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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...
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