Columbia-Yamhill County OR Archives Biographies.....Hazen, Matthew F. November 4, 1852 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com November 10, 2009, 9:14 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 246 - 249 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company Columbia county, Oregon, has been honored by the citizenship of such men as Matthew F. Hazen, for to such as he has been largely due the development of the county's agricultural resources. After many years of hard, but successful, effort, he has now retired from his farm and is living in St. Helens. He was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of November, 1852, and is a son of Isaac and Anna (Sylvester) Hazen, both of whom were natives of the old Keystone state. His father was a tailor by trade and owned his own shop. In 1854 he took his family to Jackson county, Iowa, where he learned the trade of millwright, but did not follow that occupation long, his death occurring in the fall of 1855. His widow died in Kansas in 1873. They were the parents of eight sons, of whom Matthew F. is the youngest and the only one living. M. F. Hazen was educated in the public schools of Iowa and was reared on the home farm, in the operation of which he assisted his mother until 1870, when the family moved to Kansas, where the mother and three of her sons took up a homestead of prairie land in Smith county. M. F. Hazen lived there until 1879, when he sold his interest in the place and came to Columbia county, Oregon. While in Kansas he had been successful as a farmer, having a well improved and productive ranch, and in 1872 he helped to lay out the town of Smith Center, the county seat of Smith county. After coming to Oregon Mr. Hazen bought one hundred and eight acres of timber land, two miles west of Warren in Columbia county, and at once entered upon the task of clearing it. He cut many cords of wood, which he hauled to Scappoose Bay, where he shipped it on barges to Portland. As fast as he cleared the land he seeded it, and in the course of time cleared practically all of it. He carried on diversified farming, raising hay and grain, and also developed a splendid orchard. In 1895 he built what was at that time the largest barn in Columbia county. For many years he supplied the town of St. Helens with all kinds of fruit, vegetables, meat, butter and eggs, and he recalls with satisfaction the fact that he never lost a dollar with any of his customers. In 1908, having acquired a competency, Mr. Hazen sold his ranch and moved to St. Helens, where he bought a house and eight acres of land, the most of which he has since sold off in town lots. In 1909 he erected a splendid new home, modern in all respects, it being the first house in St. Helens to be wired for electricity. In October, 1875, in Kansas, Mr. Hazen was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Moats, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Felix and Charity (Evans) Moats, who were also natives of that state. Mr. Moats, who was a farmer, went to Illinois in the '50s and farmed there for some years, after which he moved to Iowa, where likewise he farmed until 1873, when he sold out and migrated to Kansas. There he continued to follow the same pursuit for two years and then moved to Afton, Iowa, where he engaged in farming up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1908. His wife passed away in 1865. Mrs. Hazen was educated in the public schools of Illinois and Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Hazen have been born three children. Irene, who was born in Kansas, is the wife of Richard Owen, of Missouri, and they have six children, Richard, Philip, Daniel, Edwin and Reese, twins, and Hannah Irene. Mart S., who was born in Kansas and now lives in California, is married and has four children, Norrold, John S., who is in the United States marines, Violet Hope and Mary Jane. Rhoda Silvo died at the age of nine years. Mr. Hazen has always taken an active and public-spirited interest in the welfare of Columbia county. He was county assessor in 1883-4 and since coming to St. Helens has served six years as justice of the peace. He has been a strong supporter of better schools and improved highways, and in the earlier years of his residence in this county donated many months of labor to the building of the pioneer roads. During the Civil war when a lad of from ten to fourteen years, Mr. Hazen served as a drummer boy playing the snare drum in the recruiting service at Farmersville, Jackson county, Iowa. During the World war he was a member of St. Helens Home Guard. He has often done jury duty and has served on the federal grand jury at Portland. For many years he was judge of elections. He has for thirty years been a member of St. Helens Lodge No. 117, I. O. O. F., in which he has passed through the chairs, and he and his wife are members of the Daughters of Rebekah and of the Pomona Grange, both state and national. In reviewing some of the experiences of his life, Mr. Hazen recalls the fact that in 1879, when he decided to come to Oregon, prices for farm products in Kansas were so low that he gave away a thousand bushels of corn rather than haul it sixteen miles to market, where the price was only twelve cents a bushel. He sold one hundred head of hogs, large and small, including some brood sows that would weigh four hundred pounds apiece, for one hundred dollars, or an average of one dollar a head. Comparing the prices of those days and the prices the farmers are receiving for their stuff now, he wonders why they feel justified in talking about present hard times. Mr. Hazen always made money at farming, even in the periods of low prices, due to his good management and sound judgment in his operations. When the family went to Kansas in 1870 there was an abundance of game, deer, buffalo, birds and fish, so that there was always a good supply of fresh meat. The chief worry of the pioneers was on account of the Indians, who were always to be reckoned with. Mr. Hazen has lived a long, busy and useful life, has done his full duty under all circumstances, has been straightforward and honorable in all of his relations with his fellowmen, and to a marked degree commands the confidence and respect of all who know him. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/photos/bios/hazen1010gbs.jpg 46Kb File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/hazen1010gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 6.8 Kb