Ann Hopwood - 1775 - 1833 (my 2nd cousin 5 times removed (2C5R)) married Robert Bleazard - 1768 - 1841. They had 11? Children one of them was John Hopwood Bleazard - 1803 - 1871 (3C4R).
John moved to the USA in 1841.
He became a Polygamist and had a total of 9 wives and 21 children.
John Hopwood
Blazzard (Bleazard; Blazard)
LIFE SKETCH OF JOHN HOPWOOD BLAZZARD Written by
Effie Blazzard Syphus in 1958 And read by her in the Dixie Camp Meeting of
D.U.P. on May 12th, 1958 at St. George, Utah John Hopwood Blazzard was born in
Newton, Yorkshire, England on February 26, 1803, and lived in England until he
emigrated to the U.S. in 1842. He was a son of Robert Blazzard (born about 1777
and son of John Blazzard) and his mother was Ann Hopwood (born July 13, 1777 in
England, and her parents were James Hopwood, born 21 March 1741 and Margaret
Smith born 1744.) He had the following brothers and sisters: Joseph born 1792,
Mary born 1796, James born 1798, Robert born 1804, and Margaret (Marcy) born
1809. He joined the L.D.S. Church as one of the very early converts, and we
have record of his volunteering for missionary service at Cornslaw, England,
and also where he was orgained an Elder July 6, 1840. He came to America on the
ship “North American,” but the number of his family who came over with him is
not certain. From Uncle Mark’s diary, we find that he brought a wife Ann and a
young daughter, Ann. (Kate Curtis—in her records—has the names of two boys and
two girls---Robert, John, Mattie and Ann, and thnks they remained in the East,
but none of them came to visit Grandma Blazzard (Sarah Search Miller Blazzard
Pectol) in Washington, Utah or Salt Lake City. In England, John was a
wheelwright and ship’s carpenter. But how he spent his early life up to his
baptism, is unknown to us because we have no records of that time. After coming
to America, and to Nauvoo, he belonged to the Nauvoo Legion and played a clarinet
in the Nauvoo Band. (This Clarinet is owned now by some of his descendants.)
His son Mark’s family has his tool chest. Wes Blazzard says he has seen the
chest and that the name is spelled Blazzard on it rather than Bleazard, as some
of the family spell it. Some of the relatives claim that Grandma Sarah Searcy
Blazzard was the one who changed the spelling. John married (1) Ann Knowells in
England, and she died in Nauvoo. (2) He also married Betsy Pool who died in
Nauvoo (from Uncle Mark’s diary.) Then he married Sarah Searcy Miller, a widow
with five children, in Winter Quarters (sealed to him 30 March, 1848) and he
also married her daughter (4) Mary Jane Miller the same day. Mary Jane had two
children by him—Sarah Jane (born 14 Oct 1849), and Mary Ann—then she left him
and married Isaac Hill and had ten children. (5) His next marriage was to Lydia
Davis and she bore him five children. (6) He married Margaret Birch but they
had no children that we know of—sealing date is 15 October 1851. (7) He married
Matilda Murch Penny 17 January 1855, a widow and she bore him one son whom they
called Tom Penny Blazzard. She soon left him, and after that the boy went by
the name of Tom Penny. (8) Another wife was Mary Ison (or Isom) whom he married
16 November 1867, but no children that we have record of. (9) Another wife was
Mary Matilda Holdem, who was sealed to him 7 Feb. 1863, and no record of any
children. Kate Curtis has the name of another wife (10) Mary H. Blazzard who
was baptized in England March 10, 1846, and came to Salt Lake City 1866, and
lived in the 14th Ward. His children also claim that he married (11) Martha
Miller—daughter of Sarah Searcy Miller but she soon left him, and married
another man, then also married Isaac Hill—the husband of her sister. Wife (3)
Sarah Search Blazzard had six children—three boys and three girls. These were:
John (born Dec 1848), Marian (born 1850), and in Salt Lake City, James (1852),
Dorcus , Ellen and Thomas (born 14 August 1857.) Then she left him and married
