The Hardy Family

From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.

THE HARDY FAMILY*

The first pioneer Hardy and Mace families arrived in Indiana Territory in the year 1815. They were the sixth generation descendants of Thomas Hardy, who, it is believed, came to America with Governor Winthrop in 1630. The expedition supposedly included 17 ships and more than 1500 passengers. Thomas Hardy built the first frame house at Agawam, later Ipswich, Mass. in 1634.

For nearly two centuries descendants of these families slowly moved westward via Rowley, Bradford, Groveland and Tewksbury, Mass.; Sandown and Warner, New Hampshire; Danville, Vermont; Ontario County and Calendonia, New York; followed by treacherous journeys over the Green and Allegheny Mountains by sleigh and down the Allegheny, Genesee and Ohio Rivers by raft and flat boats to Cincinnati, Ohio.

Dr. Jonathan Hardy, his wife Betsey Cochran Hardy, and their family of seven children were the first to arrive in what is now Scott County in 1815. As a young man Jonathan had suffered extensively from a lung condition which threatened his life. He had been treated by a well-known physician to whom he traveled many miles for treatment and the doctor had advised him to study medicine in order to better care for himself. He was the second physician to arrive in Scott County. Dr. Hardy settled with his family a few miles southeast of Lexington. The original cabin was reportedly built just across the road from the entrance to Liberty (now Barnes) Cemetery. This road today is the boundary line between Scott and Clark counties.

Dr. Hardy's sister and brother-in-law, Benjamin and Mary Hardy Mace and family, followed him to Indiana in the summer of 1817. Mary died in 1822 and her husband died in 1826 after contracting malaria while working with his two eldest sons on a dam at Louisville, Kentucky. He left a family of six children, some of whom were taken into the home of Dr. Hardy.

In 1832-33 another sister of Dr. Hardy's, Hannah who had married her cousin David Hardy, also came to Indiana via the same route followed by Dr. Hardy and Benjamin Mace. Hannah died just one month after their arrival. Some of their family of eight children remained in New Hampshire. David died from cholera during the epidemic of 1849.

It is only appropriate to relate some of the hardships experienced by these families as recorded many years later by the eldest son of Dr. Jonathan and Betsey Hardy. Jonathan Hershel Hardy was 10 years old when this journey was made. He recalls the extensive preparations made for the trips, the building of the sleigh and boats for continuing their journey down the river to their final landing about ten miles below the popular port of New London. He remembers the tearful good-byes and a final farewell look at the top of the Green Mountains of Vermont when Dr. Jonathan urged all (especially his wife) to take a last look at the land that had been their home--for they would probably never see it again. From the top of that mountain Dr. Hardy pointed out to them the panoramic view and the general direction of the towns of their birth, their marriages, the homes of their parents and other family they were leaving behind. His wife beheld the scene tearfully and her husband led her back to the wagon. They were never to see their native land again.

Dr. Hardy built a large, heavy one-horse sleigh for the trip over the mountains. This conveyed his family of seven children, he and his wife, and all their personal possessions. The load was great but with one good horse he thought he could make the trip of more than 130 miles to Olean Point, which lay at the headwaters of the Allegheny River. To quote from the writer:

In going over these mountains though the roads were well covered with snow, yet they were very sideling in many places, and we had a terrible turnover one day, the horse being thrown upon his side and the sleigh with all its contents dumped into the deep snow. The first thing to do was to save the children; the bureau, featherbeds, bed clothing, indeed the most in the sleigh were upon the small and weaker children.

The doctor thought they had all the children extricated but upon counting them found one missing; then springing in and overhauling everything, he found his daughter, Semiramis, under a feather bed almost smothered to death; indeed she was speechless. and black in the face, but eventually recovered her breath. Now all was right so far as the family was concerned. Then the horse was attended to with difficulty, but was eventually freed from the shafts, and was soon on his feet. The sleigh was soon righted, and again loaded and started.

But the road was so sideling in places that he was afraid again of turning over, so he placed his two elder boys with their feet upon the runner, and their hands holding onto the bows of the cover of the sleigh. On the sideling places they were to lean back as far as possible, to keep the sleigh from turning over when taking a slide. The lower side of the road was always on the right hand side. Many times the left hand runner was in the air for a moment, but the weight of the boys held the sleigh from over turning.

Their anxiety was further heightened from the warning they had received the night before not to tarry in the mountains till after dark. Because the snow was deep, the wolves were "very ravenous of late" hence their urgency to get out of the mountains before nightfall. Because of the time lost in the turnover they barely escaped being caught out in the night. For miles and miles there were no settlements.

Then Benjamin and Mary Hardy Mace followed this same route to the Lexington area in 1817, another of the many typical incidents recorded by Jonathan Hershel Hardy is well worth relating:

Early in June, 1817, a boat which Benjamin Mace had built with the help of his brother-in-law Ephraim Hardy was attached to a great, unwieldy and lengthy lumber raft at Glean, Ohio. Mr. Mace was permitted to do this if he would help the owner to manage and guide the difficult raft down the swollen river to Marietta, Ohio. The raft was VERY difficult to manage in many places. There were sudden bends in some places; indeed the Allegheny is a very crooked river at its best; and in these bends it was with utmost difficulty that the hands kept the rear end from hitting the shore. Should it have done so, in all probability the raft would have broken in two and repair would almost have been impossible in such a rapid stream.

One day in turning a sudden bend, Mr. Mace came very near having his boat and family in a terrible smash-up. The raft was swinging towards the shore with a terrible velocity, and the boat being tied to the rear, they saw the boat would most certainly hit the shore, and if it didn’t the raft would crush them in a minute, and all his family would perish. Mr. Mace, seeing the peril of his family, ran to the rear or aft end and with an ax severed the large cable with which the boat was tied; the raft being heavy and under water so deep, the current carried the raft with more speed and the boat was left behind; the raft escaped the shore only a few feet.

The raft with rapidity sped on its way, while the boat was soon left far behind. Mrs. Mace at this time was sole navigator of their tiny boat, but she raised no cry of alarm, for she soon saw her husband, assisted by another man, coming in a skiff to her relief. The skiff was soon attached to the boat and by hard rowing and a tremendous effort, in an hour or so the raft was reached, and the boat again attached to the raft, and all again was right. Sometimes the men on the raft had narrow escapes from being washed off the raft. Once his five year old son, Albert G. Mace, accidentally fell into the river only to be quickly rescued by his father.

Any part or all of this journey today would be just a side trip during a good vacation. To the settlers of the Northwest Territory, it must have been a trip viewed with high hope and expectation, but realized only after overcoming very real dangers and bitter disappointment with endless patience, courage and their faith in a Living God.

*Memoirs of Benjamin and Mary Hardy Mace, Jonathan H. Hardy, 1881, and Memoirs of Elizabeth Hardy, Jonathan H. Hardy, 1880.

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