Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
History
Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784
Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
New Brunswick -- History; Saint John River Valley (Me. and N.B.)
Of James Simonds' large family of fourteen children several were
prominent in the community. Hon. Charles Simonds was for years the
leading citizen of Portland. He was born the same year the Loyalists
landed in St. John, and was a member for St. John county in the
House of Assembly from 1821 until his death in 1859, filling during
that time the positions of speaker and leader of the government.
Hon. Richard Simonds, born in 1789, represented the county of
Northumberland in the House of Assembly when but twenty-one years of
age and sat from 1810 to 1828, when he was appointed treasurer of the
province. He filled for a short time the position of speaker of
the assembly, and from 1829 until his death in 1836 was a member of
the Legislative Council. Sarah, one of the daughters of James
Simonds, married (Sept. 10, 1801) Thomas Millidge, the ancestor of the
Millidges of St. John; her youngest sister Eliza married (Aug. 9,
1801) Henry Gilbert, merchant of St. John, from whom the members of
this well known family are descended.
William Hazen, the third of the signers of the partnership contract,
was born in Haverhill July 17, 1738. His great-grandfather, Edward
Hazen, the first of the name in America, was a resident of Rowley,
Massachusetts, as early as the year 1649. By his wife Hannah Grant he
had four sons and seven daughters. The youngest son Richard, born
August 6, 1669, inherited the large estate of his stepfather, George
Browne, of Haverhill. This Richard Hazen was grandfather of James
Simonds as well as of William Hazen; he married Mary Peabody and had a
family of five sons and six daughters (one of the latter was the
mother of James Simonds.) The third son, Moses Hazen was the ancestor
of the Hazens of New Brunswick.
The wife of Moses Hazen was Abigail White, aunt of James White who
came to St. John. Their sons John, Moses and William have a special
interest for us. John, the oldest distinguished himself as a captain
of the Massachusetts troops in the French war. He married Anne Swett
of Haverhill, and had a son John, who came with his uncle William to
St. John in 1775 and settled at Burton on the River St. John, where he
married Dr. William McKinstry's daughter, Priscilla, and had a family
of twelve children. J. Douglas Hazen, of St. John, M. P. P., for
Sunbury County, is one of his descendants.
Moses Hazen, the second son has been mentioned as commander of one of
the companies of the Fort Frederick garrison in 1759; he became a
Brigadier General in the American army in the Revolutionary war.
William Hazen, the third son and co-partner of Simonds and White, was
born in Haverhill, July 17, 1738. He married, July 14, 1764, Sarah Le
Baron of Plymouth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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