DEACON OLIVER HARDY AND FAMILY

Oliver Hardy was born of respectable parents, in Weare, N. H., September 19, A. D., 1779. During his minority the means of education were extremely limited; and he had his share with others in the common misfortune. He was, however, early trained to a life of industry, honesty and prudence. After finishing an apprenticeship in the business of a tanner, currier and shoemaker, he came to Bradford, Vt., in the Fall of 1802, and selected for himself a permanent location on the small brook at what is now the North end of the village. He that Fall commenced clearing away the trees from his purchase, and preparing facilities for the prosecution of his business. The next Spring he put down more vats, and commenced the erection of a building to accommodate his operations, and of a dam to hold water to drive the requisite machinery. He boarded in the neighboring families of Andrew B. Peters, Esq., and Dr. Arad  Stebbins, until the winter of 1805, when he married Miss Sally Johnson, of Enfield, N. H., who came and lived with him in the same house, until the day of his death, a period of sixty-two years and a few months over.  Deacon Hardy was a man of ingenuity, who could work to advantage not only in his appropriate sphere, but had a blacksmith's forge and tools, which he used as occasion required, and when there was' no other man in the vicinity to clean and repair clocks and watches they were carried to him, as it was understood he could do almost everything, and had a corner in one of his buildings for this particular purpose. He was also a farmer in a small way, and in the winter was accustomed to go with his sleigh load of leather and other commodities to some one of the seaports, and bring home a supply of desirable articles for his family. In these and like ways he accumulated a nice little property, sufficient for himself and wife in their old age, and to leave something comfortable for his beloved daughter, to say nothing of other relatives.  After the lapse of many years, the fire seized the old tannery, with its various appurtenances, and so thoroughly swept them away that scarcely a vestige now remains.  But one thing more in regard to that old establishment I must not omit to mention. While a fine boy was one day superintending the grinding of bark there, he by mistake got his foot where the bark should be, and was thus crippled for life. But the loss of his foot awakened his ingenuity to supply, so far as possible, the want, and led to the making of artificial limbs so superior to any ever before known as to bring him high renown, not only in America, but Europe, and wherever the name of Professor Palmer is known; not only renown, but also it is said wealth. Thus a serious calamity proved to be but a blessing in disguise.

Deacon Hardy was not ambitious of political distinction, but for several years sustained, much to the satisfaction of his fellow townsmen, the office of a Justice of the Peace. He had always been a man of kind disposition and exemplary morality, but did not become an experimental and professed Christian until he had attained to what is deemed the meridian of human life. Then there is reason to believe he became divinely illuminated, a sincere penitent, a hearty believer in the blessed Savior, and commenced a life of obedience to the gospel.  At the age of thirty-six, in the year 1815, he professed his faith, and was received as a member of the Congregational Church in the place of his residence, then in its infancy, and continued faithful to his dying day, more than half a century after.

In March, 1830, he was elected and constituted a Deacon in the same church, and continued to perform the active duties of the office for some nine or ten years; when, by his request and that of Deacon Bliss, his aged associate, younger brethren were chosen to relieve them; but they both remained beloved and honored Deacons during the remainder of their days; having "purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus."

Deacon Hardy revered the Sabbath as a holy day, and delighted in the worship of God, at home, in the social prayer meeting, in the monthly meetings of the church, and in the more public congregation. He was a man of strict honesty, of firm integrity, and at the same time of uncommon humility and meekness. His heart was full of good will towards all men. Seldom or never was he heard to speak unkindly of any human being. His patience and sweet resignation to the will of God, Were admirable.  He had followed the remains of six sons and one daughter to the grave, and experienced many other trials, but ever bowed submissively to the divine will, and failed not to manifest that meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. During his long and painful ill-ness he had a strong hope in the covenant faithfulness of God, and found his Saviour to be to him most precious.  When the time for his departure came, he was fully sensible that he was going home ; and, having spoken impressively to the aged companion of his life, and to his surviving son and daughter, attending physician, and others about him, each separately, with a wave of his hand he bade them all adieu; resigned his spirit into his almighty and most merciful Saviour's hands, and, beyond all doubt, entered into life eternal.

