Oglethorpe COUNTY GA Bios Hardeman family File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Sharon Marzonie (Boles) naturalbait@yahoo.com http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/oglethorp/bios/hardeman.txt Thomas HARDEMAN FAMILY The following (quoted by Judge Faw) is from a book entitled "Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer, written by Peter Hardeman Burnett and published by D. Appleton and Company in 1880: My grandfather Thomas Hardeman was born in Virginia, January 8, 1750; and his brother whom I never saw, settled in Georgia. My grandfather Hardeman was among the first settlers of Tennessee, and participated in the Indian wars of that country. He was a stout man, possessed a very fine constitution, a determined will, and a splendid intellect. His education was originally very limited, but by study, he became a man of distinction. He was the neighbor and warm friend of General Andrew Jackson, and was, with the General, a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Tennessee. He was a farmer and made a fortune, living to the age of seventy-two. He reared eight sons and three daughters . . . My grandfather Hardeman was twice married, his two wives being sisters, but all his children were the issue of his first marriage. He brought up his sons to his own business, except John and Bailey, to whom he gave fine educations. They were intended for the bar, but never practiced. Both were men of fine mental capacity, especially Uncle John, who was one of the most accomplished literary men of the Western States. My grandfather Hardeman taught certain maxims to his children that have come down to his grandchildren and have had a great influence over his posterity: First--Pay your honest debts. Second--Never disgrace your family. Third--Help the honest and industrious kin. There was a great difference between my father's and mother's families. The Hardemans were fond of' pleasure, and were generally extravagant when young. Most of them, especially my male cousins, when setting out in life, wasted their patrimony, not in dissipation of any kind, but in fashionable life; and afterward set earnestly to work, most of them making good livings, and some of them fortunes. The Hardemans were generally men of the world, first fond of fashionable pleasures, dress and show, and afterwards seekers of fortune. But, though wild when young men, I have yet to hear of the first instance In which they were ever accused of any criminal offense, great or small. They sometimes had fisticuff fights (though very rarely), but I never knew one of them to fight a duel. With very rare exceptions, they all paid their debts. They were generally good business men, and good traders in such property as lands and stock and were punctious in keeping their promises and firm In telling the truth. All of the name were very proud of the family; and, though they might have disputes among themselves, they would not permit others to speak Ill of even those they themselves blamed. They were very generous in aiding their relatives in starting in business generally by good advice to the young, and often by loans of money. They were especially kind to the unfortunate. They were generally quick-tempered and downright in the expression of their opinions. My grandfather Hardeman and most of his sons seemed to think it a conscientious duty, when they saw any one do what they considered a mean act, to tell him what they thought of him In plain terms. They were candid and resolute men and you always know how you stood with them. If they disliked you, they would tell you so. There were many marriages between cousins, especially in the Perkins family, who were related through my grandmother Hardeman, whose maiden name was Perkins. The Perkins family came from North Carolina. Taken from English Surnames by C.M. Matthews, 1967: (appropriately in the Human Behaviors chapter :-) "One of the Anglo-Saxon's favorite words for describing heroes and warriors was HARD, in the sense of unyielding and therefore [again] courageous. It has been a hard-worked word ever since, and in fact I can hardly form a sentence without it; but this 'hardly' which I have just used in such a weak sense was once worthy to qualify actions performed with intense courage and suffering. The Normans [Vikings] had a cognate word 'hardi', and between them they have left us many honorable surnames of which HARDY and HARDING (the brave one) are the most numerous." ======================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for FREE access. ==============