General Jeffrey Hazard, second son of John and Margaret (Crandall) Hazard, and brother of General John G. Hazard, was born in Exeter, R. I., September 23, 1835, and died in Providence, R. I., November 21, 1911. He was educated in the graded and high schools of Providence, and began business life in the Manufacturers' Bank, holding the position of teller at the time he enlisted for service in the Union army, October 5, 1861. He went to the front as second lieutenant, Battery A, First Rhode Island Light Artillery. Later he was commissioned first lieutenant, and appointed regimental adjutant. With Battery A he saw hard service and in many battles won high praise for his bravery. He fought at Ball's Bluff, Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and Antietam, the only battery officers preent at the last-named battle being Lieutenants Hazard and Mason. But the battery covered itself with glory, and on October 10, 1862, Lieutenant Hazard became captain, and was assigned to Battery H, Rhode Island Light Artillery, a battery recruited in Providence. He commanded Battery H until August 17, 1863, when he resigned and returned to Providence.
After his return from the war, Captain Hazard entered the employ of the American Wood Pulp Company, at Providence, later going with William H. Reynolds, a cotton broker, with whom he remained until 1868. In that he year he formed a partnership with A. Duncan Chapin, and as Hazard & Chapin the firm conducted a successful cotton brokerage business for a period of twenty-six years, 1868-94. In the last-named year the Hazard Cotton Company was incorporated, Captain Jeffrey Hazard, president; Lauriston H. Hazard, treasurer; F. O. Allen, secretary. As executive head of the company bearing his name, Captain Hazard had greater scope for his business ability, and until death, seventeen years later, he continued the active, resourceful, successful business man. At the time of his death he was the coldest cotton merchant in Providence in active business.
The family politics had hitherto been Democratic, but Captain Hazard opposed his father and brother and acted with the Republican party, although he had no desire for political office, nor did he accept one during his entire lifetime. He was a campanion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Massachusetts Commandery; member of Prescott Post, No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic, of Providence; member of the Maine Artillery Veteran Corps of Providence; member and vestryman of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church; member of the Providence Art Club, Squantum Association and Hope Club. He was a man highly esteemed socially, and was universally admired for his genial, manly nature and disposition.
Captain Hazard married, October 20, 1865, Anna Hartwell, daughter of John B. and Harriet (Hall) Hartwell, of Providence. Mr. and Mrs. Hazard were the parents of: Lauriston Hartwell, of further mention; John Hartwell, died young; Margaret Crandall, died young; Marion, married Leland H. Littlefield, of Providence; Harriet Hall, married William H. Dixon; Anna Rosalind, married William H. Barnum.
