Spencer, Hazelton

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: J. K. Johnson, “SPENCER, HAZELTON,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/spencer_hazelton_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Army officer, office holder, politician, judge, and militia officer; b. 29 Aug. 1757 in East Greenwich, R.I., son of Benjamin Spencer and Mercy Potter; m. about 1787 Margaret Richards, daughter of John Richards, loyalist, and they had six sons and three daughters; d. 6 Feb. 1813 in Fredericksburgh (North and South Fredericksburgh) Township, Upper Canada.
    • About 1767 Benjamin Spencer moved his family from Rhode Island to what is now Vermont; in 1775 they were living in Durham Township. A member of the provisional assembly of Vermont in 1777, Benjamin fled from the rebels with his son Hazelton in that year, leaving the rest of his family behind.
    • They joined the British forces commanded by John Burgoyne in July and that November, en route to Canada, Benjamin died. The following year the family’s 300 acres of land in Vermont, later valued at £3,000, was confiscated. Hazelton Spencer served as a volunteer in Sir John Johnson’s King’s Royal Regiment of New York until 1781; he was then commissioned a lieutenant in the 2nd battalion. On 1 March 1781 he was on a list of loyalists quartered at St Johns (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu), Que., and described as “a Hatter.” In 1783 he was stationed at Cataraqui (Kingston, Ont.) where on 25 June 1784 he went on half pay and thereafter took up land in Fredericksburgh Township.
    • Like most other loyalist officers, Spencer acquired a good deal of land. Spencer’s total landholdings either by grant or by purchase were at least 5,000 acres, located in the counties of Lennox, Addington, Prince Edward, Northumberland, and Durham, and in the town of Kingston.
    • In 1792 Spencer had been elected to the House of Assembly for the riding of Lennox, Hastings and Northumberland.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7939
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171890958/hazelton-spencer