I1321: James Allen HARDIN (ABOUT 1814

James Allen HARDIN

ABOUT 1814 - 25 Nov 1886

OCCUPATION: Carpenter
BIRTH: ABOUT 1814, Jefferson Co., KY
DEATH: 25 Nov 1886

Father: Henry HARDING
Mother: Mary SMITH

Family 1 : Mary Ann Lucinda ELSTON

MARRIAGE: 27 Feb 1833

James Henry HARDIN

Family 2 : Agnes ASBURY

MARRIAGE: 20 Nov 1835, Hardin Co., Kentucky

Family 3 : Lucinda FRAZIER

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

Notes:

Also known as Allen Hardin. According to Kit Fuller, "James divorced his 1st wife in 1835". From Henry Hardin of California, by Fredna Tweedt Irvine (Belmont, MA: 1976), page 46:
	He went to California in a wagon train in 1849, and after working for two years, he sent for his wife and six children... James A. Hardin is associated with the famous "Lost Hardin Silver Lode" legend. In 1849 he followed the Black Rock-Applegate-Lassen-Cut-off Trail to California, and the following account is mainly form A. M. Fairfield, History of Lassen County, 1 April 1864, sent me by Helen Falck Dunning. There is confusion as to the number who went hunting and found the metallic lumps, that is, it could have been J. A. Hardin alone, or he with one or two companions.
	The Lost Hardin Silver Lode
	A California-bound emigrant train, comprised of fourteen wagons and 200 odd members, one night made camp at Double Hot Springs, a few miles north of Black Rock Point in Nevada's Black Rock Desert... The provisions were getting very low, so the wagon captain delegated three men to go in search of wild game for food -- one of the trio being J. A. Hardin, a wheelwright. They went hunting and turned into a narrow gulch near Double Hot Springs. They found no game but picked up metallic lumps which they supposed were lead. In camp they molded these into bullets, excepting a few pieces which Hardin carried to California with him. J. A. Hardin settled in Petaluma, CA., as a carpenter. In 1857 one of these pieces of metal fell into the hands of an assayer who established the fact that it was high grade carbonate of lead and silver. Hardin and a group of men went to explore the desert for the mine in 1858, but could not located it. Hundreds of prospectors continued looking for the silver lode without luck until 1866 when outcroppings of carbonate of lead and silver ore were located. Hardin City sprang up almost overnight, and numerous claims located. Shafts were sunk, tunnels driven and several mills were built. Some said that silver ore worth $320.00 to $1,000.00 per ton was mined, others insisted that little of value ever came from the whole mining venture. At least in a year or two the town was dead and abandoned.

Another associated family member, Preston Blair McGuire, was also involved in the search for Lost Black Rock Mine. Listed in the California State Library Pioneer Record (from Kit Fuller):
	Place of birth: Louisville Kentucky, Hardin Co.
	If married, to whom: 2- Agnes Ashbury
	Place of Marriage: Hardin Co. Kentucky 1836
	Date of Pioneer's arrival in California: 1849
	ROUTE FOLLOWED TO CALIFORNIA If overland, name of party: Immigrant train from Independence to Sacto. Traveled with brother-in-law, Coleman Ashbury.
	States lived in before coming to California: Kentucky & Springfield , Miss
	Places of residence in California: Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, San Jose.
	Profession or occupation: Carpenter for General Vallejo, construction contractor
	Where educated: Louisville, Kentucky
	Descendants: William Jefferson Hardin, Mary Jane Fowler, Elizabeth O'Brian, George Washington Hardin, Robert Davison Hardin, Ridgley Hardin, Alpha Malinda Riker, Frances Amy Adamson, Rozetta Turner, Nancy Hardin, James Henry Hardin.
	MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: Discovered silver mine at Black Rock Desert, Nevada; Later parties including Hardin, Peter Lassen and Wm. Weatherlow failed to locate gulch -- Peter Lassen killed on his attempt. In 1866, Hardin City sprang up as a ghost town. James Hardin was carpenter who constructed Vallejo home at Santa Rosa now State monument
	Information given by: Evelyn Compton Limha[?] Relationship: great granddaughter

This page created on 02/05/01 16:08. Updated 09/11/02 20:57.