Henry HARDIN

19 Jan 1801 - 6 Oct 1859

Father: Henry HARDING
Mother: Mary SMITH

Family 1 : Mary PHILLIPS

  1. +William Jefferson HARDIN
  2. +Irene Frances HARDIN
  3. +Sarah Ann HARDIN
  4.  Polly Ann HARDIN
  5. +James Allen HARDIN
  6. +Henry Andrew HARDIN
  7. +Julia Ann HARDIN
  8. +Mary Jane HARDIN
  9. +Ann Eliza HARDIN

 
                                       _Henry HARDING ___
                  _Henry HARDING _____|
                 |                    |_Wilmouth GEORGE _+
 _Henry HARDING _|
|                |                     __________________
|                |_Rebecca NETHERTON _|
|                                     |__________________
|
|--Henry HARDIN 
|
|                                      __________________
|                 _Benjamin SMITH ____|
|                |                    |__________________
|_Mary SMITH ____|
                 |                     __________________
                 |_Judith HURST ______|
                                      |__________________
 

Notes:

Henry Hardin and his family are believed to have been a part of the Hagans-Cockrill 1853 immigration.

Thanks to Leona Mastan, a Hardin family researcher, for her correction of Henry Hardin's year of death (from his will: "He signed his will on 29 Sep 1859 in Sonoma County, CA. Sonoma Co, CA Will book A, pgs 58 - 61, LDS film 1428163"). Many thanks to her as well, for her pictures of Hardin family gravesites at the Macedonia Cemetery.

 

From Leona Mastan (email, 12 July 2004):

Attached is an overall shot of the small Macedonia Cemetery taken from what appears to be the back, left corner. The Hardin's are in the cluster of stones in the center behind the large Hughes monument.

 

Copy from Leona Mastan

 

From Index and Abstract of Wills Sonoma County, California 1850-1900 (Sonoma County Genealogical Society, The Sonoma County Library, and The Sonoma County Historical Records Commission: Sonoma, May 1985, Reprinted November 1991), p. 78:

 
HARDIN, HENRY Written: 29 Sep. 1859 #149
Johnson Co., MO Probate: 12 Nov. 1859  
Native of Jefferson Co., KY    
Wife: Mary  
Daughters: Irene, wife of Wm. H. Rodgers; Mary Jane, wife of Roland Hughs; Julia A., wife of Wm. E. Bradley; Sarah Ann, wife of E. D. Harris; Ann Eliza, wife of Wm. J. Cox
Sons: Wm. K., Henry A., James A.
Executors: Sons, both residents of Sonoma Co.  
Witnessess: Mark York, Jas. H. Lawrence  
       

 

From Henry Hardin of California, by Fredna Tweedt Irvine (Belmont, MA: 1976), page 68:

William H. Hardin in his family letter described his Uncle Henry:

He was a typical Hardin - quick tempered, self-willed, but very pious and easily placated, always aiming to do right.

He described his Aunt Polly:

Aunt Polly was one of the most industrious, and one of the best women I ever knew, and the great kindness and many favors she showed me will always be remembered.

Henry Hardin is of the generation who legally changed its name from Harding to Hardin. Mrs. F. E. Bowen, a genealogist who is descended from this Harding family, asked her mother why they changed their name, and she said that she thought that it was a southernism, the form of speech which leaves off the final "g" in a word ending in -ing. There were Hardins in Ketucky when the family arrived and they believed that they were all related.

Henry and Polly grew up in Pee Wee Valley near Rollington, which is east of Louisville, Kentucky. They were married there and lived there until they moved to Johnson County, Missouri in 1839. All of their children except the youngest, Ann Eliza, were born in Kentucky... Henry Hardin was very successful in Missouri. His plantation was four hundred acres of river bottom land which had "soil so rich it would grow anything." He also owned some land in Lafayette Co., Missouri. He grew cotton, flax and corn and grazed sheep, and they had slaves. Each of their three sons was in charge of a different operation with allotted slaves...

I asked my great aunt, M. H. Rector, why the Hardins left Missouri if they were so successful. She said that the young people decided to go to California which meant for them not only adventure, but that they could buy land for very little. The Hardins had always been a land owning family. She further said that Mary Hardin grieved so for her children that Henry said that they too would go to California so that they could all be together... The Henry Hardin Family did not go to California to mine for gold; Henry and Mary Hardin gave each of their eight children $4,000.00 and with this money their children bought land in California... My great aunt said that the Hardins went to California in 1852 and 1853, and when I asked why it took two years, she said that they were ready to leave in 1852, and some of the family went then, but Henry and Mary would not leave until they could place their slaves into congenial families, where they could be happy. The old negro mammy wated to go with them to California, but they knew that the trip would be too difficult for her, and grieved that they had to leave her...

Henry and Mary Hardin went to California by covered wago in 1853 and with them were their son James Allen, their two younger daughters, Mary Jane and Ann Eliza, and Henry's nephew, William Henry Hardin, author of the Family Letter. Since Julia Ann and her husband, Will Bradley, had just been married on 10 March 1853, they must have gone with her parents. Mr. Wakefield Taylor of San Francisco, is a descendant of Mary Ann Harris, daughter of Dr. Harris by a former marriage, and he said that he was told that Mary Harris went west in Col. Hardin's wagon train. Col. Hardin made the 1853 trip with his parents and in 1856 he made another trip. He returned to Missouri to marry Miss Nancy Meyers, and when their son, Ed Hardin, was six months old, Col. Hardin led a six wagon train to California. The reason that I believe that Sarah and Dr. Harris made the earlier crossing is that according to her obituary she and Dr. Harris first went to Oregon and did not settle in Sonoma County, California, until 1855, which was a year before Col. Hardin made his second trip. Henry and Mary settled in Sonoma Co., California, and most of their children had ranches there...

[no written diary of the trip exists -- Fredna Tweedt Irvine believes they left from Independence, MO, and by-passed Salt Lake City by using Sublette's and Hudspeth's cut-off which agrees with the Cockrill recounting of the trail.]

They had been passing through the land of the Sioux, and other Plains Indians who were horsemen. It must have been in this area that the Hardin Party had an Indian encounter. A band of Indians rod up and the chief saw my Great grandmother, Mary Jane Hardin, who was fourteen years old. The family was frightened by the demand of the chief: he wanted my great grandmother to be his squaw, and he offered his fine white horse for her. Her father's refusal did not bring on the expected Indian attack, much to the relief of the party...

 

 Photo from Leona Mastan

From Leona Mastan (email, 12 July 2004):

Sacred

To the memory of

HENRY HARDIN

who was

Born Jan. 19. A.D. 1801

and

Died Oct. 6, A.D. 1859

____ _____ and certain hope of eternal life

_____ _______ atonement and mediation of a

crucified Savior

 

There is much more engraved on the top of this above ground crypt, but I am unable to decipher it because of the lichen growth and weather damage. From the few words I can make out, it appears to be Bible verses, and not genealogical information.

 

 

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This page created on 02/05/01 16:08. Updated 07/22/04 21:06.