlers of Rhode Island This is a collection of lists of early settlers (before 1700) in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Most of the lists are of the earliest inhabitants of a particular town or area. Native American tribes and leaders The ...
*
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious d ...


References

a. Austin cites an unknown source from 1674 in which Hazard calls himself aged 64. However, Anderson points out that his son, Robert, had to have been born by 1628, making a 1610 birth year improbable for the elder Hazard, and likely that his birth was several years earlier.


Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazard, Thomas 17th-century births Year of death unknown English emigrants to the United States People from Portsmouth, Rhode Island People from Newport, Rhode Island People from colonial Rhode Island Hazard family (Rhode Island)