SEVENTH GENERATION I 2 I 
     
    
   
   
    
     §649. THOMAS ROBINSON HAZARD, 7 (Rowland, 6; Thomas, 5; 
     
     Robert, 4.; Thomas, 3 ; Robert, 2 ; Thomas, I), was born in South Kingstown, 
     
     Rhode Island, January 3, 1797, and died in New York City. When quite a 
     
     youth, he assisted his father in his mill, but as early as March 29, 1821, he 
     
     bought of Abigail Rodman, widow of Robert Rodman, ten acres of land in the 
     
     village of Rocky Brook; and at about the same date, March 25, I 821, he leased 
     
     from Freeman P. Watson a water—right, with right to ereét a dam and flow ten 
     
     acres of land. The same year he made his reserv01r, and built a small wooden 
     
     mill that contained one set of machinery. The year following, he bought of his 
     
     father, Rowland Hazard, seventy acres adjoining. He combined farming with 
     
     his manufaéturing business, raising large quantities of sheep; for this reason he 
     
     was called “ Shepherd Tom,” a name with which he was much pleased. In 1838 
     
     he sold this property, having accumulated what at that time was considered a 
     
     small fortune, and retired from active business, buying an estate in Newport, 
     
     where the remaining part of his life was spent. 
     
    

    
     When over eighty years of age he wrote a book called Recallefiz'on: of Olden 
     
     szes. Possibly no book has been more thoroughly read 1n the South County 
     
     than this one. The few of his contemporaries that Time had spared read it in 
     
     order to live over again the golden days of y,outh while the rlslng generation 
     
     read it as veritable history. This book was followed by the 70nny—Cake Papers, 
     
     which was equally well read by South County folk, as it contains many char— 
     
     aéteristic anecdotes mingled with the romance. Mr. Hazard had a fine imagina- 
     
     tion, and was a good raconteur, ~—qualities that he inherited, perhaps, from his 
     
     Robinson ancestors. 
     
    

    
     The nature of Mr. Hazard’s books is such that he rarely speaks of himself in 
     
     a serious way; therefore it is to be very greatly regretted that lack of material 
     
     necessarily renders this sketch incomplete. In Recollefiz'om of Olden Times he 
     
     says: “Thomas R. Hazard, the compiler of these tables, has been an earnest 
     
     worker in the cause of what is called ‘Modern Spiritualism ’ since the year 
     
     1856, and whatever may be his merits or demerits otherwise, he has no higher 
     
     ambition than that his name should be handed down to the coming generations 
     
     associated with this faét alone.” 
     
    

    
     In his last illness, a few hours before his death, he said to his brother, Joseph 
     
     Peace Hazard: “I am afraid that I am better, and am sorry, for I am anx1ous 
     
     to commence the new life in the‘ spiritual world.’ ” 
     
    

    
     After Mr. Hazards removal to Newport, “he became very much impressed 
     
     with the necessity of improved and more humane methods 1n the care of the 1n— 
     
     sane and poor of Newport. His personal investigation, and the reports he 
     
     made, brought about a revolution in the State, and a very general reform. He, 
     
     with his brother, Isaac Peace Hazard, working together, were largely instru— 
     
     mental in securing the establishment of the Butler Hospital for the Insane, 
     
     which Cyrus Butler liberally endowed. Rowland G. Hazard aided in obtaining 
     
    
   
   
    
     necessary