Joseph Hardin was born in 1784 in North Carolina in its county of Rutherford, the same where his parents, Benjamin Hardin and Elizabeth Scott, were married on December 31,1782. Joseph Hardin grew up in the expanding frontier of civilization which his parents followed as it advanced from North Carolina westward beyond the Blue Ridges of the Allegheny Mountains into what came to be known as Eastern and Middle Tennessee (the Nashville and Cumberland River areas), and then into the counties of Logan, Christian and Livingston in Kentucky. It was in Livingston where Joseph was living with his parents in 1805 when he had his twenty-first birthday. In this county of Livingston, Joseph married his first wife, Margaret Johnson (called Peggy), on November 19,1808.

The 1810 census for Livingston reveals he was still there that year, as do the county tax records. The year of 1810 is the last he appears on the tax records of that county. By I811, Joseph and Peggy had crossed the Mississippi River and were living in    what later   came to be known as Northeast Arkansas, where their eldest daughter, Nancy, was born in January 1811.

 Joseph Hardin died on August 25,1826, at his home in Davidsonville, then the county seat of Lawrence County, where he was Sheriff and Colonel of the Third Regiment of the Territorial Militia of Arkansas. The site of this old town is now in Randolph County and has been since 1835, the year it was created from part of Lawrence. Family tradition says Joseph died of a fever contracted while returning from a business trip to New Orleans. In my possession is the Palmetto walking-stick he brought from New Orleans as a gift to his father, Benjamin Hardin.  This Benjamin Hardin, a pensioner of the American Revolution, died on  April 2, 1848, at his residence near Goodie Creek in Christian Township, Independence County, Arkansas. Age 84 when he died, Benjamin had served in the armed forces of North Carolina as a teen-age soldier, helping, among other things, to defeat the British and Tories in the Battles of King's Mountain and The Cowpens.  On August 15,1826, at his residence in Davidsonville, Joseph Hardin signed his Last Will and Testament in the presence of Robert Smith, Jr., and Jonathan Isom. Both men later lived in Batesville; Smith as a wealthy merchant and Isom as a physician. In this instrument, Hardin mentioned his wife, Ellen, and the surviving 5 of his 6 children. In addition, he gave directions concerning the partnership he had with Robert Smith, Jr., as Merchants. I'll digress a moment to say that Henry Auter Engles, elder brother of my great grandfather, William Driskill Engles, clerked in Hardin's store in Davidsonville in 1821. By 1824, Henry A. Engles was in Independence County where he became Sheriff in 1836.

 Ellen, the wife named in the Will, was Hardin's second. The records of Lawrence County reveal that he and Ellen Davis were married on December 19,1824. From this union came only one child, Elizabeth, called Betsey in the Will. The other children were by Hardin's first wife, Peggy Johnson, who had died in Davidsonville on August 17, 1817, the day she gave birth there to Margaret Ann Hardin who later became my great grandmother Craig.
Five children were born to Joseph and Peggy (nee' Johnson) Hardin, (viz): George Washington Hardin, Nancy Hardin, Louana Hardin, Andrew Johnson Hardin, and Margaret Ann  Hardin. George Washington Hardin is not mentioned in his father's Will because he died prior to August 15,1826. Had this son lived, he would have been the first Cadet from the Territory of Arkansas to enter West Point. He had the appointment but died from pneumonia as a complication of measles prior to reaching West Point.  The following obituary is in the September 5, 1826, issue of the Arkansas Gazette. The words in parentheses are mine.

"Died - At Davidsonville, on the 25th at  (August 25), after a long and gainful illness, Colonel Joseph Hardin, Sheriff of I.awrence County, age about 40 years (really, 42 years). He was one of the most enterprising and useful men in the county."  The widow, Ellen, continued to live in Davidsonville with her infant daughter,
Elizabeth, and her 4 step-children. About the middle of April 1828, Ellen became ill. On the 24th of that month she signed her Last Will and Testament in the presence of Robert Smith, Jr., and James M. Kuykendall. Smith's wife was Finetta Stuart, a niece of Kuykendall's via Kuykendall's sister, Rebecca, who was wife of Colonel William Stuart (deceased). The father of these two Kuykendalls was Joseph, a Revolutionary War soldier who died in 1828 in Pulaski County, Arkansas Territory. The families of Kuykendall and Hardin
were closely connected for several previous generations back through Kentucky and Tennessee (before it was a State). North Carolina and Virginia.

