There is considerable speculation about the origin of the Hardies and their name. Some have suggested that it is a French name, derived from “hardi” meaning brave or bold, given to Scottish mercenaries fighting for the French. According to a Scottish tradition, the Hardies were Normans who came to Scotland following the Norman Invasion in 1066. The Norman Hardies spelled their name “Hardi”; settlers in England adopted the Anglicized “Hardy” while those in Scotland adopted the Celtic “Hardie”. Others suggest that the Hardies were Norse who came directly to England as part of the continual Viking raids. This latter theory is supported by The Chronicles of Clan Harđi, a book by Kenneth Ray Hardy of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
It’s a long story beginning in the second century A.D. when the Horđ tribe and one of its clans, Harđ, moved under pressure from the Roman invaders from the valley of the Weser river to the Hardanger Fjord on the west coast of Norway. In the ninth and tenth centuries these Viking tribes raided the Saxon tribes of Britain, giving them a new word for a band of unruly armed men, a “horđ.” They were also among the Norse who raided, and then occupied, the Norman coast of France.
The earliest written record of the clan Harđ occurs in a saga from the ninth century, and the clan was well entrenched in East Anglia by the tenth century. The Old Norse letter “đ” is a unique feature of the clan name, and in transliteration to English has created some confusing variations on the names of descendants of the clan. Evidently members of the clan spread widely throughout Europe, a factor that explains Hardies in Burgundy and Normandy. The French word “hardi” may have come from this clan, rather than the reverse. Canute the Great, king of England in the early eleventh century, is even identified as a member of the Clan.
The Hardies of Clackmannan
The most remote ancestors that have been identified for John Hardie (1796-1848), who settled at Thornhill farm in Talladega, Alabama, are his great-great-grandparents Robert Hardie and Marion Campbell who, according to the best information available, were married on 7 July 1663. Their son John Hardie was born in 1665.
John and Isobell Hardie
Although the records are ambiguous, this John Hardie’s first wife appears to have been Margaret Dewar to whom he was married on 10 June 1687; they had two children: James (8 June 1688) and Issobell (18 May 1694). There is no current information about the end of their marriage, but it may be assumed that Margaret Dewar Hardie died.
John Hardie then married Isobell Ferguson of Clackmannan, probably on 22 January 1698. The children of John Hardie and Isobell Ferguson (with names spelled as in the record) and baptismal dates were Mary (21 September 1701), Francis (boy, 20 December 1702), Jean (girl, 1 October 1704), Robert (11 August 1706), Grizel (girl, 19 September 1708), Isobell (31 December 1710), and Joseph (23 November 1714).
There were four significant parish churches in Clackmannan-shire; Alloa, Clackmannan, Dollar and Tillicoultry. There are records of Hardies’ births, marriages and deaths in the first three, but Clackmannan Parish was where the baptism of Joseph Hardie, grandfather of John Hardie of Thornhill, was recorded on 23 November 1714.
Joseph and Marion Hardie
Joseph Hardie was married in the Clackmannan church on 26 October 1750 to Marion Messar (baptized 30 October 1725). Her name is spelled elsewhere as Mesar, Messer and Mercer in these handwritten records. Marion Messar’s parents were William Messer [sic] and Christian Roe (or perhaps Rae), and she was the sixth of seven children born to them in Clackmannan Parish between 1711 and 1728. She was 25 years old, and Joseph Hardie was 36 years old at their marriage.
There were nine children born to Joseph Hardie and Marion Messar at Clackmannan Parish between 1751 and 1770. The names (spelled as in the records) and baptismal dates of their children were Isobel (10 October 1751), Christian (girl, 22 July 1753), Jean (girl, 27 July 1755), Grizal (girl, 15 June 1758), John (24 June 1760), Francis (boy, 21 June 1762), Joseph (5 August 1764), William (13 July 1766), and James (21 January 1770).
Joseph Hardie and Marion Messar are buried in the old church cemetery in Saline (pronounced “Sahl-un”) in Fifeshire under a stone marked simply “J H” and “M M”. They were probably brought there for burial by their son, John Hardie
John and Isabel Hardie
John Hardie (1760-1833) was the fifth child of Joseph and Marion Messar Hardie, and he was married in 1785 to Isabel Cousin (1762-1837). Isabel was one of eleven children of William Cousin (or Cousine; bpt. 3 March 1718 in Clackmannan) and Isobel Gentleman (bpt. 21 December 1729 in Torphichen, West Lothian). Isobel Gentleman and William Cousin were married 16 February 1751 in Culross. Culross is now a picturesque town on the north shore of the Firth of Forth between Dunfermline and Clackmannan and a few miles due south of Saline.
