George W. Hardy,
section 9, Pike Township, is a native of Jay County, born March 17, 1843, a
son of John and Eliza (Hanna) Hardy. His grandfathers were both pioneers of
Jay County, both also coming from Ohio, George Hardy from Preble County and
Christopher Hanna from Jackson County. His parents were married in Jay
County, and to them were born seven children, all of whom are living – Mrs.
Adeline Aldridge lives in Delaware County, Indiana; George W. is our
subject; Christopher H. is a resident of Pike Township; Mrs. Martha Williams
lives in Delaware County, Indiana; Jacob B., Fernando D. and Mrs. Mary E.
Cox, live in Michigan. The father, John Hardy, enlisted in the defense of
his country in the Civil War and was assigned to Company F, Seventy-Fifth
Indiana Infantry, and after some service was discharged on account of
ill-health. Later his health improving, and being ambitious to help put down
the Rebellion, he went out in an Ohio Battery and died in the service. The
mother now makes her home with her son Fernando, in Michigan.
George W. Hardy remained at home until the country’s peril demanded the
service of her sons, when he enlisted in Company C, Thirty-Ninth Indiana
Infantry. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Chickamauga and
Stone River, where he was captured and others of less note, and after
veteranizing and becoming a member of the Eighth Indiana Cavalry, he
followed the banners of Sherman to the sea, and through the Carolinas,
receiving his discharge in the summer of 1865.
On May
20, 1866, Mr. Hardy married Amy Ann Cook, daughter of Whipple and Martha
Cook. Her father was one of the pioneer settlers of Pike Township, settling
on section 9, in 1837, on land he had entered the year before. His first
wife, Aseneth Grout, to whom he was married in Massachusetts, died in Jay
County, leaving several children, and he afterward married Martha Hughes,
and of their children but two, Mrs. Hardy and Eseck are living. Mr. Cook
died, after a life of great usefulness, in 1877 and his widow now lives on
the homestead with her son Eseck.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hardy
have been born nine children, all of whom are still living at home – John
E., Louisa, Lavornia, Albert, Roland O., Noel W., Edith and Edna (twins) and
Ira Lester.
Mr. Hardy’s homestead contains 136 acres,
eight of which are cleared of timber and under cultivation. When he was
married he had twelve acres, and about two years after he bought forty, and
later traded the twelve for twenty adjoining the forty, and has added to it
from time to time until he now has a fine farm property. In politics, Mr.
Hardy is a Republican.
Biographical and Historical
Record of Jay County, IN
Lewis Publishing Company, 1887
Transcribed by
Jim Cox