 The following obituary is in the May 28,1828, issue of the Arkansas Gazette.  The words in parentheses are mine.  "Died - At Davidsonville, on the 4th inst. (May 4), after a severe illness of about three weeks, Mrs. Ellen Hardin, a widow of Colonel Joseph Hardin, late Sheriff of I.awrence County."  The deaths were in progress at Davidsonville that terrible time of 1828-29.

Rapidly multiplying, were the deaths that hastened the death of the town itself. In 1829, the inhabitants, those still living, left and transferred the County Seat to the Town of Jackson. Davidsonville lay deserted and dead (it is said), a victim of the disease that had spread like a plague in that largest town in the Territory those days, Conceived in 1815, dead in 1829; a scant 14 years lived this interesting town.

With the death of Ellen, (nee' Davis) Hardin, there were 5 orphan children surviving Colonel Joseph Hardin. Financially, they were secure, their father having been one of the wealthiest men in Lawrence County when he died. Their legal guardian was Judge Richard Searcy of Batesville, formerly of Davidsonville. Richard Searcy and Joseph Hardin were business partners, political associates and close personal friends. Probably no one has had a more true and trusted friend than Richard Searcy was to Joseph Hardin. As far as my current research extends, never once did Richard Searcy falter in the administration of trust placed in him by Joseph Hardin or betray the confidence such trust entailed. As yet, no indepth biography of Judge Richard Searcy has been written.  Such is long overdue. In the possession of Robert and Betty (nee Lester) Stroud of Desha,  Independence County, are the personal papers of this Richard Searcy, who died on December 25, 1832, at his home in Batesville. Betty descends from James Searcy, a brother of Richard. In these personal papers of
Richard Searcy are some that concern business ventures of Searcy and Joseph Hardin. Betty and Robert have been most helpful and gracious to me during my repeated visits in their lovely home while studying these papers.

The first to marry of the 5 orphans of Joseph Hardin was Nancy- his eldest daughter. On November 13,1828, she married the Reverend Josephus Adamson Cornwall in Independence County. He was a minister ot the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In April 1846, the Cornwalls and their children left Greenbrier Township, Independence County, Arkansas, and emigrated to Oregon by ox-wagons and a carriage pulled by a brace of mules. It took one year to get to their destination in Oregon.

The next Hardin orphan to marry was Louana (sometimes spelled Lorano).  On April 4,1830, in Independence County, she married  Joseph Porter. Several years later they removed to the State of · Still later in California, where Joseph Porter had gone to select a homesite and build a house, he died at his desk while writing a letter telling his wife and children to come, that the house was finished.

 Andrew Johnson Hardin, the only surviving son of Joseph Hardin, married Sophronia Hutchinson in Lawrence County on May 26,1836. In 1858, he removed his family from Spring River Township, Lawrence County, Arkansas,  to Kaufman County, Texas. He and family are on the 1860,1870 and 1880 census schedules for Kaufman County. During the Civil War, he served The confederacy as an officer in the Sixth Texas Cavalry His wife was a daughter of John and Nancy (nee' Green) Hutchinson, formerly of Sumner County, Tennessee.

The next marriage was that of Margaret Ann Hardin to John Lewis Craig. This May 12, 1835, marriage of my great grandparents took place in Independence County and was performed by the bride's brother-in-law, Reverend Josephus A. Cornwall .

Elizabeth  the youngest orphan, the only child of Joseph Hardin by his second  wife, married Dr. J. T. Fairchild in Lawrence County in 1847. At the time of her marriage, Elizabeth was living in the household of her half-brother and guardian, Andrew Johnson Hardin.  Dr. Fairchild, a native of the  State of New York, had settled in Batesville in 1845. Not long after their marriage, Dr. and Mrs. Fairchild moved to Camden, and to Hot Springs about 1849. There, near Hot Springs, they became owners and proprietors of the Fairchild Potash
Sulfur Springs and Resort Hotel. When purchased by the Fairchilds in 1849, the accomodations consisted of only a few rude log-houses. The Fairchilds developed these into an elegant resort-hotel containing bath house, billiard room, bowling alley, dance hall, spring-houses, etc. 'It has been written that they made this spa into one of the most popular and attractive health and vacation resorts of its time in the Southwest. Elizabeth died there on October 1, 1860, age 34.