Deacon Oliver Hardy died at Bradford, Vt., August 1st, 1867, aged eighty-seven years, ten months and twelve days. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Mrs. Sally J., widow of Deacon Oliver Hardy; born at Enfield, N. H., May 16,1786; died at the house of her son, J. A. Hardy, July 26, 1870, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. These parents had seven sons and three daughters. Of these, two of the daughters and three of the sons died in childhood. One son, Jesse, from his infancy of feeble intellect, but of a quiet disposition, died in 1855, at the age of forty-three years, having been through life treated by his parents and the entire family with exemplary consideration and tenderness. Of the three other sons and their sisters, let the following notices suffice:

1 Johnson Arad Hardy, born July 29, 1806, still remains a worthy citizen of Bradford. January 3, 1830, he married Miss Sybil Clark, of this place, by whom he had a family of four sons and one daughter, of whom some further account presently.

Mr. J. A. Hardy opened the first scientific clock, watch and jewelry establishment in Bradford, in October, 1829.  He commenced in a shop near his present residence, but in 1836 moved that building, and his business with it, to a more central location in the village, and there went on prosperously, till able to erect a more costly edifice, affording not only ample accommodations for his own business, but to let, for a store of dry goods, an express office, a law office, post office, a photograph gallery, and the business of dentistry, a music, hall, etc. Into this building he removed his business in 1851, and, having gradually gained a high reputation as a skillful and reliable workman, and fair dealer, was extensively patronized, and accomplished a great amount of profitable business.  In 1858, Mr. Hardy, finding such close application injurious to his health, sold his goods and rented his store, with its fixtures, to Mr. Charles H. Harding, for the term of five years, reserving the privilege of having a work apartment in or near his own house, during the same time. At the expiration of this period, William G. Hardy went into the same business in the new store, and being assisted by his father was very successful. At length; in consequence of failing health, he felt obliged to exchange this, his favorite occupation, for outdoor air and exercise, and so purchased for himself a nice homestead in Fairlee, next north of the residence of Mr. Lewis Jenkins, his wife's father. He disposed of his goods and business to Mr. C. H. Harding, who there keeps an excellent clock, watch and jewelry establishment, in juxtaposition with the office of which he is the highly esteemed Postmaster.  Mr. J. A.. Hardy continues, June, 1873, business in his pleasant retirement, both to meet the wants of many of his former patrons, and for his own gratification, it being a pleasure to him to be actively and usefully employed.  His books show that in the course of now nearly fifty years he has cleaned, repaired and attended to the real wants of thirty-three thousand watches. The largest number repaired in any one year was thirteen hundred and thirty-three.    In March, 1851, his shop door had seventy-two holes bored around one of its panels, which was removed, and his store robbed of about one thousand dollars worth of goods, no part of which was ever recovered.

Mr. Hardy occasionally made time-pieces, clocks, and regulators, of different styles and prices. Among others, he calculated and made a valuable clock which requires winding but twelve times in a year, and as a donation to the Congregational society placed the same in the breast-work of their church gallery, where it still remains, a memorial of his liberality, and a faithful monitor of passing time. As to the children of these parents, William C., the eldest, died at the age of two years; Milo, the second, died at the age of nine years. Oliver J., the third son, born February 6, 1835, an enterprising young man, of the same occupation as his father, married Miss Louisa Ladd, of Haverhill, H. H., and established himself in a prosperous business at Haynesville, Alabama. He was esteemed a safe and very nice workman, but in early manhood was called away. He died at Haynesville, of consumption, February 26, 1858, at the age of twenty-three years. His remains were brought home to Bradford for burial, and the discourse delivered on the occasion, by the Rev. S. McKeen, was published, for the satisfaction of his numerous relatives and friends.