The children of William Cousin and Isobel Gentlemen, all born in Saline, are: William (b. 20 February 1751) David (b. 20 February 1752); John (b. 27 October 1753); Jannet (b. 8 June 1755); Margaret (b. 27 June 1756); Sanders (b. 17 September 1758); James (b. 30 Mar. 1760); Isabel (b. October 1762) (Wife of John Hardie); Patrick (bpt. 28 October 1764); Helen (bpt. 26 July 1767); and Joseph (b. 24 February 1771 and bpt. 3 March 1771).
John, who was born in Clackmannan, and Isabel lived in Saline after their marriage, and that is where all of their children were baptized. This may explain why they brought John’s parents to Saline for burial.
John and Isabel lived as tenants on a farm called Broomie Knowe. The 1840 and 1850 Ordnance Survey maps identify the location of Broomie Knowe about a mile and a half southeast of Saline. A “broomie knowe” is a knoll or small hill covered with broom, a flowering plant. They also lived at a farm they called Thorny Hill, after the dominant shrubbery, tentatively located about three and a half miles east of Saline. The best information indicates that it was on a hill now serving as a large sheep and cattle farm owned by John Graeme and called Craigluscar Farm. Currently, the location is marked by the rocky remains of a sizable structure that had obviously been a house and barn. The building had a very nice view of the Firth of Forth to the south as well as the low rolling hills all around. The original thorny shrubs are no longer apparent. There is one very stark and wind swept tree at the top of this hill next to the ruins.
After their youngest child was born, probably around 1814, John and Isabel moved to Viewfield, a house and property on what were then the outskirts of Kinross.
There were eleven children of John Hardie and Isabel Cousin Hardie, all baptized at Saline. Two were named John; the first died in infancy. The eleven (with their baptismal dates) were Joseph (15 June 1787), Isobel (26 October 1788), William (13 April 1790), John who died in infancy (15 March 1792), Marion (18 May 1794), John who came to Talladega (6 March 1796), David (25 February 1798), James and Robert (twins, 12 August 1800), Helen (5 December 1802), and Alexander (19 April 1807).
John Hardie died in 1833 and his wife Isabel Cousin Hardie died in 1837, and they are buried in the cemetery in Saline. The monument is a long horizontal slab that is intended to be set on six short pillars in the manner of a table top. The pillars are broken and fallen over, so the stone is also fallen. It has a coat of moss, and it has suffered some damage from the elements. The inscription states:
In Memory
of
John Hardie Fueur of Viewfield – Tenant of Broomie Knowe – died 20th day of May 1833
And of his Wife
Isabel Cousin
died June 12, 1837
And of
Joseph Hardie
Merchant in Kinross
died 11 January 1845
Of John and Isabel’s eleven children, most prospered. Joseph, who was evidently buried with his parents, never married and lived with his spinster sister Marion. Isobel Hardie married John Sands on March 12, 1813, and had eight children. William Hardie married Catherine McFarland and lived in Northumberland where they had eight children. David had twins out of wedlock with Euphemia Jaffray in 1833 and then married Christine Black in 1833 and had eight more children. Robert Hardie never married. James married Sarah Bladworth of Yorkshire in 1833, and they had eleven children. Helen married William Spence in 1824, and they had seven children. Alexander is presumed to have died in infancy for there is no further mention of him in the family papers.
John Hardie of Thornhill
John Hardie of Thornhill was baptized on 6 March 1796 in Saline. John Hardie left Scotland in 1817 and settled in Alabama in 1818. He married Mary Mead Hall, the daughter of the Rev. Isaac Hall and Mary Mead, in 1828, and they had nine children. John Hardie died at Thornhill in Talladega, Alabama, in 1848.
William Hardie Visits Edinburgh
John Hardie of Thornhill never returned to Scotland, despite evident plans to do so. None of his sons ever visited Scotland either. The American Civil War occurred at a time when they might have made such a trip. However, John Hardie’s oldest son, John T. Hardie did arrange for his second child William to live and study in Edinburgh.
William’s safe arrival in Edinburgh was reported in a letter addressed to John T. Hardie dated December 26, 1872, from Sarah Bladworth Hardie, John T. Hardie’s aunt and widow of John Hardie’s brother James.
William was fifteen years old that winter, and Sarah’s youngest child was only two years older than William. According to Sarah’s letter, she had been waiting for William for some weeks.