 By January 1811, Joseph Hardin had reached what is now Northeast Arkansas, though eight more years were to pass before the name Arkansas was applied to this area. In 1803, the United States obtained from France the vast area known as the Louisiana Purchase. For administrative reasons, this area was divided into two separate portions at the 33rd. parallel, the now southern boundary of the State of Arkansas. In 1811, the portion south of this parallel was known as the Territory of Orleans; that north of it, the Territory of Louisiana.  In 1812, the Territory of Orleans became the State of Louisiana  and the Territory of Louisiana changed its name to the Territory of Missouri. On March 2, 1819, an Act of Congress created the Territory of Arkansas from the southern portion of Missouri Territory. The civil administration of this new Territory of Arkansas began on July 4, 1819. In 1836, the State of Arkansas came into existence. Prior to 1815, all the northeastern, all the northcentral, and some of the north-western sections of our now State of Arkansas composed the southern portion of the county of New Madrid, Missouri Territory. By am Act of the Territorial Legislature of Missouri, this southern portion ot New Madrid became a new county, called Lawrence, on January 15, 1815.  From this large area of Lawrence County, Missouri Territory-Arkansas Territory, have been created, m whole or in part, 32 of the current 75 counties in our State of Arkansas. No wonder Lawrence is called "the mother of counties." The first county to be cut out of Lawrence was Independence. The date was October 20,1820.

  On January 15,1815, when Lawrence County was created, there was no town in the entire area, just some scattered settlements along the rivers and several ot the major creeks. In fact, there was at that time only one town in the entire area of what is now the State of Arkansas. This was the Village of Arkansas at Arkansas Post on the Arkansas River about 30 miles upstream from the Mississippi River. Therefore, it was necessary that a Seat-of-Justice for Lawrence be established, and a courthouse and jail built. On January 15,1815,
the Territorial Legislature of Missouri had appointed a seven-man ' Courthouse and Jail Commission" charged with the duty of selecting and buying a site for the permanent Seat-of-Justice. In April 1815, a Circuit Court (there were no County Courts until in 1829) convened for the first time in Lawrence County, Judge Richard S. Thomas, presiding. There was no courthouse; the site for the county seat had not yet been obtained. The Court met in the log house of Solomon Huitt (Huett-Hewett) on Spring River near the mouth of Eleven Point
River. The Minutes of this April 1815 session of the Circuit Court state that the Court appointed Joseph Hardin and Adam Ritchey to the "Courthouse and Jail Commission" in lieu of two of original appointees.

In the Fall of 1815, the Commissioners obtained a site on the west bank of Big Black River, about 2 to 3 miles upstream from the mouth of Spring River and established there the Seat-of-Justice. This new town was originally called the  Town of Lawrence. In January 1817, the name was changed to Davidsonville. This site, the second oldest town-site in Arkansas, is now a State Park. I encourage everyone to visit it. Though it is the smallest in our system of State parks, it is one of the most delightful. Only a well and the cemeteries nearby
are all that remain to remind one that here folks once dwelt.

The Minute Books of the Courts held in Lawrence County have been preserved, beginning with the first one of 1815. The official business of the county was transacted during sessions of these Courts. A reading of these Minute Books plus the Deed Record Books of the county reveals that Joseph Hardin, the primary subject of this article, was intimately involved in the establishment of the Town of Lawrence (later called Davidsonville) and closely participated in developing the business, political and social life in the new county. Joseph Hardin maintained his place of residence in the Town of Lawrence (later called Davidsonville) from the time of its establishment until his death there on August 25, 1826.

 During the territorial days of Missouri and Arkansas, officials of the counties were not elected; they were appointed by the Executive of each Territory. The office of sheriff was a coveted one. A sheriff received no salary, as such, but was entitled to keep eight percent of all tax monies collected in the county plus fees for services rendered through his office. He had authority to select his own deputies with the approval of the Court. James Campbell was the first sheriff of Lawrence County and Joseph Hardin, his first deputy. In 1819, Hardin became
sheriff, and soon Campbell became a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Lawrence County.
 

