1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Processing note

5.   Inventory

6.   Subjects


    List of finding aids

    R.I.H.S. Library page

    R.I.H.S. home page

 Thomas Hazard II Papers

 Gentleman, South Kingstown, R.I.

 Papers, 1698-1746

 Size: 0.25 linear feet

 Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 1

 Processed by: Rick Stattler, November 1996


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            Thomas Hazard II (1660-1746) was the son of Robert Hazard (1635-1710) and Mary Brownell (1639-1739) of Portsmouth and Kingstown, R.I. His father settled in Kingstown in 1687 and owned extensive property in the area. Thomas seems to have moved to Kingstown with his father, and made many investments of his own in the Kingstown area He could be considered the founder of the Peace Dale branch of Hazard family. In 1698, he purchased from Samuel Sewall two large lots in South Kingstown that remained central to his descendants' fortunes for the following three centuries. One 500-acre lot was at Point Judith; the other was a 300-acre lot where the village of Peace Dale now stands. By the 1790s, Thomas' great-grandson Rowland was operating a woolen mill at Peace Dale that became the major industry in the region.

            It is speculated that the wife of Thomas Hazard II was named Susannah Nichols. They had seven sons and three daughters. Thomas Hazard II was the grandson of Thomas Hazard I (1610-1680), who came to Boston in 1630, and then became an original settler of Newport, R.I.


Bibliography:

Robinson, Caroline E. The Hazard Family of Rhode Island 1635-1894 (Boston: Published by author, 1895)


Return to top


Scope and content:


            This collection includes only 14 items. Most are land records relating to Hazard's early purchases in South Kingstown. Also included are his will, and two letters which supported his land claim.

            A reference file is available, consisting of photostats and photocopies of all the documents in this collection. Patrons are asked to use the reference file for all research and copying, to reduce wear on the originals.

            The Newport Historical Society has two original Thomas Hazard documents. In a miscellaneous Hazard Family folder can be found a short letter to Francis Brinley dated November 25 1730. In Box LE1 is an agreement with Francis Brinley dated October 9 1738, in which Hazard agrees not to take possession of his recently purchased land until the following March.


Return to top


Provenance:


            The bulk of these papers appear to have been donated by Caroline Hazard in 1945. The description of her 1945 gift in the accession book mentions a "large folio" relating to "Thomas Hazard 1698-1746", which covers the date range in this collection. Other items may have been added later. Three additional items (items 1, 3 and 14 in the inventory below) were donated by Oliver C. Hazard in 2001.

            Before the 1945 gift, multiple photostats were made of eight items (including the 1734 letter that has been removed from the collection). Copies of some of these photostats were apparently deposited by the Hazard family in 1975 (made a gift in 1985). Another set of copies was donated by the John Carter Brown Library in 1981. Not all copies of these photostats have been retained.


Return to top


Processing note:


            This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.

            One letter, from Richard Partridge to Gov. John Wanton dated June 27, 1734, was found to have no obvious relation to the Hazards, and was removed to the Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection, where it is now filed under Wanton's name.


Return to top


Inventory:



Triple-oversized folder.

Item 1. Deed from Samuel Sewall of Boston, April 28, 1698 [original in triple-oversized storage]


Folder 1.

Item 2. Receipt for rent covering 1698 to 1702, from Jahleel Brenton, June 6, 1702.

Item 3. Deed from Samuel Sewall of Boston, January 17, 1710

Item 4. Letter from Samuel Sewall of Boston, November 5, 1716.

            Quotes a letter from Sewall to Maj. John Walley, dated February 21, 1689/90.

Item 5. Deed from Jonathan Turner, Benjamin Peckham and Joseph Hoxsie for shares in various lots in the old Pettaquamscutt Purchase, March 26, 1722

Item 6. Deed from Elizabeth Hutchinson, November 5, 1722.

Item 7. Lease from Francis Brinley for 800 acres on Boston Neck, South Kingstown, March 27, 1728.


Folder 2.

Item 8. Deed, Thomas Hazard to son Jeremiah Hazard for 50 acres in South Kingstown, August 25, 1731.

Item 9. Deposition of Thomas Foxcroft and Charles Chauncy of Boston, January 29, 1735, asserting that William Brenton, John Hull and Samuel Wilbur were members in good standing in the "Old Church in Boston". Hull was the father-in-law of Samuel Sewall. This apparently proved that Sewall was entitled to a lawful title to the land he had sold Thomas Hazard.

Item 10. Deed from Francis Brinley, October 9, 1738.

Item 10a. Plat map, 1738, relating to October 9, 1738 deed [photostat only - see photostat file]

Item 11. Bond from Francis Brinley, October 12, 1738.

Item 12. Last will and testament, November 12, 1746. 5 pages.

Item 13. Judgement of Newport General Council regarding will, August [1749?].

Item 14. Later transcription of April 7, 1698 note from Sewall Papers at Massachusetts Historical Society.


Return to top


Subjects:


Brinley, Francis (1690-1765)

Hazard, Jeremiah (1697- )

Hull, John

Sewall, Samuel (1652-1730)

South Kingstown, R.I.

Walley, John (1644-1712)


End of finding aid - return to top

RIHS1822