Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 492 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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414
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
January, 1803, in Franklin County, Ga., and was
the fourth son of Swan and Jerusha (Blackburn)
Hardin. His father moved to Maury County, Tenn.,
with his family, when Frank was three or four years
of age, and resided there until about 1825. In that
year Frank Hardin came to Texas, and about the
same time four_brothers, Augustine B., William,
Benjamin W., and Milton A., and his father came
to the then Mexican province, and they all settled
in what is now Liberty County, on the east side of
the Trinity river. His first employment after becoming
settled in his new home was to split rails, in
company with his brother A. B. Hardin, for an old
man living on the Trinity river, and the same year
they made a crop of corn without plow or hoe, cultivating
it with "hand-spikes." The first official
position that'Frank Hardin is known to have held
was that of municipal surveyor, in the year 1834.
He was afterward appointed surveyor by Commissioner
Jorge Antonio'Nixon, under which appointment
he located and surveyed in 1835 many of the
old leagues granted by the Mexican Government to
colonists introduced into Liberty and adjacent
counties, under Vehlin's empresario contract. On
the 6th of March, 1836, he enlisted in Capt. Wm.
M. Logan's company of volunteers, of which company
he was elecied First Lieutenant. This company
was raised from Liberty and vicinity,
and joined Gen. Sam. Houston's army at once,
and was a part of Sherman's regiment of
infantry, which performed such gallant service in
the battle of San Jacinto. After participating in
that memorable and glorious engagement, which
deserves a place among the important and decisive
battles of the world's history, he remained with the
army for three months -until his term of enlistment
expired. He then returned home and very
soon afterwards raised and organized a company,
of which he was made captain, and joined an expedition
against the Indians, and went up the Brazos
river as far as the Waco village. He was several
months in this service. Under the act passed by
the Congress of the Republic providing for the
national defense, he was, on the 9th day of January,
1837, appointed by the President, a Captain,
for the purpose of organizing the militia of liberty.
December 19th of that year he was also appointed
by President Houston surveyor for the county of
Liberty. At an election held in the county September
6th, 1841, under an act of Congress, approved
January 24th, 1839, he was elected Colonel of the
second regiment, of the second brigade, of the
militia of the Republic of Texas, E. Morehouse,
Brigadier General, with headquarters at Houston,
which position he held for several years. In 1842he was again elected surveyor of Liberty County
and in 1857 elected as representative from that
county and served as a member of the Seventh
Legislature of the State of Texas. He was not
fond of public life and never accepted official position,
after the independence of Texas was secured,
except at the urgent solicitation of the people.
He resided in the county for over fifty years, and
died at his residence in the town of Liberty on the
20th of April, 1878, and was buried on the anniversary
of the battle of San Jacinto.
Benjamin Watson Hardin, the oldest of the five
brothers who came to Texas, was for many years
Sheriff of Liberty County, and died at his homestead
near the town of Liberty, January 2d, 1850.
Augustine Blackburn Hardin, the next in age,
was a member of the General Council of Texas
held in 1835, and also of the Consultation at San
Felipe de Austin, the same year, representing the
municipality of Liberty, and showed himself in
those bodies to be a stanch patriot, a determined
advocate of resistance to Mexican tyranny, and a
firm supporter of the views of those who favored a
declaration of Texian independence. He died in
Liberty County, July 22, 1871.
William Hardin, the third brother, was one of
the ten original proprietors of what is now the
city of Galveston. Under the Mexican government,
previous to the revolution, he was Primary
Judge of the Jurisdiction of Liberty, Department
of Nacogdoches. He took an active and leading
part in the revolution which separated Texas from
Mexico, was a man widely influential, and was
highly respected by all who knew him. He died at
Galveston, in July, 1839.
Milton Ashley HIardin, the youngest of the five
brothers, was also in the service of Texas during
the revolution. He died at Cleburne, Texas, in
1894.
Hardin County, Texas, was named after the
"Hardins of Liberty," a deserved honor to a
family whose name is linked by so many sacred
memories, and by such valiant and self-sacrificing
service, to the history and imperishable glory of
the Republic and State of Texas.
Mrs. Cynthia A. Hardin, wife of Frank Hardin,
was born October 29, 1812, in St. Mary Parish,
La., and was the second daughter of Christie
O'Brien and Ann Dawson Berwick, his wife, who
resided many years and both died at Berwick's
Bay, in St. Mary Parish, La. She came to Texas,
a few years before her marriage, to reside in the
town of Liberty with her sister, Mrs. Catherine
Farley. She was married to Capt. Frank Hardin,
August 15th, 1839, at the residence of Mrs. Far
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/492/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.