John and Sarah Hazell
The English ancestors of our Hazell family are John and Sarah Hazell of Bristol, about whom we know very little beyond the very basic facts. Sarah’s maiden name was Hopkins. The couple married on the 16th December 1806 at St Paul’s Church in Portland Square Bristol. John’s occupation was “butcher.
The couple had at least two children: George who was born in 1813, and, our next direct ancestor Charles, who was born in 1821.
I have not been able to establish, with any certainty, their dates of birth or when they died.
There are two baptismal records for George. The first was a private baptism held at St John the Baptist Church. A second baptism was conducted on the 27th June in the Temple Church. The record of this baptism shows that the family were living at Christmas Street, Bristol.
Charles was baptised on Sunday 18th, 1821 and the church record showed that he had been born “7 weeks ago”. This would place his approximate date of birth at around the 1st January 1821.
Beyond these bare facts there is a shroud of mystery around the Hazell family of Bristol from which we are descended.
What is even a greater mystery is how it would come about that young Charles would, at the age of 13 migrate to Australia and found a new colonial family carrying the name of “Hazell”, or that I, their 3rd great grandson, would be writing about them and telling their story, some 200 years later.