Joseph Hardin | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 18, 1734 |
| Died | July 4, 1801 (1801-07-05) (aged 67) Hardin Valley,Knox County, Tennessee |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | North Carolina Militia |
| Unit |
|
| Commands |
|
| Battles / wars | |
| Relations | Jane Gibson, wife |
| Other work |
|
Joseph Hardin Sr. (April 18, 1734 – July 4, 1801) was anAssemblyman (in the Provincial Congress) for theProvince of North Carolina, and was a signatory of theTryon Resolves. Early in theWar for Independence, as a member of themilitia fromTryon County, Hardin fought theCherokee allies of Britain along the western frontier. Later in the war, having taken his family over theAppalachian Mountains to theWashington District[1] for safety against the advance of theRed Coats out ofSouth Carolina, Hardin joined theOvermountain Men. He saw action at theBattle of Ramsour's Mill and the decisiveBattle of Kings Mountain. Following the peace withBritain, Hardin was a co-founder and secondSpeaker of the House for theState of Franklin; and an Assemblyman in theSouthwest Territory before its statehood asTennessee.
Joseph Hardin was born the spring of 1734[2] inHenrico Co.,Virginia Colony in an area several years later to be encompassed by the fledgling town ofRichmond at the Falls (now Richmond), Virginia Colony.[3][4][5]
Hardin was the second son, and fourth child, of Benjamin Hardin II and Margaret Hooper.[2] He was older brother to Captain John Hardin (1736–1802) (noted as the hero who turned the tide of battle for thepatriots at theBattle of Ramsour's Mill during the"Southern Campaign" of the Revolutionary War)[6][7] and Sarah Hardin, wife toLt. Col. Frederick Hambright.
Hardin married Jane Gibson (1742–1817) on July 8, 1762, in Virginia. They moved to the 'Salisbury District' of the Province of North Carolina, settling in the newly formed Tryon County, where he becameJustice of the Peace in 1772.[2]
Hardin's children were: Rebecca; twins Joseph Jr. and John; Jane Ann; James W.; Benjamin I; Robert I; Elender; Mary Easter; Margaret; Amos; Benjamin II; Gibson; and Robert II. "Ben-two" and "Robert-two", as they were called, were both named after older brothers who had been lost in battle with Native Americans.[2]
Hardin was a great-grandfather of Texas outlaw,John Wesley Hardin.[6]
Hardin served several stints as a local Justice of the Peace: first in Tryon County, NC (April 1772 – 1778); thenWashington Co., NC (Tennessee East District) (1783); and finallyGreene Co. (1796). He served for Tryon County as a delegate to theNorth Carolina Provincial Congress in1776 and representative to the North Carolina House of Commons in1778. He also served for Washington County (Washington District, North Carolina) (1782) and, Greene Co., Tennessee East District, NC (1788). Hardin was a signer of the Tryon Resolves in September 1775.[8][9]
During the period of 1784–1785, Hardin,John Sevier, and several others were instrumental in organizing the extra-legal State of Franklin. He was elected its second Speaker of the House in June 1785. A few years after the failure of Franklin, he served as a representative for the First Territorial Assembly of the Southwest Territory (also known as the Territory South of the Ohio River)[10] held atKnoxville, Tennessee, in the summer of 1794. Later that same year, Hardin became a trustee of the newly charteredGreeneville (later Tusculum) College.[2] He was elevated to Speaker of the House in the territorial assembly in 1795.[11]
JOSEPH HARDIN
FARMER-SOLDIER-STATESMANBorn April 18, 1734 in Virginia of English Ancestry.
Died July 4, 1801, in Hardin Valley, Tennessee.
A strict Presbyterian, stern and fearless in discharge of duty.
Loved and trusted by his friends, feared by his enemies.PIONEER-PATRIOT-PATRIARCH
Major 2nd N.C. Minute Men, Salisbury District, 1775.
Captain Tryon Co., N.C. Light Horse, Cherokee Expedition, 1776.
In battle of Ramsour's Mill and at Kings Mountain, 1780.
Colonel for Western Counties (Tenn.), 1788.
Lost three sons in Tennessee Indian Wars.MemberCommittee of Safety, Tryon Co., N.C., 1775.
MemberProvincial Congress atHillsborough 1775 and atHalifax 1776.
MemberGeneral Assembly of N.C., 1778-79 and (from Tenn.) 1782-88.
Organizer State of Franklin,Jonesboro, 1784-1785.
