A DICTIONARY OF THE LANDED GENTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND BY FOURTH EDITION 1862 from P.664 - original text in blue, parish records in green, comments in black HASSARD OF GARDENHILL Hassard, Alexander-Jason, Esq. of Gardenhill, co. Fermanagh, b. 1 Sept. 1837, 76th regt., s. his uncle, William Hassard, Esq., 15 Nov. 1847. LINEAGE. - The family of Hassard is of Norman extraction, and of considerable antiquity. The orthography was originally "Hassart." The long extinct title of Duke de Charante was in this family. Two members thereof visited the Holy Land as Crusaders. Soon after the Conquest a branch became seated in Gloucestershire, and afterwards removed to Dorsetshire. Burke gives no sources or evidence for any of this. However, we do have records showing Hazard, Hasard, Hassard in Bristol in 1216 and 1313. These seem to be the basis of the above claims, though there also seems to be an element of enhancing the pedigree at work here. - 'removed to Dorsetshire' is doubtful, just one branch went to Dorset. We know that one branch of the family remained in Gloucestershire, and one settled in Nottinghamshire, each of these families had a different coat of arms which has been described elsewhere. As these do not seem to have been of sufficiently high rank Burke just ignored them.... If the eldest son was the one who moved to Dorset then then the primary line could be described as 'removed' but Burke gave no evidence for that either. The first English ancestor from whom an unbroken succession can be traced was, John Hassart or Hassard, A.D. 1469, lord of the manor of Seaton, 7 miles from Lyme. He left issue, John Hassart, of whom hereafter. - Trusham is south west of Exeter, no so far from Brixham where we know there were more Hassards by 1570, possibly related. The elder son, John, of whom hereafter, IGI:
Alice Hassard Christening: 25 DEC 1546 Lyme Regis, Dorset ; Father: John Hassard - and we have various references to Nicholas Hassard, b.abt.1525, who appears to be related. Burke doesn't seem to bother listing past the 2nd son, so he could be younger, or a cousin as the family would be likely to have extended by this time. The elder son, And on the south side appears :- He left issue, The John above was probably b.1558 (possibly 1564). We have a positive record elsewhere that a John Hassard became vicar of Awliscombe (near Honiton) on Feb. 3, 1617, which would make this one 59 (possibly 53) on taking up the appointment. It might have been John b.1580 (Robert's son, not his brother) who took up the post, he would have been 37 on appointment. IGI:
There were at least 5 other children born to a John Hassard in Lyme around the same time - either Burke didn't bother to list the younger ones, or there was a cousin John in the same town. The elder son, - this has to be wrong! John b.1831 he would have been 51 when his first son was born.... also: The Robert b.1582: John, ancestor of the Hassard-Shorts, of Edlington Grove, co. Lincoln. They assumed the name and arms of Short in 1794. at this point something is going very badly wrong with Burke's listing.... from the records on IGI it is very clear that the Robert who married Elizabeth Clarke in 1577 had four sons:
Possibly the other Robert, b.1565, was the son of John b.1531, and Burke got the wrong marriage. Burke also lists John first above, implying that he was the eldest, yet below says that Jason and George removed the line to Fermanagh, clearly saying that Jason was the heir. There other versions of this suggesting that George was Jason's father, not his younger brother... Jason and George Hassard, accompanied by some of the Caldwells, went over to Ireland in the reign of Charles II [1661-1685], after having previously raised troops in the South of England. They assumed the 2nd motto of "Fortuna vism ducit," on landing. They had eventually large tracts of land granted to them in Fermanagh, and other adjoining counties. The Hassards were distinguished at the sieges of Enniskillen and Londonderry. Jason Hassard, of Gardenhill and Toam, b.1617, was mayor and M.P. for Lyme before he departed for Ireland. His will bears date 21 Oct. 1690. He left issue, For the purposes of this website the interest ends after this family moved to Fermanagh. In general it must be assumed that was Burke mainly interested in the eldest sons and the line of inheritance/pedigree etc, this was a major issue at the time and one of the main reasons for his book. Records of inheritance should have been fairly easily available to him, though he has missed at least two generations, but records of other children would have been more difficult and he did seem to have more even of those wrong. He continues in Ireland: Richard, his heir. The eldest son, - again Burke seems to be missing a generation, he has Jason b.1617, then his heir Richard b.1671 (the father would have been 54 when his first son was born) - other versions show another Jason b.abt.1650 between these. Richard Hassard, Esq. of Gardenhill and Toam. b.1709. He m. 1733, Jane, dau. of James Little, Esq. of the co. Fermanagh, and left issue, Jason his heir. The eldest son, I. Richard, of Gardenhill, b.1778, capt. 74th highlanders, d. unm. 1 Alexander-Jason, the present representative. V. John, of Bawnboy House, co. Cavan, high sheriff for co. Cavan, in 1824, m. 1818, Charlotte, youngest dau. of the late Robert Deey, Esq. of Ravensdale, near Maynorth, and Merrion Square, Dublin, and was killed by a fall from his horse in 1830, leaving issue, 1 Jason, deceased. VI Francis, of Rockwood, co. Cavan I. Mary, m.1819, the Rev. Henry Cottingham, of Holywell, co. Cavan. II Anne-Frances, m. 1818, William Deey, Esq. of St. Marks, co. Dublin. Arms - Gu, two bars, arg., on a chief, or, three escallops of the first. Two websites claiming to be selling 'authentic' coats of arms show completely different versions for Hassard - but there is evidence that there were at least three - for the Hassards of Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire, as well as Lyme. So not suprising except that the websites fail to mention the distinctions. Burke continues with Hassard of Waterford and Hassard of Skea, both descended from Hassard of Gardenhill. The Skea branch seems to have been dropped by the 1879 edition. Back to The Hazzardous Lyme Tree
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