Hazard, Tower & Julia
Tower Hazard (1828-1891) and Julia (Hardy) Hazard (1832-1914)
Nelson, NH
The Hazard family of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, is one of many families of color that came to settle in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. Tower and Julia Hazard relocated to Nelson, NH, in the 1860s along with their children Juliette, Josephine, Mary Frances, and William W. Hazard.
Tower Hazard, as a free Black head of household, was most likely in his early 30s at the time of their move. Historical records indicate that he may have been born in 1828 in Middlesex County, MA, to Rufus and Mary (Newell) Hazard. According to his parents’ 1823 marriage record, Tower’s father was described as ‘negro’ and his mother as ‘a French woman.’
Tower’s wife Julia A. Hardy was born in Middlesex County, MA around 1832, the daughter of Elijah Hardy and Esther Freeman. The Hardys had moved around between Gardiner, Ayer, and Winchendon, MA over the course of their lives. By the time Julia was a young girl, they had relocated to Vermont; her parents’ 1838 marriage record indicates that they were married in Brattleboro, VT.
Tower Hazard and Julia A. Hardy met and married sometime in their 20s, settling first in Littleton, MA. Daughter Julietta Hazard was born there in 1849. Tower worked as a laborer and the family’s home was located beside the town’s poor house. Daughter Josephine was born a year later in 1850 and daughter Mary Frances in 1852.
In 1855, the Hazards’ 4th and last child, William H. Hazard was born. At the time, they lived within close proximity to other families of color. The 1855 Massachusetts census, reveals that the Proctor family lived on one side of their home and Phillis Hennessey lived on the other side.
At some point in the late 1850s, the Hazard family relocated to Nelson, New Hampshire. Tower found work as a stone cutter and farmer while Julia worked as a housekeeper. The children, in the meantime, attended the local school, possibly with their young neighbors of color, brothers John and James Wilson.
When the Civil War broke out, Tower Hazzard was listed as one of six men from Nelson, NH, who was eligible to be drafted into war. No evidence has been discovered, to date, to indicate that he served. The family continued to live and work in Nelson for the next few years before moving back to Massachusetts.
Tower and Julia moved to Littleton, MA sometime before 1870, according to the US Federal Census. Their daughter Josephine and 1-year old grandson Hebert Thomas (Juliette’s son) also resided with them. Josephine Hazard, at age 21, is documented in the 1870 census as a resident of Littleton, MA, and Nelson, NH, working as a housekeeper. This may reflect her eventual move to Massachusetts or her ability to find seasonal employment in either state.
Within a year of the 1870 census, Josephine Hazard married Peter F. Munroe in Littleton, MA. Soon afterward, her sister Mary F. Hazard married James F. Hazzard of Woodstock, VT in 1874. And their brother William W. Hazard married Harriet Ella Munroe of Harvard, MA. The three Hazard children remained in Middlesex County, close to their parents.
Tower and Julia Hazard moved a couple of more times in their lifetime. By 1880, they were empty-nesters living in Ayer, MA. When Tower made out his will in May 1890, he remembered each of his children, as well as his grandson Herbert Thomas, with affection but had decided not to leave them anything. Wife Julia was left with the entire estate and was named executor of his will. Eight months later, Tower died on January 11, 1891 in Leominster, MA, at the age of 66.
Widow Julia A. Hazard lived on her own in the early 1900s, appearing in the 1902 Gardiner, MA, city directory. She died at the age of 82 in October, 1914, and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Ayer, MA. The funeral was held at her home on Sandy Pond Road in Ayer, MA. The local newspaper reported, "She was a well known resident of this town.
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY
TOWER HAZARD was born in Middlesex County, MA, in 1828 to RUFUS HAZARD and MARY NEWELL. He married JULIA HARDY in Brattleboro, VT in 1832. She was the daughter of ELIJAH HARDY and ESTHER FREEMAN. They had: Julietta (1849), Josephine (1850), Mary Frances (1852), William H. (1855).
JULIETTA HAZARD was born in Littleton, MA in 1849. She married JOSEPHUS THOMAS. They had: HERBERT THOMAS in 1869.
SOURCE MATERIALS
“Funeral of Mrs. Hazard.” Hollis Times newspaper, October 23, 1914, p.3.- Newspapers.com
Massachusetts Vital Records, Births- 1849, 1850, 1852, 1855- Ancestry.com
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths- 1891, 1914- Ancestry.com
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages- 1871, 1874, 1878, 1888- Ancestry.com
Massachusetts Census, 1855- Ancestry.com
Massachusetts Wills and Probate, 1890- Ancestry.com
Vermont Vital Records, Marriages, Brattleboro- 1838- Ancestry.com
U.S. Federal Census, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910- Ancestry.com