Page 6 - April 2023 News On 7_Neat

HAZZARD'S HISTORY NOTES

by Grant Ketcheson
“WHERE HAZZARD'S CORNERS GOT ITS NAME”

In the 1820s and early 1830s, there were few settlers around the intersection of the trail to the Allen Settlement and to
Cooksokie (later called Cooper and Queensborough). There are stories of a log schoolhouse located there which was also
used as a place of worship. In fact, in later writings, reference is made to worship services being held in the “Hazzard's
Chapel” (likely the log school).
Joseph Hazzard, born in 1797 in New York State, came to Canada as a youth. Elcey Lloyd, who became his wife, was born in
Fredericksburg near Hay Bay, the daughter of United Empire Loyalists. Joseph and Elcey married in 1819. They lived in
Thurlow Township before heading north to the frontier in 1837, purchasing 200 acres on Lot 11 in the 8th Concession of
Madoc Township. There was already a small burial ground in the north-west corner of the farm. A few years later, Joseph
Hazzard sold 1.25 acres to the local Methodists to allow for enlargement of the cemetery and as a site for a future church. (An
interesting side note: While the cemetery was established about 1830, the oldest stone monument in the cemetery is dated
1842. This indicates that many early graves were unmarked or had wooden markers, now long gone.)
Joseph and Elcey Hazzard raised twelve children, six boys and six girls, on their farm located at what is now 1150 Cooper
Road. With so many Hazzards, little wonder that the area came to be called Hazzard's Corners!
In a pioneer community with no professional medical help, Elcey Hazzard became well-known as the local doctor and
midwife. She travelled by horse and buggy, delivering babies and caring for the sick.
Joseph Hazzard, according to family stories, “was a deeply religious man who led class meetings in the community for forty
years.” Many of these religious classes must have been held in homes or in the log “Hazzard's Chapel” as Hazzard's Methodist
Church was not opened for worship until 1858.
The Hazzard Family History (1959) documents the many members of the family buried in the local cemetery. At least a half-
dozen of these burials are recorded as “buried near the church in an unmarked grave.”
Joseph Hazzard departed this life in 1871 and Elcey in 1888. They rest in Hazzard's Cemetery near the little white church that
bears their family name.