Abner Hazeltine Jr.

Submitted by Terry Heismann, 2005.

From the obituary of Abner Hazeltine Jr.

Oldest Lawyer and One of the Best Known Men of Jamestown

     Jamestown, May 4. - Abner Hazeltine, 80 years old, Jamestown's oldest lawyer and oldest native born citizen, died yesterday.  He was born in Jamestown in 1835, and had always lived here.  He was the son of Abner Hazeltine, Sr., who was at one time a member of Congress from this district and the family has always been prominent in the affairs of Jamestown and

Western New York.  Mr. Hazeltine was graduated from Williams College in 1856 in company with James A. Garfield.  When Garfield was president, he appointed Mr. Hazeltine a United States Commissioner for this district, a position he retained until his

death. He was also Police Justice of Jamestown for eight years.  At one time, Mr. Hazeltine was District Attorney of Chautauqua County and was later Postmaster of Jamestown.  He was for many years Secretary of the Chautauqua County Historical Society.  He was a member of all of the Masonic bodies of the city having been Master of the F. & A. M. Lodge more than 50 years.

     Surviving are one son and one daughter, Ray T. Hazeltine of Jamestown and Miss Mary Emogene Hazeltine of Madison, WI.

Abner was born in Jamestown N.Y. March 18, 1836, son of Abner and Matilda Hayward Hazeltine.  He received his preliminary education in the academies of Jamestown and Cherry Valley N.Y. and was graduated from Williams College in 1856.  At that institution he was a classmate of James A. Garfield (q.v.) and of John F. Stoneman, later justice of the supreme court of Iowa.  He frequently accompanied the future president when Garfield went to nearby villages to preach.  After graduation he followed for several years the profession of civil engineering.  He began to study law under the preceptorship of his father.  He was subsequently admitted to the bar of P.A. , and to the district and circuit courts of the United States.  He served as Postmaster of Jamestown N.Y. during the Lincoln Administration; was elected district attorney of Chautauqua County in 1877, succeeded his father as U.S. commissioner in 1879, a position he held until his death; and was Police Justice of Jamestown N.Y. for two terms.  Aside from his legal activities he gave considerable attention to agriculture, and for many years owned a farm in the town of Carroll.  At Williams he was a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity.  He was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, Chautauqua County Historical Society, various law associations, and was a 32nd Degree Mason.  He gave much of his time to the study of church history, and had just completed it before his death.  A history of the First congregational Church of Jamestown, of which he was a communicant.  This History dated from 1866, his father (who was one of the founders of the church) having written its history covering the period 1816-1866.  He was a leader in the Chautauqua County Society of History and Natural Science, and served as its secretary for many years.  He took a deep interest in the affairs of the Sons of the Revolution, was a charter member of the Jamestown Chapter and had been its regent.  He was a Republican.  He married at Ashville, Chautauqua County, N.Y. on April 25, 1867 Olivia A. Brown, daughter of Samuel and Clarissa (Slayton) Brown, of Ashville.  She died in 1905.  They had two children, Mary Emogene (1868) attended Wellesley College, was preceptor of Library School of the University of Wisconsin in 1891; and Ray Thomas (1871) Cornell University (1889-1891) he served in the postal service from which he later retired.  Abner died in Jamestown N.Y. May 3, 1915.