Thomas HARDY, Senior

Abt 1606 - 1678  (~ 72 years)

• Name	Thomas HARDY
  Suffix	Senior
  Birth	Abt 1606	England   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Immigration	1633  [3]
  Occupation	Ferry operator at Bradford  [3]
  Residence	Bradford, third  [3]
  Residence	Ipswich, first  [3]
  Residence	Rowley, second  [3]
  Death	4 Jan 1677/78	Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts   [1, 2, 4, 5]
  Notes	From The Great Migration Begins, Volume 2, pp. 858-861: "THOMAS HARDY ORIGIN: Unknown MIGRATION: 1633 FIRST RESIDENCE: Ipswich REMOVES: Rowley, Bradford OCCUPATION: Ferry operator at Bradford [Bradford TR 1:4]. EDUCATION: Made his mark to his will. OFFICES: Bradford surveyor of highways, 1669 [Bradford TR 1:4]. ESTATE: On 29 September 1653 Henry Walker of Gloucester mortgaged to Thomas Hardy of Ipswich sixteen acres of land [ ILR 1:128]. In 1663 (day and month not given) the executors of the estate of Joseph Jewett of Rowley sold to Thomas Hardy of Rowley eight hundred acres of upland and meadow in Rowley [ ILR 3:47]. On 24 November 1665 the selectmen of Ipswich granted to "John Newmarsh for the house that was Tho[mas] Hardye's 3 acres" at Plum Island [ EQC 6:405]. On 20 April 1667 Thomas Hardy Sr. of Bradford, husbandman, gave to the inhabitants of Bradford two acres of land to promote the settling of a minister in Bradford [ ILR 4:106]. In his will, dated 4 March 1671/2 and proved 26 March 1678, "Thomas Hardee, Senior, living at Merrimack town, near Haverhill," being in "bodily health," bequeathed to "my eldest son" 200 acres of land; to "my sons John Hardee, to Joseph Hardee, & to Jacob Hardee" each 100 acres; to "my son-in-law William Hutchins" one hundred acres; to "my daughter Mary & to her children" £10 paid out of the land of "my son William Hardee"; to "my son Joseph Hardee sixty acres if he pays £40 of my debts"; residue of lands to "my son William Hardee"; to my sons John, Joseph and Jacob each ten acres of plowland; to "my beloved wife" sole use of dwelling house etc. and portions of land during her life; William Hardy to enjoy one-quarter part of the orchard during his mother's life; household goods to be equally divided among children after wife's death; "my son Joseph Hardee" and "friend & neighbor" David Hazeltine executors. In a lengthy codicil dated 12 December 1677 "Thomas Hardee Senior aged about seventy two" "yet alive & though weak in body" reshuffled lands among William Hutchins and sons Joseph and Jacob; to "my grandchildren" 20s. each; to "my beloved wife" two acres by the river on the east end of the house for her own dispose at her death; forty acres for wife's security; £20 to be divided equally among surviving grandchildren, those born into the families of "Thomas & John Hardee, & my two daughters, Mary and Sary"; to "my son" John Hardy ten acres; "my son Thomas's" land entailed; to "my son" Jacob two acres of meadow; William Hardy sole executor; "loving and respected friends" Rev. Mr. Zachary Simes, Mr. Shubael Walker, and Jonathan Danforth, Sr. of Billerica, overseers; "& further I do exhort all my children, to live in the fear of god, & in the exercise of love & charity each to other, relieving each other's necessity according to their ability as the case may require" [ EPR Case #12405]. "An inventory of the estate of Thomas Hardee Senr. who deceased January 4th 1677" was taken 7 March 1677/8 by Jonathan Danforth, Sr., Shubael Walker, and Samuel Worcester. It totalled £848 10s. 9d., of which £800 was real estate: "house & barns, orchard, fences & 800 acres land more or less joining to the house" [ EPR 3:217]. BIRTH: About 1605 based on age given in codicil to will. DEATH: Bradford 4 January 1677[/8]. MARRIAGE: By about 1635 Ann _____, who died at Bradford on 1 May 1689. CHILDREN: i THOMAS, b. about 1635 (d. Bradford 6 February 1716[/7] in his 82nd year); m. Rowley 22 November 1664 Mercy Tenney. ii SARAH, b. say 1641; m. Haverhill 1 July 1661 William Hutchins. iii JOSEPH, b. about 1643; d. Bradford 11 January 1726/7, aged 84 years, unmarried. iv MARY, b. say 1645; m. by about 1665 Samuel Currier ("Thomas Hardy and wife Ann deeded land