FOREWORD
This work is not presented as a complete history of t
Family. Such a task would not be practicable, but
1 ent
explore their own genealogy for a j
with some of the main lines that have been developed.
provided for this purpose.

This is the result of 53 years of work as a part-time hobby and
in answer to a challenge. One of the great accomplishments in life
is to meet every challenge. In 1922 while on a restful army leave of
absence, and awaiting my wedding day, I accompanied my fat
old home place at Hardee Cross Roads in Johnston County, N
search of his grandfather's family Bible. We learned that this Bible,
containing the family record back to England, had in the last few years
been lost. The challense to build around this lost material constituted
@ real task since many records had been destroyed by household and
courthouse fires.

I began work at once gathering family data and traditions.
En route to Texas in 1924, a couple of days were profitably spent with
irs. Peter W. ("Cousin Carrie") Godfrey, where we combined results of ny
studies with her files. Continued research in the library at San
Antonio, Texas, enabled me to_produce a short typed story of the family,
full of errors and some cues<{_work. It was filed in the DAR Library,
Continental Hall, Washington, D. C., and many inouiries came to me
from interested relatives.

Again, between 1934 ve While stationed in my home state of
North Carolina, I resumed the part-time personal hobby task, visitin
old homesites, relatives, courthouses and cemeteries. The second typed

booklet was substituted for the first and aroused more interest, since
it involved more people.

Yow that I have retired, except for attention to personal affairs
and the pursuit of hobbies, many hours have been devoted to filling in
the gaps, discovering new families,and enlarging the original materials.
It is still incomplete with many family lines undeveloped, and a number
of connections not made. To illustrate, in my own family there is a lack
of data from the Revolutionary War to my sreat-grandfather, and some of
the Hardee's of Halifax County, N. C., have not been connected to the mai
line. A former governor of Florida has not been connected, and there are
other breaks jn the connections of several other families. However, it—is
believed -to/bé best to publish what has been accomplished, and let others
use it later as a base for carrying on their senealogical work, than to
let it die unpublished. The size of the task is realized when we calculate
that a couple living in Colonial days, with five children, would today
have over 10,000 descendants.

Many people, like myself, before I became interestediin this work,
do not know of their origin beyond their crandparents, are dikatecnetem
and do not answer corespondence. This attitude adds_to the problems of
the researcher. It has been aptly said that the gefWealogist has to have

 
continued determination, the patience of
a detective, and the tenacity of a bulldog
reward. Those who fill @& their family

sue their family genealogy, take heart, b

David L. Hardee
109 Fast Lane
Raleigh, N. C

m
4

Most used abbreviations

yar
ie

bh

Ve

d. died;
died

born; m. married;
unmarried; n.o.c.

Acknowledgements:

Mrs. Peter ed)

Covington,

Godfery (decea

y

te

‘
WaAe

Margaret Har Mr.

Nie

Miss ay

LaGrange,
Tati

Al

‘al
Ve

Mee. Bees, 1:

Ayden, Dal

N.

ft
Ye

Durward Hart
WT

sreenvilte, |!

Mr.

RFD, C.

o
Mr. Leon Stanley Hardee Dr.
Greenville, Cc.

N

Miss Anna Adell€ Clark
Swainsboro, Ga.
Mrs.Oline Turner ar,
Winonah, N. J.

Miss Mattie Lassiter Mrs
Smithfield, N. C

W.284
Austin
C.

Mrs. Mabel
Four Oaks, N.

Mrs

people not mentioned above have also
ing this data, and without the inspirat
ned by them and the shelves of Colonial

text, this book would uot be possible
J
1 bat nN Pi a ; e ay

Haye ~ i) -d, oe ony:

—_ |}

died in
no children;

Oxf

Ww
Mrs.

Fnf
Miss Elizabeth
New
Snow Hill,

Mariana,

Windsor,

Job, the instincts of
to achieve final
gaps, and further sae
egin and keep working

fox

childhood;

dau., daughte

Aubrey Hardee
era,: No

Ve

R.

las,

2D

. Davis
m ”
Texas

*, Stanley Hardee

Point, N.C.
Ralph Hardee Rives
ield, N. C.

Moore
ft
Ve

Bern, N.

Tborn

(%
Ve

Joshua Mey
N.
Milton C. Smith
Fla,

Frederick M.
N.C.

Dunstan

been very helpful
ion and information
Eecords,referred

idedes sed)