George Petol and moved to Southern Utah, and made her home in Washington until
her death March 15, 1889. John, born 1848, came to Salt Lake City but never
married. He was injured when a child so that he wa not able to learn to read
and write. He spent the last twenty years of his life with his brother Thomas
and family. He got his leg broken by an old buck sheep and only lived one week
and died. He was buried in Washington, Utah. Marion was born in Winter Quarters
in 1846. She married James Petol and had three children when he died a young
man. Two of thes boys, James and LeRoy, married and raised families in Southern
Utah. Marian later married E. M. Steers and had five or six children. We have
had no contact with any of her children for a ong time. She died in Idaho. James
Blazzard was born 7 August 1852 in Salt Lake. He was raised in Southern Utah
and married Mary Catherine Jolley 30 Nov 1876. They spent most of their married
life in Luna, New Mexico. They are both buried at Thatcher, Arizona. Dorcus and
Ellen, two girls we know very little about. Both died very youing and are
buried in the Washington Cemetery where their Mother is buried. Thomas was the
last child born to them August 14, 1857 in Salt Lake City. When he was only
four years old his mother had separated from John and married George Pectol and
they moved to Southern Utah to raise cotton. Thomas married Eliza Melzena
Averett in St. George Temple January 19, 1882. They raised a family of nine
children, all but two lived to marry and raise families. Hazel died at age 21
of typhoid and George eighteen was killed with a horse. Thomas died 3 July 1924
in St. George, Utah and is buried at Washington, Utah. Eliza (Dean) died
February 22, 1935, and was buried in the Washington Cemetery beside her
husband. Wife (4) Mary Jane Miller was sealed to John Hopwood Blazzard by
Brigham Young 30 March at 6 p.m. Witness Wilford Woodruff. They had born to
them Sarah Jane and Mary Ann. Sarah Jane was born 14 October 1849 at Holt, Mo.
And she died in 1921 at Moab, Utah. She married Walso Kinnison. Later she
married Randolph Stewart, the first Bishop of Moab and had a family by him.
Four years ago I went to Moab and met Irene Emmaline Berry Powell, one of her
daughters, who was very feeble and too weak to tell me very much about her mother.
I also met Brother and Sister McConkie who knew Sarah Jane and helped get her
ready for burial and preached her funeral sermon. Lydia Davis (5) bore him five
children: Joseph Davis (born 17 April 1860), Mark Hopwood (21 March 1861), Lucy
Davis Watts (30 March 1863), Caleb Davis (1 March 1865), and Orson (1 Jan
1867). Joseph died as a small boy. Mark married Annie Danks and raised a large
family in Salt Lake City. Lucy married Alford Linford Watts, no family that we
have record of. Caleb married Elizabeth Diana Merritt, and they raised a family
at Afton, Wyoming. His wife is still living. Orson married Carrie Fisher and
they have nine children. These families all spell their name Bleazard. John was
the father of eighteen children. The Blazzard and the Bleazard children never
met and knew each other until they met in court to break their father’s will or
to make a settlement of his property. After reaching Nauvoo, John evidently got
together a good outfit for the move to Salt Lake City, but when they reached
Winter Quarters, some of the Church Officials (we believe it was Brigham Young)
instructed him time after time “Brother Blazzard, let me have this outfit of
yours now, so the first immigrants can go on. Some of the wagons are broken
down and some of the oxen and teams have died. You can build other wagons and
get together a new outfit and come later.” It is believed that he was
instructed to stay and build and fix wagons for two years. He did finally reach
Utah in 1850 or 1848. Whatever the Church Officials asked of the members in
time or money, they were willing to give it to further the work of the Lord.