I cannot convey by words how thankful we felt when we saw your dear boy landed here safely. As you mentioned in your letter to me that you would write immediately upon his sailing, from the middle of this month I have daily expected another letter. But none arriving, I thought perhaps you had changed your intentions for the present, and he was remaining till calmer weather. On the 22d I wrote to the shipping agents in Liverpool requesting them to let me know when the Memphis was expected, but on the morning of the 24th we had the great joy of having dear Willie here safe and well. He is a fine fellow, and we are all already attached to him. After receipt of your first letter telling me of your intentions regarding him, I began making enquiries for his future benefit both as regards educational advantages and being in the home of a gentleman well reported of where he will be under Christian discipline. My son accompanied me this forenoon to the house of Dr. Ferguson, Head Master of the Edinburgh Institution, Queen St. His house is in the first class position of Edinburgh and just a nice short walk from the school. It is No. 12 Moray Place, a large airy house. There are about 15 young gentlemen with him – 3 I think following the same course that Willie is designed for – and a very fine set of young men. The board is to be £70 -yearly- school fees are paid according to classes taken. Dr. Ferguson belongs to the congregation of the Rev. Dr. Candlish of the Presbyterian Free Church. They are a most zealous good congregation, but we have not decided whether Willie should go with his master or us. I thought best he should try which ministers he liked best before fixing. There was one particular thing amongst many others in fixing with Dr. Ferguson. That his house is not far distant from ours, and as I should like him conveniently near, it had its weight. Today I also had him measured for a school suit, for I do not like him to be daily wearing his nice black suit. I shall see all his clothes listed and that he has all requisite for his comfort. Rest assured he shall be cared for, and I trust he will be quite well and happy here and progress made in all points to prepare him for his future duties.
Many sincere thanks for your kind advice to dear Richard. He is very kind hearted, but his duty is now to try and gather something. He owes you much, and I trust he will at all times study to do what you approve of. Accept also my thanks, too, for the 2 books which I shall have much pleasure in reading. The other presents are most handsome and greatly prized and admired. I shall write Mrs. Hardie soon. Meantime, thank her for her kind presents. I shall also write Mrs. Lewis soon. I felt grieved to hear of her delicate health. If she had only thought of coming here I am sure she would have been benefitted by our strengthening air. We have had a great quantity of rain here for months now. Never recollect such a continuation of rain dear nephew. I should have much liked to have kept your son but owing to our own numerous family and always requiring to have spare bed for a friend I could not have managed it but he must spend his holidays with me and come as frequently as possible. And I do rejoice he will not be far from me. With much love to you, Mrs. Hardie and other friends, believe me. Your affectionate aunt, S.B. Hardie
This must have been quite an adventure for young Willie. His ship, the “Memphis” probably sailed from New Orleans, and may even have had some of his father’s cotton in the hold. Although the ship may have made a stop at Liverpool, Willie undoubtedly arrived on the ship in Edinburgh. In 1872, Edinburgh’s port was Leith (now part of the city) on the south side of the Firth of Forth. The city was dominated by Edinburgh Castle built on a towering rock in the center of the circle of hills that formed the city limits at that time. In the 19th century the city was known as “Auld Reekie” from the cloud of smoke over the low lying quarters. Dr. Ferguson’s address is in the part of Edinburgh called the “New Town” compard the original city centerd on the Royal Mile between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House. The “Moray” of Dr. Ferguson’s address is Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, a Scottish hero of the 14th century. Moray destroyed Edinburgh Castle when it was held by the English in 1314, and he turned back the English at Bannockburn. When Robert Bruce died in 1329, Moray was regent of Scotland and guardian of young king David II.
The population of Edinburgh was probably not much more than 200,000 while Willie was living there. Edinburgh justly deserved the reputation for education that brought Willie there. It was not only the seat of Edinburgh University, but it was also home to a number of fine public schools.
The “Mrs. Lewis” referred to in the letter is John T. Hardie’s sister, Ann Eliza Hardie, who had married J.M. Lewis and was living in New Orleans a few blocks from John T. Hardie at the time. “Richard” is Richard Bladworth Hardie, James and Sarah’s eighth child, then 25 years old. Richard had come to America in 1869 and worked with John T. Hardie in New Orleans. He returned to Scotland in 1879 to marry Annie Ireland and brought his new wife back to America to live in Texas.