Sarah Jane, daughter of J. A. Hardy and wife, born February 17, 1837, married Edwin Kilbourne, then practicing dentistry in Bradford, January 3, 1860, and died at her father's house, August 27, 1866, in the thirtieth year of her age. Let the following correct, though brief, sketch of her character, from the pen of her pastor, immediately after her decease, be her memorial:

Mrs. Kilbourne, the only daughter of kind and Christian parents, who had ever earnestly sought to promote her highest good, was a young lady universally esteemed and beloved by those who knew her. In person symmetrical and pleasing, but too delicate to be strong and enduring; in attire, ever neat, and modestly elegant; in manners, unassuming, but uniformly correct and winning; at home and abroad she habitually exhibited that meek and quiet spirit which is, in the sight of God, of great price. She had a fine taste for music and drawing, in the practice of which she had attained to excellence. For years she was the admired organist in the choir with which she worshipped. For fifteen years she had been a member of the Congregational church in her native village, and very exemplary in her attendance on all its meetings, ordinances and worship. Greatly beloved by her husband, parents, and other relatives and friends, she loved them dearly in return. Life was pleasant to her; she would have been happy to have continued here longer, but when she evidently perceived that it was her Saviour's pleasure to take her to her heavenly home, she was not only perfectly reconciled to leave all, and depart, but esteemed it gain to die. In nature's last extremity, her faith and hope in Christ, the Lord, were strong; and while passing through the valley and shadow of death, she feared no evil, being divinely sustained and most sweetly comforted. Her peaceful and happy departure was a most fitting termination of her exemplary and beautiful life. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." S. M. K.

William George Hardy, the youngest son of Mr. J. A.  Hardy and wife, born March 8, 1840, married Miss Maria L. Jenkins, of Fairlee, February 9, 1864, and being thoroughly acquainted with the business of a watchmaker and jeweler, succeeded his father in that occupation, and went on prosperously until he found it necessary, as has been stated, to engage in agricultural pursuits, and purchased a pleasant farm and homestead in Fairlee, where he spent the remnant of his days. He died of pulmonary consumption at his home in Fairlee, on Saturday morning, April 18, 1874, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, leaving the beloved wife of his youth, with an only child, an infant son. He was a young man of kind disposition, of mechanical genius, good sense and unblemished moral character. He had for about seven years been a consistent member of the church to which his parents, and also wife, belonged. He was in life much attached to his mother, and by death only five days separated from her. He was blessed with the exercise of his reason to the last, and died beautifully sustained by the promises and consolations of the Gospel. His funeral services were attended at his late home in Fairlee, on Monday, the 20th inst., and his burial was with his kindred dead, in the cemetery at Bradford. He had been for some years to his parents, their last surviving child, very dutiful, affectionate, and much beloved.

Mrs. Sybil C, wife of Mr. J. A. Hardy, died at her home in Bradford, April 13, 1874, in the sixty-sixth year of her age. Her departure was thus but five days in advance of that of her last son.   She died of a chronic disease of the heart, ending in general dropsy.  She was a native of Clinton, Kennebec County, Maine, a daughter of William Clark and wife. Her mother, whose maiden name was Sybil Heaid, died at Troy, N. Y. Her father, after living for a while in Mobile, where he buried his eldest daughter, Sally, went to Florida and there died, leaving this daughter, and his two sons, William and George, both younger than their sister. The sons remained and became men of business in that part of the country, and died in Lowndes County, Alabama. The climate not suiting the daughter's health, she had returned before her father's decease, to live with her aunt Hartwell, in this place, who had been to all these orphans as a mother for some years before they went to their father in Florida. Sybil grew up an amiable, interesting young lady ; remembered her Creator in the days of her youth; and at the age of about nineteen became hopefully pious. In the year 1828 she, with more than twenty others, united with the Congregational church in this place. Of those then received Mr. Hardy was one; so that this destined couple, by a happy coincidence, commenced publicly their heavenward journey together.  They were married by their pastor January 3, 1830, and directly commenced house-keeping in a new building, designed both for a family residence and to accommodate the business of its proprietor as a watchmaker and jeweler. This building was subsequently removed, to give place to the commodious brick residence in which she spent the principal part of her married life.  Mr. and Mrs. Hardy had one daughter, Sarah Jane, a very amiable and good young lady, who became the wife of Dr. E, A. Kilbourne, and died at her father's house ; and two sons, worthy young men, of the same occupation as their father, namely, Oliver, who married Louisa Ladd, of Haverhill, N. H., went South and died in Hayneville, Alabama, and William G., who married Maria L. Jenkins, of Fairlee, where for a few years past he has resided on a farm, with a view to the improvement of his health, which had become delicate and precarious. He was unable to attend his mother's funeral. They have an infant son.