While in Nauvoo, he was baptized in the river for about fifty of his relatives,
and from the baptismal records, we were able to get names of his parents, and
family. According to Church History, on April 6, 1855, Pres. Brigham Young
called twenty men to open a mission in Las Vegas, and on May 10, they left Salt
Lake. They had forty wagons drawn by oxen and had fifteen cows and some saddle
horses. They followed the Old Spanish Trail part way, possibly from Parowan
down. William Bringhurst was placed in charge of the Mission and the men. They
arrived on June 1, and immediately began work. Their Camp was where the remains
of the Old Fort is to be seen now. The Fort was made with a foundation of
rocks, and on these was placed the large adobe s. The Fort was 150 feet square
and the walls were two feet thick at the bottom and one foot wide at the top,
and the wall was 14 feet high. There were loop holes to shoot through, if
necessary. On large opening on the north was left where the oxen could bring
the wagons inside the fort. This fort was just above the stream Fremont wrote
about. Those missionaries were sent there for a number of purposes; to teach
Christianity to the Indians, to make a Treaty with the Indians which would
allow them to build a fort on their ground (for they knew the Indians owned the
land); to teach those Indians how to raise livestock and grain, and to have a
sort of half-way place for emigrants going to and coming from California. In
the Fall, a school was started and both Indians and white children attended. In
January, a Post Office was established. From a newpaper we got the following
information: POST OFFICE APPOINTED: Thursday, Jan. 10, 1856. Early this
morning, brothers Benjamin R. Hulse and John H. Blazzard arrived at Las Vega
from the Vallies. Three other brethren also arrived at sundown, viz; George
Reed, Rovert Reed, and John alllen, they having been sent from Cedar City by
Erastus Snow. They were all in destitute circumstances, and had but little or
no provisions. Brother Hulse brought the documents appointing a post office at
Las Vegas to be called Bringhurst Post Office, Las Vegas County, Territory of
New Mexico, Wm. Bringhurst, postmaster. This would be convenient after the
postmaster took the necessary measure for making the appointment legal.
(Editor’s Note: the reason for calling the post office Bringhurst was because
Las Vegas was at that time in the territory of New Mexico and there was another
Las Vegas, News Mexico, farther to the South. The name of the post office here
was probably changed to Las Vegas with the formation of the State of Nevada in
1864. In another clipping dated Thursday, August 26 – a portion of it reads: Brother
John Hopwood Bleazard gave the brethren an exhortation to faithfulness, and
perseverance in their duties as missionaries, etc. The mission was abandoned in
February, 1857, and the missionaries returned to their homes, but shortly after
this others came to the mission. A clipping from the obituaries of the Deseret
News, dated Jan 13, 1871 states: “Died: in the city last night about 12:00,
typhoid fever, John Hopwood Blazzard—age 67 years. He was taken sick on the
28th of Nov. last. He was born in Newton, Yorkshire, England and was one of the
first to embrace the Gospel in that land. Funeral services will take place on
Sunday at 10:00 am in the 14th Ward meeting house. Friends of the family are
invited to attend. From an old Millenial Star we copied the following:
Conference held Preston, England, April 15, 1840, of Samsbury, Ordained a
priest after various remarks and addresses given by the Elders. Pres. Fielding
and his counselors proceeded to orgain Broer Bleazard to this office, July 6,
1840. John Bleazard and six others were ordained Elders and volunteered to
devote time to the ministry. John appoint ted to labor at Cornslaw, July 7,
1840. Other information about John Hopwood Bleazard in life of John Taylor and
Parley P. Pratt. The property he owned in Salt Lake City is very valuable now,
and was when he died, but the long drawn ouit court proceedings lasted so long
that some of this buildings were condemned and had to be removed, which left
little value to the heirs. His heirs were offered $71,000 for one piece of the
property. In his will, he did not leave any of his property to Sarah’s family,
but Marian (Steers) had the will broken and the property partly dividd, and
that was quite a hep to his children who had been raised in Southern Utah where
everyone was so poor. He was one of the first to get his endowments in the
Nauvoo Temple in 1846. I received this information from W. Blazzard just
recently. He left Winter Quarters May 1, 1848 in the first company of Brigham
Young’s, lande3d in Salt Lake Sept. 20, 1848. This was taken from the diary
record of the trip. Written by Effie Blazzard Syphus in 1958. Note: The above
was copied by Ella J. Seegmiller, Camp Historian of Dixie Camp of D.U.P. June
1, 1960, at St. George, Utah.
