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John Wesley Hazen

John Wesley Hazen, who is engaged in the grocery business in Brush Creek, was born in Illyria Township, Erie County, on the 1st of October, 1834, and is the youngest but one in a family of seven children, whose parents were Hart and Harriet (Adams) Hazen. He traces his ancestry back to Colonial days when three brothers by the name of Hazen, men of English birth, braved the dangers of an ocean voyage to make homes for themselves in the New World. They settled in Connecticut and one of them, Thomas Hazen, is the grandfather of our subject. His father was born in Connecticut, January 23, 1798, was reared to farm life and after attaining to mature years used that pursuit as the means whereby he provided for the support of himself and family. When about twelve years of age he accompanied his parents to Courtland County, N. Y., where he became acquainted with and wedded Miss Adams, a native of that state. In after years they removed to Ohio and in 1835 became residents of La Grange County, Ind., where Mr. Hazen entered land from the Government. His wife was not long permitted to enjoy her new home, dying in La Grange County the fourth year after their arrival in the West. In 1845 he went to Branch County, Mich., where he married Mrs. Rachel Marvin, and in 1866 they came to Fayette County, Iowa, but returned to Michigan where his second wife died. Since that time Mr. Hazen has made his home with out subject until his death February 2, 1891, he having the distinction of being the oldest man living in Fayette County at that time, being in his ninety-third year. While residing in Michigan he served several years as Justice of the Peace, and on the rise of the Republican party left the ranks of the old Democratic party and supported the former up to the time of his death. Two children of his first marriage yet survive: Edward A., a Methodist minister of California, and John Wesley. By the second marriage there is one daughter living, Mrs. Margery Velzy, of Tower City, N. Dak.

In the common schools our subject received his education and upon his father's farm the days of his boyhood and youth were passed, aiding in the cultivation of the land until he had attained his majority when he started out in life for himself. For a time he worked as a farm hand at $12 per month and then engaged in agricultural pursuits for himself. A marriage ceremony performed in Branch County, Mich., on the 10th of January, 1860, united the destinies of Mr. Hazen and Miss Delilah L. Hulse, a native of Herkimer County, N. Y., born in 1837. Their union was blessed with six children but two died in infancy, and Hattie M., the eldest, died at the age of twenty-three years; Julia L. is now the wife of Abraham Heath, a resident of this county; William L. is engaged in farming in Fairfield Township; and Rachel, the youngest, is at home with her parents.

In September, 1861, Mr. Hazen enlisted in Company C, of the State Cavalry, and served for three months, but was mustered out before being assigned to a regiment. In 1863 he came to Iowa and for six years engaged in farming in Delaware County, after which in 1869 he came to this county, locating in Scott Township, where for some years he successfully operated a farm of two hundred and forty acres. He still owns one hundred and twenty acres within a half mile of Brush Creek that yields him a fair income. Laying aside the duties and cares of farm life in 1887 he came to Brush Creek and embarked in merchandising, since which time he has done a flourishing trade in the grocery business. He is recognized as a successful and enterprising business man and a progressive citizen who has the interests of both town and county at heart. Politically he is a Republican, socially is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and both he and his wife are connected with the Methodist Church, in which he has served as Trustee and Class Leader.