Member General Assembly, Territory South of the Ohio, Knoxville, 1794.For his military services during Revolutionary War and Indian Wars he received in 1785 from North Carolina,
3000 acres of land in themiddle district, now Hardin County, Tenn. named for him.—Burial Memorial, Knoxville, Tennessee
American Revolution service record:[12]
Hardin's first documented military service shows his appointment as the firstmajor of the 2nd North CarolinaMinutemenBrigade (from theSalisbury District) in 1775.[13] That same year, he appears in the rolls as acaptain in theGriffith Rutherford's Light Horse Rangers. Hardin took part inRutherford's Cherokee Expedition into the Washington District late the following year, under CaptainWilliam Moore.[14] Beginning in 1777, Hardin carried a captain's commission inLocke's 2nd Battalion of Volunteers (part ofGeneral Allen Jones'Halifax District Brigade) seeing action against Britain and itsNative American allies.
It was during this time that Hardin moved his family to the western settlements for safe keeping. As a major in the North Carolina militia, he raised a battalion of volunteers, the Wilkes County Regiment, in early 1779.[13] As an officer in thisOvermountain Men militia, he fought in theBattle of Ramseur's Mill, between the Tories (Loyalists to the Crown) and the Whigs (American Patriots) on June 20, 1780, and later that year at the Battle of Kings Mountain, on Oct 7.[15]
After the cessation of the ground war with Britain (1783), Hardin, then living in the newly establishedGreene County, was promoted tocolonel and appointed Commandant of the North Carolina Militia for "The Western Counties" (old Washington District)[13] due to the continuing hostilities with theChickamauga.
As was the custom of the time, he was awarded land grants totaling 8,400 acres (34 km2) for service to his country.[16] In 1786, several thousand acres of this land was set aside for Col. Hardin in what later becameHardin County, Tennessee.[17]
Tombstone Inscription of
HARDIN, Joseph
16 Apr 1734
4 Jul 1801
b. in Virginia;
d. in Hardin Valley
Served Rev. War
Although he himself never set foot in that region, on March 11, 1786, the land along the far western reaches of the Tennessee River was surveyed by Isaac Taylor and warrants were drawn on behalf of Hardin for 3,000 acres (12 km2) in what was to become Hardin County, Tennessee[16] However, due to legal trouble with squatters and the wildness of that area in Tennessee, it was thirty years before his family could settle there.[18]
Hardin died July 4, 1801.[2] He is interred at the Hickory Creek Cemetery, Hardin Valley, Knox Co., TN.[19] There is a large monument dedicated to Hardin at the site. The inscription reads:
Two parties of settlers (totaling 26) struck out ofKnoxville, Tennessee, in late spring of 1816 bound for the general area which would eventually becomeSavannah, Tennessee. The first party came by boat down theTennessee River, landing in May at"the easteward curve of the Tennessee" atCerro Gordo. The second, and larger, party had travelled overland and suffered from many delays. Upon the arrival of the second group, the parties finally rejoined at Johnson Creek, near present-daySavannah, Tennessee. It was now July, and the pioneers set about the laying down of the first permanent settlement by non-Native Americans in the area.
This second party was led by Joseph Hardin Jr., son of Col. Joseph Hardin,[17] who had, before his death, accumulated several land grants to the area as rewards for hisRevolutionary War service. Joseph Jr. was accompanied on the trip by his brother, James Hardin (known as the founder of the settlement ofHardinville; a failed endeavor that would be created in 1817 on nearby Hardin's Creek). Both men executed land grants[20] in the area. They had fought alongside their father in the war and had been likewise rewarded with their own land patents, and had inherited some of their father's remaining unclaimed grants.[16][18] About this same time, other settlers from the initial expedition established a community further down river atSaltillo.
Other relatives of Col. Joseph's were to eventually settle in the area, including sons: Gibson, Ben II and Robert II, and daughter, Margaret (wife of Ninian Steele), all having arrived there by 1818.[17][18]
The county was namedposthumously for Joseph Hardin Sr.[21] in November 1819, at the first meeting of the county assembly which took place at the home of his son, James Hardin. Today, the courthouse in the county seat of Savannah is dedicated to him.[18]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Pg. 553{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help); no. 317- 400 acres (1.6 km2) ("withdrawn"), 318- 600 acres (2.4 km2), 445- 800 acres (3.2 km2), 670- 1,000 acres (4.0 km2), 924- 200 acres (0.81 km2), 1619- 3,000 acres (12 km2), 2118- 1,000 acres (4.0 km2), 2119- 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) and 2129- 500 acres (2.0 km2){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help); pp. 829-841{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help); entry No. 2128; 1,000 acres (4.0 km2)