SPENCER, Colonel Hazelton: 1757 - 1813
Tile ordered and paid for by A. Spencer, Kingston, Ontario, July 1888
Hazelton Spencer was born on August 29, 1757 in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, the son of Benjamin Spencer and Mercy Potter. The family moved to Vermont in 1775 but when in 1777, he and his brother and father joined the British forces commanded by John Burgoyne, his family’s 300 acres in Vermont were confiscated. Benjamin died at Ticonderoga. Hazelton served as a volunteer in Sir John Johnson’s King’s Royal Regiment of New York (KRRNY) until 1781 and was then commissioned a lieutenant in the regiment’s 2nd battalion. In March 1781, he was on a list of Loyalists quartered at St. John’s (Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu), Quebec and was described as “a Hatter.”
In 1783, Hazelton Spencer was stationed at Cataraqui (Kingston, Ontario) where on June 25, 1784 he went on half pay and took up land in Fredericksburgh Township, settling on a farm near Conway. Spencer continued to acquire land and at one time his total landholdings were at least 5000 acres. He was a member of the Church of England, serving for many years as Warden at St. Paul’s Church, Fredericksburgh.
Regarded as a man of ability and stature in early Upper Canada, Hazelton Spencer was described as an army officer, office holder, politician, judge, and militia officer. He was appointed Justice of the Peace for the area (formerly called Mecklenburg and then Midland District) in 1790 and in 1792 was elected to the House of Assembly for the riding of Lennox, Hastings and Northumberland. From 1794 until his death, Spencer was Colonel of the 1st Lennox Militia.
In 1794 Governor Simcoe named him Lieutenant of Lennox County, an appointment considered a great honour. His primary duty involved appointing and overseeing magistrates and militia officers. In 1800, he became Commissioner of the Peace for the Midland District and served in both an administrative and a legal capacity in the Court of Quarter Sessions, which alternated its location between Adolphustown and Kingston. In 1806, he was appointed a Commissioner to administer the oath to officers on half pay and oversee military allowances.(1) Governor Simcoe considered him “One of the most respectable members of the House of Assembly.”(2) Hazelton Spencer’s military responsibilities meant he was often away from his farm. He was, for a time, Commandant of the Garrison at Kingston and later at Fort George, Niagara-on-the-Lake and was serving as Colonel of the 1st Lennox Militia when the War of 1812 began.
In 1787, Hazelton married Margaret Richards (1771-1830), the daughter of John Richards, a Loyalist, and between 1787 and 1811 they had eleven children: Augustus, Benjamin Conger born in 1789, John Hazelton born in 1791, Richard born in 1796, William Taylor born in 1797, Margaret born in 1800, James Hazelton born in 1802, Julianne born in 1804, Anna born in 1805, Daniel Barnabas Augustus born in 1806 and Cecelia born about 1811.
Hazelton Spencer died rather unexpectedly at his home in Fredericksburgh in February 1813. He is buried there in the Spencer plot as is his wife Margaret. An Ontario Historical Plaque describing his achievements has been erected on the Loyalist Parkway near his former property.
1. “Spencer, Hazelton,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, Vol. V, via www.biographi.ca.
2. “Early Canada Historical Narratives: Hazelton Spencer,” via www.uppercanadahistory.ca.