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Chapter 37
Hazen

Bowlby >

One of the most distinguished Loyalists who settled at Long Point was Sergt. Daniel Hazen. The grand ancestor of the American Hazens was Edward Hazen, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1648 from Northamptonshire, England. In the year following, his wife died and was buried at Rowley, a small village in that state. In 1650 he was married to Hannah Grant, and their eldest son was Thomas, born in 1657.

The town records of Rowley, Massachusetts, prove that Edward Hazen was a man of substance and influence in his day. He was appointed Overseer or Select-man in 1650, ’51, ’54, ’60, ’65, and ’69, and Judge of Delinquents in 1666. On his death, in 1683, his estate was inventoried at £404 7s. 6d. a considerable sum in those days.

The writer will trace in the family history that branch only in which the Long Point Loyalists are interested.

John, the eldest son of Thomas Hazen, married Mercy Bradstreet, the granddaughter of Governor Bradstreet. One of their sons was Daniel, while his eldest son was the Daniel Hazen who afterwards settled at Long Point. Daniel, jun., was born on the 10th of August, 1755. When he was twelve years old his father removed to New Jersey, and the family became prominent in that State as formerly in Massachusetts.

Daniel had just come of age when the Declaration of Independence was signed. On the outbreak of hostilities, with all the ardor of a native-born Englishman, he joined the King’s army, and so distinguished himself that he was appointed sergeant in Barlowe’s regiment of the New Jersey Volunteers. On several occasions he was entrusted with important commissions, which he so discharged as to bring him into constantly increasing popularity with his superior officers, for he was a man to be depended on, and though wary and cautious, as bold as a lion in open fight.

Until the outbreak of the war he had been employed in a surveyor’s office, and had become very skilful and accurate in that profession. At the close of the war, with his young wife (Anna Ward), he moved to New Brunswick, and was appointed by the Government to survey lands along the St. John’s River, for the Loyalists who were coming in crowds to that province. Sergeant Hazen received, among the rest, a large grant of land on that river, and lived there for about eight years; but being filled with the desire to explore western Canada, he left New Brunswick in 1792, and settled in the new Province of Ontario, first in Brant and afterwards in Chippawa, in the Niagara district.

During the summer of 1796 the Hon. Peter Russell, acting Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, sent Sergeant Hazen and a Mr. Hamlin to survey the townships of Charlotteville and Walsingham in Norfolk County. Charlotteville was surveyed by Mr. Hamlin and his successor, Mr. Welch, but Sergeant Hazen by himself completed the whole survey of Walsingham.

In surveying land the first line run is called the base line. Then others are drawn parallel to it. In Walsingham these are two and a quarter miles apart with an allowance in each case of sixty-six feet for a road. In this township there are three of these, the boundary lines not being known as "base lines."  The township is therefore nine miles wide. At right angles to these were roads called the concessions, and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. There are fourteen of these in Walsingham, at a distance of five-sixths of a mile apart, the fourteenth concession being one mile wide.  There are, therefore six allotments of two hundred acres between the side lines, or twenty-four farms to each concession, the size of the farms being five-sixths of a mile by one hundred and twenty rods. The roads were simply marked. Many were not opened out for years after the survey, and some, indeed, are still "blind roads."

Sergeant Hazen was very particular about having absolutely pure water for the use of his family. During the survey he came to a lovely little stream, where the water fell in rippling sparkles over the rocks, like Horace’s "fons Bandusia, splendidior vitro."  As he saw it, and examined the land on either side, he exclaimed, "Here will I live, and here will I be buried!"

Accordingly he determined to remove from Chippawa, and in 1797 he received a large grant of land in Walsingham, the allotment that he had chosen for himself. He had six sons and two daughters, who received from the government the following grants of land. The entries are taken from the records of the Crown Lands Department:

"Daniel, jun., yeoman, son of Daniel Hazen, Order-in-Council 19th December, 1806, two hundred acres in Woodhouse.
"Lydia, spinster, daughter of Daniel Hazen, Order-in-Council 29th July, 1806, two hundred acres in Walsingham.
"William, yeoman, son of Daniel Hazen, Order-in-Council 5th August, 1807, two hundred acres in Walsingham.
"John, yeoman, son of Daniel Hazen, Order-in-Council 13th October, 1812, two hundred in Walsingham.
"Rachael, spinster, daughter of Daniel Hazen, Order-in-Council 13th October, 1812, two hundred acres in Walsingham. And also
"Anna Hazen, wife of Daniel Hazen, jun., and daughter of James Matthews, a U. E. Loyalist, Order-in-Council 19th December, 1806, two hundred acres in Woodhouse."

There were also the two youngest sons, Caleb and Elijah. Elijah was the carrier of His Majesty’s mail from Vittoria to Port Rowan, for which he was allowed seventy-five cents per week. This gives one an idea of the value and scarcity of money in the early times, eight shillings York currency being the ordinary price of an acre of ground.

Sergeant Hazen was a very large man, tall and powerfully built. He is described as a man of exceedingly good humor, with a kind word for every one. He was a man of strong religious conviction, and a prominent member of the original Woodhouse Methodist Church, organized by Daniel Freeman. He attended service every Sunday, though it meant for him a walk of over twenty miles through the woods. When the regular minister was absent, Sergeant Daniel would officiate himself, and his words were always acceptable to the little congregation.

The old Sergeant, on the outbreak of the war in 1812, promptly took up arms in defence of Canada, and served for the three years. Fortunately no accident happened him, and at its close he settled down to peaceful life once more at his home in Walsingham, called "Hazen’s Corners."

In 1824 he was a candidate for election to the Provincial Parliament. There were three days of open voting. Unfortunately, although almost every vote in Walsingham was cast for him, the opposition in the other parts of the county was too strong, and he was not elected.

Such was the life of the original surveyor of Walsingham as related by his grandson, Jacob W. Hazen, of Tilsonburg, now in his sixty-sixth year, an extremely interesting and entertaining host. The writer was shown several relics of his grandfather, notably the sword which did duty in the Revolutionary War, the musket used in 1812, the epaulettes of his uniform, and the Bible which was carried constantly through the latter war, also many of his papers, sketches of places, and maps of surveys. In many places the writing is indistinguishable, but the sketches show extreme neatness and care.

The Hazens may well be proud of their good old Loyalist ancestor.