Augustus George Hazard was an American businessman. He was manufacturer of gunpowder and the namesake of Hazardville, Connecticut.
Background
Augustus Hazard was born on April 28, 1802, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, the son of Thomas S. and Silence (Knowles) Hazard. When Augustus was six, his father, a retired sea-captain and farmer, moved his family to a farm near Columbia, Connecticut.
Career
In 1818 Augustus Hazard felt the urge to travel and with his savings purchased passage on a packet to Savannah, Georgia, where he spent a profitable two years at his trade. He then returned to Savannah, purchased a store dealing in Paints, oils, and similar merchandise, and was remarkably successful. When only twenty-five he returned to New York to expand his activities to include a commission house for handling southern produce, the resident purchasing agency for his own and other commercial establishments in the South, and the shipping agency of a line of New York-to-Savannah packets of which he became part owner. He later added foreign importing to his activities and had a connection with the London house of George Wildes & Company. Every phase of the varied business prospered and although he suffered a serious loss in the panic of 1837, Hazard maintained his credit and financial standing.
Having acted as the general agent for Loomis & Denslow, manufacturers of black powder, for many years, Hazard in 1837 acquired a fourth interest and joined the firm which reorganized as Loomises, Hazard & Company. In 1843 he and Denslow bought out the other owners and organized a joint-stock company under the name of the Hazard Powder Company. The Mexican and Civil wars, together with the large amount of internal improvement carried on in that period, were responsible for a steadily growing market for explosives. The company flourished, and in time a plant covering some five hundred acres grew up at HazardviIle, near Enfield, Connecticut, with smaller mills at Canton and East Hartford. But as the business grew, departments were established in practically every state and territory in the Union, and Hazard as the owner was reputed to possess real estate in more states than any other citizen of the country. In 1876 a majority of the stock was purchased by the Du Pont Company. Hazard combined the social manner of the Southern trader with the business ability of the New England manufacturer. He died at Enfield, survived by three of his eight children.
Achievements
Politics
Hazard was an active Whig, chairman of the Connecticut state committee, and a friend and companion of Daniel Webster.
Personality
Hazard is described as generous, forceful, and conservative.
Connections
In 1822 Hazard revisited New England to marry Salome Goodwin Merrill of West Hartford, Connecticut.