Irvin Hardy Bio
Monongalia Co. WV

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume 11
Page 175

Irvin Hardy, M.D.,F. A. C. S.

   Among the prominent men of Morgantown, using the term in its broadest
sense to indicate high professional skill, sterling character, public
beneficence and upright citizenship, is Dr. Irvin Hardy, owner and
surgeon in charge of the City Hospital and Training School for Nurses.
Doctor Hardy is a native of Dunbar, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and
was born July 4, 1873, a son of James and Elizabeth (Keffer) Hardy.
   The branch of the Hardy family to which the Doctor belongs traces its
genealogy to William Hardy, the great grandfather of Doctor Hardy, who
came with troops, either from Virginia or Mayland, into Pennsylvania to
supress the historic "Whiskey Rebellion," a local insurrection occurring
in opposition to the excise law passed by Congress March 3, 1791. In
addition to the general objections urged against the measure the
inhabitants of Western Pennsylvania considered the tax unfair
discrimination against their region and raised an insurrection, causing
President Washington to call out an army of 15,000 militia. This show of
an unsuspected vigor and resource on the part of the Government forced
the insurgents to disperse without bloodshed. At the close of this
fiasco William Hardy settled at Dunbar, where he spent the remainder of
a long, useful and honorable life, and reached the remarkable age of 103
or 104 years.
   Isaac Hardy, son of William Hardy, was born, reared and always lived
at Dunbar, Pennsylvania, and also attained advanced age, although not
reaching that of his father. His son, James Hardy, father of the doctor,
was born in 1842, at Dunbar, where was born also his wife, who was a
daughter of Adam Keffer, another life-long resident of Dunbar. She died
in 1917.
   After attending the public schools of Dunbar Irvin Hardy entered
Milton Academy at Baltimore, Maryland, and when he had completed his
course in that institution enrolled as a student in the Maryland Medical
College in the three-year course, graduating with the class of 1899 as a
Doctor of Medicine, following which he entered the College of Physicians
and Surgeons in the same city under the four-year plan. He also spent
one year in the study of general medicine at John Hopkins University,
Baltimore. Even after he commenced practice, Doctor Hardy continued his
studies, and in 1909 was graduated with the degrees of Doctor of
Medicine and Master of Surgery from Queens University, Kingston,
Ontario, Canada. In 1905 he established the Allegheny Heights Hospital
at Davies, West Virginia, and had charge thereof until 1911, in which
year he disposed of that institution and located at Morgantown, where he
established what is now the City Hospital and Training School for
Nurses, of which he is the owner and surgeon in charge, and to which he
gives the main part of his professional attention, although he also
occupies the chair of surgery at the University of West Virginia.
   Doctor Hardy is a member of the Monongalia County Medical Society, of
which he was elected president December 6, 1921, of the West Virginia
Medical Society and the American Medical Association and is a Fellow of
the American College of Surgeons. He is a member of Morgantown Union
Lodge No. 4, F. and A. M.; Morgantown Chapter No. 30, R. A. M.;
Morgantown Commandery No.18, K. T.; West Virginia Consistory No. 1, R.
and S. M., at  Wheeling, West Virginia; and a life member of Osiris
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., also at Wheeling. He likewise belongs to the
Morgantown Masonic Club and is an active member of the Morgantown
Chamber of Commerce.
   On September 18, 1895, Doctor Hardy was united in marriage with Miss
Nina M. Twyford, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Twyford, of Allegheny
City, Pennsylvania, and to this union there has been born one daughter,
Edith L., who resides with her parents in Morgantown.