Joan Blue, who grew up in Harvard and lives here now, has been researching her ancestors. Her family’s roots go back at least to the Revolution and start with Thomas Hazard, who came from England as an enslaved man. She has pictures of family dating back to the1800s, a scrapbook started by her great-grandmother, and other documents from relatives. She has found additional information in the archives of the Harvard Historical Society, of which she is a board member, and Susan Lee, the society’s genealogist, filled in some gaps. All her research culminates in a program at the society Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m.—“The Hazards: Six generations of an African American family in Harvard.”

Family information suggests that when Thomas Hazard’s owner settled in Connecticut at the time of the Revolution, he sent Thomas, a teenager, north to bring gunpowder to Lexington. Perhaps it was in reward for this trip that his owner may have freed Thomas, who served in the Revolution. He married Betsy Boston, a Penobscot woman. They had 12 sons, which explains why Blue says that while Hazard roots are in New England, there are descendants throughout the country. One son, Tower Hazard, lived in Boxborough, as did his son, Tower Jr.

It is with Tower Jr. that the Hazards’ presence in Harvard begins and the family history becomes more documented. Soon after their marriage in 1847, Tower and his wife, Catherine Freeman, bought a house at what is now 74 East Bare Hill Road and known as the Forbush Hazard House. Tower Jr. raised grapes that he sold in Worcester and Lowell and later grew peaches and apples. Joan said Tower grafted a tree and introduced the McIntosh apple in Harvard.

He was active in the Underground Railroad, and a cave behind the barn across from the house may have been used to hide fugitive slaves. A pamphlet, “The Freedom Trail” by Nancy Reifenstein, quotes Tower’s granddaughter as saying that sometimes late in the night her mother would hear low voices, and her father would go out and return with no explanation. After the Civil War, Tower Jr. served as president of the Peace and Unity Club.

Tower Jr. and Catherine had three children. Martha, who is Joan’s great-grandmother, would have been part of the first graduating class from the Bromfield School, but she eloped in her senior year. She married Allen Hazard, who came from Vermont to work with her father. Allen was a distant relative, being the great-grandson of the first Thomas Hazard. His father, James, was in the 54th regiment of the Civil War, one of the first and most celebrated African American regiments of the war. Allen and Martha lived at 35 Ayer Road, across from Hillside Garage. For 65 years, Allen was caretaker for Edwin Hildreth, in charge of everything from the grounds to the animals. Martha and Allen had 10 children, two of whom died before adulthood.

Carrie was one of Martha and Allen’s children—and Joan’s grandmother. In 1918 Carrie was one of 12 girls that Clara Sears organized to can and evaporate food for the soldiers at Camp Devens. She married James Reuben Blue, who served in World War I. They renovated a barn on Littleton Road that had been used by the town to store hay and apples, and they raised two sons in their home there.

Carrie was organist for the Congregational Church, and she was grand marshal in the Fourth of July parade of 1995, the year the town celebrated people who had been born and continued to live in Harvard. Carrie was probably the oldest of that group of people.

One of Carrie and James’ children was James Leonard Blue, Joan’s father, who married Joanne Wilson. They had six children, born in three different homes, the last one being on Woodside Road.

Going back to trace some of Joan’s close relatives in Harvard, her grandmother Carrie’s brother Leon (Lee) Hazard married a woman from Worcester, and their child Gloria Hazard married Carl Chandler. So the Blue and Chandler families in Harvard both trace back to Tower Hazard Jr. Gloria and Carl had five children, one of whom, daughter Sharon, was an art teacher for many years at Bromfield and then at the elementary school.

Joan will accompany her talk with slides of family members and the houses in town where they lived and the schools and church they attended. Refreshments will follow the program and feature pie and cookie recipes from a cookbook by members of the Congregational Church. The program is free, but a $5 donation is appreciated to help support the Historical Society’s public programming.