Ebenezer Hazard was born in Philadelphia in 1744 to Catherine Clarkson and Samuel Hazard. He set up a publishing and bookselling company in New York City in 1770, but left this business in 1775 to become the postmaster general of New York. In 1776, he was promoted to surveyor general of the Continental Post Office and appointed postmaster general by the Continental Congress in 1782, in which capacity he served until 1789. He returned to Philadelphia in 1790, where he co-founded the Insurance Company of North America. In addition to his business dealings, he edited a two-volume history of Philadelphia, from 1792-1794, called Historical Collections (see "Related Collections" for the Clements Library's copy). Between 1800 and his death in 1817, Hazard participated in several local societies and social groups, and found a new career managing bridge and canal operations in and around Philadelphia.
Hazard married Abigail Arthur (1759-1820) in 1783. They had at least four children: Samuel (b. 1784), Elizabeth Breese Hazard (1786-1861), Erskine (1789-1865), and Ebenezer Gordon (born and died 1792).
From the guide to the Ebenezer Hazard letters, Hazard, Ebenezer letters, 1785-1794, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