to dau[ghter] Mary, wife of Samuel Currier, in 1670" [ Hoyt 119]). v JOHN, b. say 1647 (d. Bradford 4 February 1714/5, aged 67 years); m. (1) Rowley 2 April 1667 Mary Jackman; m. (2) Martha (Smith) Burbank, daughter of Hugh and Mary (_____) Smith and widow of Caleb Burbank [ Rowley Fam 55]. (The second marriage of John is often given as taking place at Bradford on 3 July 1695, but this event does not appear in the Bradford records.) vi JACOB, b. about 1649 (d. Bradford 2 or 3 April 1706 in his 58th year); m. by 1691 Lydia Eaton, daughter of Thomas and Eunice (Singletary) Eaton [ Hoyt 148-49; Ordway Anc 288]. vii WILLIAM, b. say 1651; m. (1) Bradford 3 May 1678 Ruth Tenny; m. (2) by 1690 Sarah _____ (eldest child b. Bradford 1 June 1690). (She is said to be Sarah Savory, daughter of Robert and Mary (Mitchell) Savory, evidence not stated; but given the associations between the Hardy and Savory families this is a likely identification [ Ordway Anc 282, 287-88]. ASSOCIATIONS: No connections are seen between the family of Thomas Hardy of Haverhill and that of John Hardy of Salem. COMMENTS: On 1 April 1633 Thomas Hardy is listed as one of the nine men permitted by the Massachusetts Bay General Court to go with John Winthrop Jr. to settle Agawam (Ipswich) [ MBCR 1:103]. Although several early writers believed Thomas had a first wife named Lydia, there is evidence only for wife Ann. Ann Hardy, widow, was the midwife for Sarah Savory in 1685, and may have performed that service for many of her neighbors over the years [ EQC 9:531]. Given the lack of birthdates for the children of Thomas Hardy, there are some difficulties in establishing the birth order and birth range of these children. By his age at death, John would be just barely twenty at his first marriage, which is certainly possible, but somewhat below the norm. To make him older one would have to assume an underestimate of his age at death, which is not likely, and move his birth all the way back to 1639, which would make as much older than the norm at marriage as the age at death would make him younger. Possibly the younger Thomas's age at death is exaggerated by a few years. If his birth year were estimated at 1639, this would make him twenty-five at marriage and would eliminate the gap of six years between him and the next younger child. If this were correct, then the marriage of Thomas Hardy to Ann _____ need not have occurred until 1639. In the absence of further evidence, however, we leave the children in the arrangement based on taking the ages at death at face value. Called "old Goodman Hardy" in 1677 [ EQC 6:421], he never achieved the status of "Mr.," living his life in a very circumspect and quiet manner, despite a respectable estate. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: A complete account of Thomas Hardy was published in 1990 by Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn [ Ordway Anc 280-88]." See The Ancestry of Samuel Blanchard Ordway, 1844-1916, by Dean Crawford Smith ; ed. by Melinde Lutz Sanborn. Boston : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1990. pp. 280-288 (CS/71/O66/1990). [6]
  Person ID	I6052	Ellingboe
  Last Modified	6 Jan 2011

  
  

  Family ID

  F2353

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S109] Smith, Dean Crawford Sanborn, Melinde Lutz, Ordway Ancestry, (Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1990), p. 281 (Reliability: 3). [S34] Probate, Essex #12405 (Reliability: 3). [S54] Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration Begins, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995), Vol. 2, p. 858 (Reliability: 3). [S54] Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration Begins, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995), Vol. 2, p. 859 (Reliability: 3). [S159] Vital Records, Bradford Massachusetts to End of the Year 1849, Topsfield Historical Society, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1907, p. 324 (Reliability: 3). [S54] Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration Begins, (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995), Vol. 2, pp. 858-861 (Reliability: 3).