P. A. HAZZARD, who is filling the position of postmaster at Colorado, Texas, was born in Scottsburg, Scott county, Indiana, on the 16th of July, 1860. His father, George Hazzard, was a native of Indiana and resides in Scott county, living upon the old homestead where he was born. It was originally the farm of his father, William Thomas Hazzard, a native of Virginia, his birth occurring almost on the boundary line between the Old Dominion and West Virginia. George Hazzard became a farmer and has followed that occupation throughout his entire life. He married Harriet Lester, whose birth occurred in the town of Crothersville, Jackson county, Indiana. Her father was engaged in merchandising in that place for thirty years. To Mr. and Mrs. George Hazzard were born four children, who are yet living, a son and three daughters, and the latter are residents of Scott county, Indiana. The parents, having celebrated their marriage on the 8th of November, 1855, have now been married for a half century.
Prince A. Hazzard, whose name introduces this review, was reared upon the old homestead farm in the state of his nativity and acquired his education in the schools of his neighborhood. He also studied by lamplight in his own room after the family retired for the night, for matters of education were of deep interest to him, and he thus well qualified himself for the practical and responsible duties of life. He left home in 1878 at the age of seventeen years and went to Monticello, Illinois, where he was engaged in clerking in a store for two years. He then spent a year as a farm hand in that locality and in January, 1881, he came to Texas, making the journey by rail as far as Millsap, just west of the Brazos river. There he bought a team and completed the trip overland. Colorado at that time had but one store of any account, conducted by Dunn Coleman & Company. There were a few settlers, five or six families living in tents, and the surrounding country was an entirely open range. The buffaloes had just been exterminated a short time before and in their place grazed a few herds of cattle and horses. Grading on the railroad was then being done but even that work had not yet reached Colorado when Mr. Hazzard arrived here. He soon entered the employ of Dunn Coleman & Company and when a post office was established became assistant postmaster. The post office was opened on the 13th of April, 1881, with A. W. Dunn as postmaster and in August of the same year Mr. Hazzard was appointed postmaster, the appointment coming to him as soon as he had attained his majority. He served in that capacity until 1888, when on account of ill health he resigned and for two years thereafter was engaged in the insurance business. In 1890 he was reappointed postmaster and served for five years, when a change of administration caused him to retire from office, and he again engaged in the insurance business. In July, 1900, he was once more appointed postmaster and has filled the position up to the present time, proving a most capable officer, being prompt, active and efficient in the discharge of his duties. When he arrived here lands could be purchased from fifty to seventy-five cents per acre and the same property is now worth form ten to fifteen dollars per acre. Mr. Hazzard has made his home in Colorado throughout the period of his residence in Texas and has been a witness of the marvelous growth and development of this section of the state from a wild and unbroken country to a region of rich fertility, dotted here and there with the homes of a contented and prosperous people.
On the 26th of September, 1883, Mr. Hazzard was united in marriage to Miss Lillie Field, who was born in Arcola, Louisiana, a daughter of George Dana Field. She was reared in New Orleans and came to Texas in November, 1881, with her mother, her father having died during her early girlhood, and on the 13th of February, 1882, she became a resident of Colorado. To Mr. and Mrs. Hazzard have been born three sons: Herbert, born August 24, 1884; Lester, August 12, 1887; and one died in infancy. The parents are members of the Presbyterian church and both are highly esteemed in the locality commendation from the department at Washington. Many important duties are entrusted to his care not only in the workings of the Colorado office but also in the promotion of the government mail service in other points in the west. A large quantity of mail is received at the Colorado office, which is a distributing point for an extensive section of country, and all of this is handled by Mr. Hazzard with the greatest accuracy because of his long connection with the position and his fidelity to the duties that devolve upon him. He is a man of unquestionable integrity and of unassailable reputation in official and social life and certainty well deserves mention in this volume.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 576-577.