The History of Clackmannan
Clackmannanshire is just South of the line from Dumbarton in the West to Stonehaven on the North Sea that marks the southern geographic boundary of the “Highlands.” Kinross, Fife and Clackmannan are part of the peninsula formed by the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Tay, and that peninsula includes such symbols of Scotland as St. Andrews University and the Royal and Ancient Golf Course. Lochleven with its historical associations is also located in Kinross-shire.
Clackmannan is the smallest county in Scotland, and there are several Parishes, i.e. villages with churches that contain records of births, marriages and death. Among them are Clackmannan, Alloa, Tillicoultry and Dollar. The records of John Hardie’s family are found in Clackmannan Parish, but there are records of Hardies in all the others. Although the villages still exist, all of the administrative functions of the counties of Scotland have been replaced by districts or Regions in a governmental reorganization called “regionalization.” To find Clackmannan a traveler crosses the Forth at Stirling and turns east towards the Fife Region then southwest towards the river Forth.
Clackmannan is an ancient site made attractive to warring settlers by a hill that dominates the surrounding countryside. From the hill a defender could see enemies approaching from any direction, and that made it a natural location for the tower and castle first built there some time in the Ninth Century. The nearby Forth also provided access to the sea. Clackmannan was also a royal residence for three centuries. Malcolm IV, who reigned from 1141 to 1165, is the earliest Scottish king to have been in residence, and hunting seems to have been the primary attraction.
The most famous royal resident was Robert the Bruce who reigned as king of Scotland from 1306 to 1329. Bruce was of Norman descent, and most of Bruce’s adult life was spent at war. He emerged as one of two primary contestants for the crown of Scotland after a long dispute. Edward I of England had been asked to arbitrate the question of succession, but he claimed the kingdom himself. Bruce secured Scotland’s independence from England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Bruce’s son David II (his tumultuous reign lasted from 1329-1371) was the last royal resident of Clackmannan. After languishing in an English prison for eleven years following the battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346, David raised part of the money for his ransom from the English by selling the castle in Clackmannan to a cousin.
Fodor’s Guide recounts Clackmannan’s moment in popular history when Robert the Bruce lost a glove there while hunting. Ever the thrifty Scot, he sent his lieutenant back to find it. “Go to a path near Clackmannan village,” he instructed him, “and look aboot ye.” The road is called Lookabootye Brae to this day, and tourism has adopted the slogan, “Look aboot ye,” for visitors.
The origin of its name is one of Clackmannan’s mysteries. The consensus explanation is given in T. Crouther Gordon, The History of Clackmannan, published in 1936. According to Dr. Gordon, “clack” means “stone” in Gaelic, and “Mannan” or “Manau” was a Celtic sea-god (who also provided the name for the Isle of Man). Evidently the name was applied to this particular site because there was a stone, originally on the bank of the Forth, that was regarded by the Picts as a dwelling place of the spirit of the water.
As the Eighteenth Century ended Clackmannan was a prosperous town of approximately 120 houses and 700 people. It was a market town and the site of the annual St. Bartholomew’s Fair. Most of the residents were undoubtedly farmers, but there was other industry. Several shallow shaft coal mines provided upwards of 7000 tons annual production, and Kilbagie distillery was famous as far away as London. Other residents worked as shoemaker, butcher, baker or in the woolen mill on the Little Devon. Within a generation, however, its prosperity was on the wane, and many of Clackmannan’s residents left for the new world or larger cities.
Although it purports to be the definitive history of Clackmannan, Dr. Gordon’s book mentions only a single Hardie, one Margaret Hardie who was notable in March 1699 as a witness before the church Session accusing her neighbor for cursing “all the Presbyterians.” What would lead a Scot to curse a Presbyterian, or for that matter what circumstances would justify an ecclesiastical inquiry into such conduct? The answer will be found in the same religious disputes that created the Jacobite rebellions of the Fifteen (1715) and the Forty-five (1745).
The Religious Disputes of Scotland
During the 16th and 17th centuries there were three religions vying for the souls of Scotsmen: the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, and the Presbyterian Church. James V of Scotland was a Roman Catholic, and he refused to support his uncle Henry VIII’s break with Rome. James was succeeded by his infant daughter Mary Queen of Scots, also Roman Catholic, who lived most of her childhood in France and married the Dauphin in April 1558. That was the same year that Elizabeth I assumed the throne and restored Protestantism in England.
During Mary’s long absence from Scotland her Protestant subjects, with the help of Elizabeth, revolted against the Scottish alliance with France. Meanwhile, the Dauphin became Francis II of France in 1559, and he claimed to be king of Scotland by right of his wife Mary. He also claimed that Elizabeth I was illegitimate and that Mary was the legitimate Queen of England.