The state of Mrs. Hardy's health had been for several years very imperfect, and of such a nature as to affect seriously her nervous system, and to weigh heavily on her accustomed cheerfulness. But this, with her repeated bereavements, she endured with quiet resignation; habitually aiming to do, in all circumstances, the best she could.

She was much attached to the quietude of her home, but had been repeatedly benefited by being taken to the sea-shore to spend a few weeks at a time, and the last Summer and Autumn was wonderfully revived and invigorated by a journey with her husband, of some months, in the western country, including a visit to the medicinal springs of Saratoga, and especially of Clarendon, Vt.  This improvement, however, was not of long duration.  As her health again declined, and her journey through life was evidently drawing near its end, she seemed not to be much disappointed, or at all alarmed, but was enabled to trust in the precious promises of the Gospel with sweet composure, and was greatly comforted in view of eternity by the belief that she should soon be with her precious Saviour, reunited with her dear ones who had died in the Lord, and that those whom she was leaving, would, in God's good time, be with them there, in perfect and everlasting blessedness. She had for about forty-six years been aiming to live in obedience to the Gospel, and, as might be expected, the end was peace. She left her husband solitary in the pleasant home which they had so long enjoyed together, deeply afflicted, but still able to say: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Mr. Johnson A. Hardy, the last survivor of his own family, died at the house of his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Maria Hardy, in Fairlee, October 17, 1874, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was a worthy man, and in his last will remembered generously the church of which he had long been a member.

2 George W. Hardy, son of Deacon Oliver Hardy, born March 8, 1809, in early manhood was, with his father, occupied for several years in the business of a tanner and currier of leather. After the burning of that establishment, he engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes for sale, and mercantile business in this, his native, village, and so continued during the remainder of his life.   He built and occupied a pleasant brick house, a little north of that of his brother, on the same street, which is now (1874) owned by Mr. James Woodward, of Chicago, and undergoing important improvements. Mr. G.  W. Hardy married Miss Sophronia Buswell, of Lebanon, N. H., and died January 26, 1866, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. They had one son, John, who married Miss Josephine Doe, of Newbury, Vt. He owns and occupies a farm which formerly belonged to his grandfather, but on which he never lived, in that part of Bradford called Goshen. They have but one child, a son, whose name is Frank Everett.

3 John, the fourth son of Deacon 0. Hardy, born January 17, 1814, learned the clock, watch and jewelry business of his brother J. A., and at the close of his apprenticeship went South, and was very successful in his chosen occupation. He married a Southern lady, Miss Susan Crenshaw, by whom he had three daughters, Alabama, Virginia, and Sarah Jane. He died of congestive fever, September 11, 1843, at Haynesville, Alabama, in the thirtieth year of his age, leaving, as the result of his skill and industry, about $6,000 for the comfort of his beloved wife and daughters. Mrs. Hardy has since died, but the daughters are understood to be still living at the South.

4 Harriet Maria, the only surviving daughter of Deacon Hardy, born April 26th, 1827, married Jasper M.  Hardy, of Hopkinton, N. H., April 12th, 1866, and so became a resident of the native State of her parents.  It is here worthy of remark, that the descendants of good Deacon Oliver Hardy and wife have been, not only in a temporal view, but also religiously, signally blessed.  The daughter just mentioned, also her brother, J. A. Hardy and wife, their daughter, Mrs. Kilbourne, her brother William G. and wife, Mr. George W. and wife, their son John and his wife, all became members of the same church to which Deacon Hardy and wife belonged, and in which he had so long and acceptably officiated.  Biographie Index

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