 In the Courthouse of Lawrence at Walnut Ridge area some old legal papers containing summonses issued by the Courts and served by Joseph Hardin. In the case ot Christian Wilt VS Moses Graham and Elizabeth Luttig, a summons was served on Joab Bean, Patrick McManis and Robert B. Musick, all of Christian Township. Lawrence County ( this area was on the south side of White River near the now town of Batesville, Independence County). Across the face of the summons, Hardin wrote: "Christian Township. Executed Oct. the first 1816". The cost he computed at 6 cents per mile, one way, for 60 miles, or $3.60.  This plus the 33 cent service fee, brought the total cost to $3.93. To this, he signed his name as "Joseph Hardin, DSLC" (Deputy Sheriff Lawrence County). The 60 miles represent the distance by  horseback from the county seat to the White River area near where Batesville was later established.  On January 4,1817, Hardin served another summons into Christian Township. It concerned the same court-case, but was for Robert Bean, William Moore and  Asa Music. By 1817, the service fee had inflated to 99 cents, but the mileage was still computed at 6 cents per mile one way. Hardin signed  name in the same manner, DSLC, and stated he executed the summons "by riding." Other summonses were served by him in this same case in 18:l8. This particular court suit has been splendidly researched by Duane Huddleston and published by him in a previous issue of The Independence County Chronicle. The authentic signature of this Joseph Hardin is on numerous other old legal instruments and
official documents from 1815 to near the time of his death in 1826. During the territorial days of Missouri and Arkansas a man could simultaneously occupy more than one official office in the county. The law did not forbid it. County governments were more loosely administered then than now. Beginning in 1817, Joseph Hardin was Coroner as well as deputy-sheriff. He ceased being Coroner when he gave Oath to the Office  of Sheriff in 1819.
 The Minutes of the Circuit Court of Lawrence County for July 9,1818, state that upon payment of a fee of $10.00 Joseph Hardin was given a license to keep a tavern at his dwelling house in Davidsonville. The sale of liquor west of the Mississippi River had been carefully controlled by the Spanish and French. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States allowed sale of liquor there without restriction. Consequently, brutal, drunken fights were not unusual, as all men went armed, even at social functions and during sessions of
Court. Knives and daggers of various sorts and pistols 'were the usual weapons borne about.

 On the first Monday in August 1818, Joseph Hardin, Perry Green Magness and John Davidson were elected to represent Lawrence County in the fourth and last General Assembly of the Territory of Missouri. This General Assembly convened in St. Louis on the first Monday in December of that year. On December 6, 1818, while in St. Louis, Joseph Hardin was appointed Sheriff of Lawrence County by Frederick Bates, Secretary of the Territory of Missouri,  who was exercising the government during an absence of the Governor. Bates was a brother of James Woodsman Bates, for whom Batesville is said to have been named. On March 22,1819, at a Circuit Court held in Davidsonville, Hardin  presented his Commission as Sheriff to the Court and made bond in the sum of $8000.00. His bondsmen were John Miller, Robert Bean, Asa B. Linsacum and William L. Jones. Bondsmen in those times were not professionals as we know them today. No fee was received. A man would be a bondsman only for a trusted and close friend or relative. This is the John Miller who moved from Davidsonville and settled near Batesville, on the creek that: bears his name, in 1821. He and his father, Simon Miller, were close personal friends of Joseph Hardin. William Reed Miller, a son of John Miller, was the first native-born Governor of the State of Arkansas. It was from Robert Bean that the site of the original Town of Batesville was obtained.

 On that day of March 22,1819, Sheriff Joseph Hardin appointed two deputies: Joseph Hardin, Jr., and James M. Kuykendall. Joseph Hardin, Jr., was NOT a son of the sheriff, Joseph Hardin, Jr., was a son of Joseph Hardin, Sr., of Union Township, Lawrence County. The Senior had been in the county since 1815 and the Junior since 1816, according to the tax records. By early 1825, the Senior and Junior  (father and son), had moved to Hempstead County. Later they settled in Clark County. The 1850 census schedule for Antoine Township, Clark
County, Arkansas, shows Senior and Junior there, age 84 and 59, respectively. So, during a period of about 9 years there lived in. Lawrence County three Joseph Hardens, all related. Please remember that the father of Sheriff Joseph Hardin, the primary subject of this article, was Benjamin Hardin.  A major problem that had to be surmounted during compilation of my book, "Colonel Joseph Hardin of Davidsonville: 1784-1826," was positive identification of each individual participant from among these three Joseph Hardins of Lawrence County. Many months of research passed before sufficient authentic signatures were found for positive identifications. Success in finding instruments containing authentic, original signatures from those years of long ago is not entirely dependent upon good detective work; luck plays its part. Discovering another piece of historical and genealogical data that accurately fits into place within the corpus of the whole is adequate compensation for months spent in fruitless searchings. All previous writers on the history of Arkansas and Lawrence County have mixed-up  these Joseph Hardin and never gave to each his rightful share of the action. In fact, only one historian, Walter E. McLeod, ever realized there were more than one Joseph Hardin in
I.awrence County during those  years. In a letter to my aunt, Mrs. Floy (Craig)  Shelpman of Salado, Independence County, dated December 27, 1944, Mr. McLeod of Walnut Ridge, Lawrence County, said he knew there had been three Joseph Hardins in Lawrence during the early years of the county, but he had not devoted sufficient effort to identify the separate activity of each.