Francis died a year later in 1560, and Mary returned to Scotland for a life of melodrama including a second marriage, the birth of a son, her husband’s murder, imprisonment, and escape from the castle in Lochleven. Before escaping from Lochleven Mary abdicated the Scottish throne to her infant son James VI of Scotland. She then spent the rest of her life as the captive of her cousin, Elizabeth I, while James was raised as a Protestant. Elizabeth’s power over him is evident from the fact that, despite his mother’s execution by Elizabeth the year before, James helped Elizabeth resist the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The Protestant church was organized in Scotland by John Knox and established by parliament as the Church of Scotland in 1567. The presbyterian system, with equality of all ministers (no bishops), was introduced by Andrew Melville. In 1603, James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth to become James I of England, and he imposed a somewhat altered form of Elizabeth’s Church of England (with bishops) on Scotland, despite the opposition of Andrew Melville. James I is best known as the sponsor of the much revered “King James Version” of the Bible, but he was not considered an admirable man. Still, his was certainly not a “normal” life, even for a king.
James was succeeded in 1625 by Charles I who continued to impose the royal will on the Church of Scotland by making its government and ritual wholly uniform with the Church of England (more bishops). Outraged Scots sent the National Covenant of 1638 throughout the country for signature. The signers, known as “Covenanters,” met and deposed the Scottish bishops and prepared for war with England.
Although Charles capitulated, the English parliament did not. It fielded an army under the command of Oliver Cromwell who not only defeated the Scots but also deposed and executed Charles. As Lord Protector, Cromwell imposed tolerance of all Protestants except the “Episcopals” (bishops are out again).
When the Stuarts were restored in the person of Charles II, the episcopal government of the church was also restored and ruthlessly imposed on Scotland (bishops are back). As a result, the Presbyterians were forced to worship in secret conventicles. At Charles’ death in 1685 his son became James II of England and James VII of Scotland. This James had adopted Roman Catholicism before his accession to the throne, and afterward he sought joint toleration for Dissenters and Catholics. In the resulting furor James was deposed by the Whigs in favor of William of Orange who had married James’ daughter Mary.
William and Mary were invited to take the crowns of England and Scotland on condition that they the abolish the episcopacy in the Church of Scotland (no more bishops). This turned the Scottish Episcopalians into Jacobites (“Jacobus” is the Latin form of the name “James”) who raised an army in favor of the deposed King James. Resistance was crushed; Presbytery was reestablished in 1690; and the general assembly of the church met for the first time since 1653.
Presbytery was not uniformly welcomed throughout Scotland. The episcopal minister of the Clackmannan church remained until March 1696 when he was brought before the Synod in Edinburgh and deprived of his Parish for Jacobite sympathies. Unfortunately for historians, David Bruce, Laird of Clackmannan, burned the records of the Clackmannan church Session for the period from 1690 to 1696. Dr. Crouther Gordon speculates that the Laird sought to expunge some unsavory details about himself, but it may have simply been details of the Jacobite sympathies of the Parish.
William and Mary died childless, and they were succeeded by James II’s second daughter, Queen Anne. When she also died childless in 1715, the united crowns of Scotland and England were offered to George I, a Hanoverian. Scottish support for the Union collapsed, so in 1715 the Highlanders rose in favor of James II’s son, James Edward, the Old Pretender. The accession of James Edward, a Roman Catholic, would surely have created even more religious dispute, but the Fifteen failed.
Clackmannan was divided by the Fifteen Rebellion. Alexander Bruce, Laird of Clackmannan was appointed a major in the army raised to oppose the insurrection. His brother-in-law Robert, sixth Lord Balfour of Burleigh, joined the Jacobites under John Erskine, the Earl of Mar, whose seat was in nearby Alloa. After the Jacobite defeat at Sherrifmuir, Mar and Burleigh fled to France, and their estates were attainted and forfeit to the crown. Dr. Crouther Gordon reports that Clackmannan continued to be disturbed by outspoken Jacobites for several years after the rebellion, but there were few Jacobites in Clackmannan who supported the Forty-five. History records that 100 villagers volunteered to fight for the loyalists against the Jacobites in 1745.
The compression of two centuries of English and Scottish history into these few paragraphs will certainly have omitted some intricacies of religious doctrine. The Covenanters objected to more than just bishops. Nevertheless, it should explain the strong feelings surrounding religious concerns.