Terrell-Bryan-Liberty County GaArchives Biographies.....Harden, Thomas Hutson unknown - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 30, 2004, 6:23 pm Author: William Harden p. 988-990 THOMAS HUTSON HARDEN. Now city engineer of Dawson, Terrell county, Mr. Harden represents the Harden family in a younger generation and his forefathers were among the most prominent citizens of south Georgia from the time of the Revolution down. Thomas Hutson Harden was born in Terrell county, was a son of Daniel McWhir Harden, a native of Bryan county, and a grandson of Thomas Hutson Harden, and a great-grandson of William Harden, the founder of this branch of the family in Georgia. William Harden was born in South Carolina. He served as captain of the Beauford Artillery from 1743 to 1785. In March, 1786, he was commander at Port Lyttleton. He was promoted colonel of militia under Gen. Stephen Bull, and in 1779 attacked the British at Wiggins Hill. He served as colonel under Gen. Francis Marion during the campaign of 1780 and 1781, and was in a number of skirmishes with the British and captured Fort Balfour with one hundred prisoners. Thomas Hutson Harden, grandfather of the city engineer of Dawson, was also prominent in military affairs, and was lieutenant colonel and division inspector with Gen. John McIntosh. Thomas H. Harden married Matilda Baker. She was a daughter of Col. John Baker of Liberty county, Georgia, and in whose honor Baker county, Georgia, was named. He was a colonel in Marion's command during the Revolution, and one of the most prominent of Georgia leaders during that war. He served as a member of the committee appointed by the convention at Savannah, on July 20, 1774, to prepare resolutions expressive of the sentiments and determinations of the people of the colony with regard to the Boston port bill. He was a member of the provincial congress from 1775 to 1777, and was on the Georgia council of safety in 1776. He subsequently was in active service and participated in the capture of Augusta during May and June of 1781. Daniel McWhir Harden, the father, was ten months old when his father died, and he then was taken to live in the home of his grandmother, then the wife of Rev. Daniel McWhir in Liberty county, where he was reared and educated. He studied medicine, but owing to his deafness he never practiced. He inherited a large amount of land and slaves in Bryant county, and was engaged in farming there for a number of years until his removal to Lee county with his brother, Thomas H. They bought a large tract of land, seven miles southeast of Dawson, and were engaged in operating the plantation with the aid of their numerous slaves. A short time before the war they sold their land and returned to Bryant county, where they bought a plantation called Egypt. Daniel Harden's family remained in Terrell county, and he spent part of his time in each county looking after his interests. During the war his wife was one of a committee appointed to solicit clothing for the soldiers, in May, 1863, and she continued in that charitable undertaking until the fall of 1864. In 1867, Daniel Harden established a mercantile business, which he conducted for a year, and then sold out and moved to Bryant county. Four years later he returned to Terrell county, and made his home in Dawson until his death in 1886. Daniel Harden was married in Columbus on July 18, 1854, to Mary Ann Foster. She also brings some important names into the family relationship. She was born on a farm five miles south of Dawson, which was then in Lee county, Georgia, on November 11, 1838. Her father was Newit Foster, who was born in South Hampton county, Virginia, a son of Christopher C. Foster. Christopher C. Foster, the maternal great-grandfather of Thomas H. Harden, of Dawson, was a Revolutionary soldier. A remarkable fact of his life was that he was one hundred and twelve years of age at his death, which occurred in Virginia. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ann Jordan, was almost equally remarkable for her longevity, since she attained the age of one hundred and eight years. One of the sons of this centenarian, named James, went to Ohio, while another son named Moses was a physician and came to Georgia, spending his career in Lee county. Newit Foster came to Georgia with his uncle Benjamin Jordan, being fourteen years old at the time. Benjamin Jordan was quite wealthy, and bought large tracts of land in what is now Dougherty county, and Newit Foster continued in his employ for about twenty years. He finally settled in that part of Lee county which is now Terrell, and bought large tracts of timbered land on which he built a one-room log house. It was an exceedingly crude shelter, having a chimney constructed of earth and sticks, and all its furniture and equipment were in accordance with the rude style then prevailing in many homes of south Georgia. Two of his children were born in that log cabin. He worked his land with slave labor, and cleared up a large area to the sunlight, and for many years raised crops and surrounded himself and his family with all the essentials of material prosperity. He later built good frame buildings, and continued to reside there until his death at the age of fifty-nine years. Newit Foster married Catherine Woolbright. She was born in Wilkes county, a daughter of Daniel Woolbright, who had come to what is now Terrell county, in 1836, and settled seven miles southeast of the present site of Dawson, where he bought large amounts of land, and with his slaves improved a large plantation. That remained his home until his death in 1850. Daniel Woolbright married Mary McKnight, who died in 1837. The wife of Newit Foster died at the age of seventy-eight, years. She was the mother of seven children, whose names are Mary A., Sarah J., Frances, M. William, James, John; and Emma. The son William Foster was a soldier in the Confederate army. Mary Ann (Foster) Harden, the mother, is still living, making her home in Dawson. She reared six children, named Catherine, Rosa, Mamie, Neta, Thomas H., and William Edward. Catherine and William are now deceased. Mr. Thomas H. Harden was educated in the South Georgia Male and Female College at Dawson, and remained at home on the farm until he was eighteen years of age. He is a civil engineer by profession and was trained for that work by practical experience. He began as a rodman, and has had a large and successful experience in different departments of the profession. In 1908, he was commissioned to make the surveys for the map of Terrell county, and in the same year was elected to the office of city engineer of Dawson, official responsibilities which he has since discharged most capably. William E. Harden, the youngest son of the family, was educated in the public schools of Dawson and, when seventeen years old, was given the responsible task of editing and publishing a newspaper at Newton, known as the Baker County News. William Harden, who was familiarly known as "judge" to his friends, was a humorist and an artist of rare genius. He had high aspirations in his chosen work, and in order to find a larger field moved to Atlanta, where he worked as an engraver and as cartoonist for the Constitution- and the Journal of that city. Many of his cartoons and illustrations were as comical as those associated with the Uncle Remus pictures, and through his artistic work he represented many of the current events and political and social issues of the times. He possessed a genial nature, and ready wit, and had a host of friends in south Georgia. He was a man of fine Christian character, a member of Dr. Broughton's Tabernacle in Atlanta, and also acted as class reporter and as artist for the Baraca Class, of which he was a member. In the summer of 1904 his health failed, and he returned home, where he died, January 28, 1905, at the age of twenty-four years. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/terrell/bios/gbs475harden.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.5 Kb