Ohio County, West Virginia Biography of Robert HAZLETT ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Suzie Crump , April 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pgs. 259-260 ROBERT HAZLETT. There is perhaps no name in Wheeling associated more intimately with successful participation in financial and business affairs, with the institutions that have meant most to the city in its development and with nearly every branch of professional, civic and social activities than that of Hazlett. One member of this family is Robert Hazlett, vice president and secretary of the Dollar Savings & Trust Company, and for many years an engineer whose achievements in that field alone would afford him distinction. His great-grandfather and the founder of the family in America was Robert Hazlett, who was born at Coleraine, County Antrim, Ireland. He was educated at Edinburgh University for the ministry, but was never ordained, and on coming to the United States he located at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and taught school in that place. Subsequently he became a pioneer of Washington, Pennsylvania, where was a merchant and later a banker, and where he spent his last years. His wife was May Caldwell, the daughter of Catherine Caldwell, whose maiden name was René, a French Huguenot and who has a place in history as being the founder of the first church of the Methodist Episcopal denomination in Western Pennsylvania, at Washington. Samuel Hazlett, a son of the pioneer, lived all his life at Washington, Pennsylvania, and was a baker there. He died November 7, 1863. He married Sarah Johns, also a native of Washington, who died there December 10, 1873. The history of the Wheeling branch of the family begins with a very able and distinguished physician and surgeon, the late Dr. Robert W. Hazlett. He was born at Washington, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1828, attended Washington and Jefferson College through the senior year and received his A. B. degree from that school. He was a collegemate of the distinguished American statesman James E. Blaine. Later he graduated from Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia and began practice at Wheeling. When the Civil war came on he joined the Second West Virginia Infantry as a surgeon, with the rank of major. Following the war he located at Wheeling, and under appointment from President Lincoln was pension examiner. Doctor Hazlett practiced medicine nearly half a century, and had the honor of serving as president of the West Virginia State Medical Association. He died at Wheeling, September 2, 1899. He was a republican, and while reared a Methodist he became affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church at Wheeling. He was a director of the National Bank of West Virginia. He was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. The wife of Doctor Hazlett was Mary Elizabeth Hobbs. That name, too, has some important associations with Wheeling. She was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 23, 1829, and died at Wheeling, October 16, 1901. Her father was John L. Hobbs, a native of South Carolina, who for several years in his early life was manager of glass factories at Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and on coming to Wheeling founded the Hobbs Glass Factory, which later was the Hobbs-Brockunier Company and is now the H. Northwood Company. The oldest of the children of the late Doctor Hazlett is Howard Hazlett, long one of Wheeling’s foremost men of affairs. He was born at Wheeling, is head of the firm Howard Hazlett & Son, brokers, is president of the Mutual Savings Bank and has always manifested a strong interest in community affairs, especially the Y. M.C. A. and other institutions. The second son, Samuel Hazlett, was a banker and died at Wheeling in March 1903. Edward Hazlett is a member of the firm Edward Hazlett & Company, stock brokers, at Wheeling. The fourth in the family is Robert. Catherine is the wife of C. R. Hubbard, with home at Echo Point, Wheeling. Mr. Hubbard is a director in the Wheeling Steel Corporation, was formerly president of the Wheeling Steel & Iron Company, and a director in the National Bank of West Virginia and the Hazel-Atlas Company. Three other children of Doctor Hazlett and wife died in infancy. Robert Hazlett was born at Wheeling, December 24, 1863. He acquired a liberal education, beginning with the public schools of Wheeling and completing the course of these schools in 1880. He then prepared for college at Linsly Institute, and from there entered the Ohio State University at Columbus in 1883. He graduated with the class of 1887 as a civil engineer. He is a member of the Sigma Chi college fraternity, and was president of the senior class of 1887, and still has that honor. He was also president of the Ohio State University Oratorical Association. The thirty-four years since he left college has been a period of intense activity on the part of Mr. Hazlett. On returning to Wheeling he practiced civil engineering, for some time was connected with the Wheeling Bridge & Terminal Company, and was assistant engineer in building three tunnels and the bridge across the Ohio River for this corporation. In 1891 he accepted a new post at Washington, D. C., as chief engineer of the Washington & Arlington Railway Company. As chief engineer he built the first electric line to the Arlington Cemetery, and included in this work was a proposed bridge across the Potomac near the Aqueduct Bridge. In 1893 Mr. Hazlett removed to New York City, and for two years was in the office of Job Abbott, consulting engineer, engaged in the preparation of station plans for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Company in Maine. Mr. Hazlett returned to Wheeling in 1895 and became associated with Gillmore Brown under the firm name of Brown & Hazlett, engineers. This firm rebuilt and electrified the Wheeling & Elm Grove Railroad Company’s lines, built the Parkersburg Electric Street Railway system at Parkersburg, West Virginia, built the waterworks system for the Wheeling Suburban Water Company, and did a great deal of other work involved in a general practice of municipal and street railway engineering. The partnership was dissolved in 1901, and after that Mr. Hazlett continued the profession alone. He was chief engineer in building the Panhandle traction line from Wheeling to Wellsburg, and also made the surveys and started the construction work in Fairmont and Clarksburg for the Fairmont & Clarksburg Street Railway Company. In 1911 Mr. Hazlett was appointed postmaster of Wheeling by President William H. Taft, and served in that office until March 1, 1914, when he resigned to accept the position of secretary of the Dollar Saving & Trust Company of Wheeling, and since 1919 has also been vice president as well as secretary. Mr. Hazlett for many years has been a leader in the republican party in West Virginia. For six years he was a member of the first and second branches of the City Council of Wheeling, and for six years was county engineer of Ohio County. In November, 1903, he was elected to represent Ohio County in the House of Delegates serving during the sessions of 1904-06. In November, 1905, he was elected a member of the State Senate, and served from 1906 to 1910. At the same time he was member of the State Republican Executive Committee. Mr. Hazlett is treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church of Wheeling, is affiliated with Wheeling Lodge No. 28, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Wheeling Country Club, Fort Henry Club, Wheeling Camber of Commerce, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Among other business interests he is president and a director of the Wheeling Belmont Bridge Company, president and director of the Wheeling Ice & Storage Company, a director in the Wheeling Mold & Foundry Company, a director in the Greenwood Cemetery Association. He was an associate member of the Military Training Camps Association, and was identified actively with all the local drives during the war. March 15, 1909, at Wheeling, Mr. Hazlett married Miss Anne M. Cummins, daughter of James and Matilda (McKennan) Cummins, residents of Wheeling, where her father is a merchandise broker. Mrs. Hazlett is a graduate of the Rye Seminary at Rye, New York. The three children of their marriage are: Robert C., born June 7, 1910; James C., born March 4, 1912; and Catherine Hobbs, born August 1, 1913.