In the course of collecting material for a book on the Dunbar community in Georgetown County, South Carolina, Joyce Cox-Holmes learned from John Hasbin the origin of his unusual surname.
He told Holmes that his family came from a plantation near Greenfield owned by a man named Hazard or Hazzard. The slave people rented from Hazzard. When they were freed, they changed from Hazard to Hasbeen. That’s now become Hasbin. The name developed because these people “has been a slave no longer.” Holmes said, “It’s a change, a make-up name.” [Link]
