Asa Hazen to Thomas Jefferson, 5 June 1819
From Asa Hazen
Kingston Eeast Tennessee June 5th 1819
Dear Brother
this brother my eldest son William was Born under your Eye at Charletteville when she was pregnat with Wm walking round she saw you there in Marble I am at home in my head at twelve went to bead at twelve as well as Common at midnight on my back laying in table and water over all will Turn on my side nothing but the Vast for me Instantly I was in a bright Cloud appearently in the Center Instantly I was over gods Creation Franc the Vast span Erope Atia Africa and America in the Begining the word was god and the word was with god Alfa and omega the begining and the end a Child in the Cradle
lord what is man poor Feble man born with1 the earth at first this life a shade on light and sill moultering into A Child in the Cradle the [sall?] will the [Col?] dust weather the needle point The lion and the Lamb the Children in the Cradle the Cradle and the coffin I hav made none for me yet—Fare well Brother
Asa Hazen
Friday—Aged 21th the month 52
RC (MHi); two words illegible; at head of text: “A Child in Cradle”; addressed: “Kingston Eeast Tennessee for mer president of the united States of America Thomas Jefferson Farwell a Child in the Cradle Asa Hazen,” with “Washington City” added in an unidentified hand; stamped; postmarked Kingston, <5> 7 June 1819; endorsed by TJ as an “insane” letter from Hazen received 24 June 1819 and so recorded in SJL.
Asa Hazen (1770–ca. 1821), cabinetmaker, was baptized in Norwich, Connecticut. By 1802 he lived in Albemarle County. In 1807 Hazen advertised as a cabinetmaker in Frankfort, Kentucky. In promoting his shop in Knoxville, Tennessee, the following year, he noted he had “acquired a thorough knowledge of his business in the principal sea-ports.” By 1810 Hazen had moved to Carthage, Tennessee, where his firm of Hazen, Rice & Company advertised the sale of “saline salt.” The partnership ended later the same year (Connecticut Church Records: Norwich, First Congregational Church, 1699–1917 [1947], 158; Emma Middleton Wells, The History of Roane County Tennessee, 1801–1870 [1927], 261; Vi: RG 48, Personal Property Tax Returns, Albemarle Co., 1800–06; Frankfort Palladium, 12 Mar. 1807; Wilson’s Knoxville Gazette, 11 May 1808; Carthage Gazette, 25 May, 27 July 1810; Roane Co., marriage record of Richard McPherson and Hazen’s widow, Mary Hazen, 1822 [T]).
Hazen’s son William Cogswell Hazen was born in 1806 in Charlottesville (Wells, History of Roane County, 261). in the begining the word was god and the word was with god is a variant of the Bible, John 1.1. alfa and omega the begining and the end: Revelation 1.8, 21.6, 22.13. lord what is man: Psalms 144.3. the lion and the lamb references Isaiah 11.6.
1. Word interlined in place of an uncanceled “of.”
Index Entries
- Bible; Isaiah referenced search
- Bible; John referenced search
- Bible; Psalms referenced search
- Bible; Revelation referenced search
- Hazen, Asa; family of search
- Hazen, Asa; identified search
- Hazen, Asa; letter from search
- Hazen, Asa; regarded as insane by TJ search
- Hazen, William Cogswell (Asa Hazen’s son) search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; correspondents described by TJ as insane search
- mental illness; correspondents described by TJ as insane search