- From the Hardy Family History, by Patrica Hardy Macaluso
This story by James F Hardy Jr.James F. Hardy was born on October 16, 1884 in Appleton, Wisconsin, o ne of twelve children of John Hardy and Anne Ringrose Hardy.He was very fond of his Uncle Kelly who he worked for, earning $20.00 p er month. This was his first paying job. His older brother, John Hardy, al so worked with Uncle Kelly.John was a real crack shot with a rifle. He w on several trap shoots and later became a police officer. In later yea rs he was shot to death in a cabin in Missouri. John gathered wild fowl f or large hotels in Chicago and New York.James F. Hardy tried several things in his youth. He joined the National G uards in Wisconsin, waiting until he was old enough to homestead. He w as at Camp Murray in Tacoma, Washington, during his tour of duty with t he National Guards. Often he told the story ofthe time he had guard duty at the camp gate when a high ranking officer ca me through and he put a bayonet up to the officer and yelled, "Halt". He w as quite proud of being in the National Guards.He then arrived in eastern. Montana and western North Dakota and went to w ork for the Northern Pacific railroad in Glendive, prior to homesteadin g. He told of walking up "Hungry Joe" a small mountain outside of town, wh ich was crawling with rattlesnakes. When he worked for the railroad, he d id not own a horse.That summer of 1906, he traveled back to Appleton, Wisconsin and borrow ed $1,000.00 from his mother and dad to set up homesteading. This was a gr eat deal of money at that time, probably equivalent to $100,000.00 toda y. In 1906, $10.00 would buy a suit of clothes. He came back to North Dako ta and homesteaded in Garner Township.He purchased lumber, horses and a walking hand plow. Two horses pulled t he 12 inch plow. He later had a Flying Dutchman Sulky plow, one that you r ode with three horses. We also had an Emerson Gang plow and a few Lacros se gang plows, which required six horses. The Emerson required five hors es abreast, ideal for young teamsters. He homesteaded on the S.E. quart er of Section 18, Range 138-104, Garner Township, Golden Valley, North Dak ota. Sentinel Butte was the county seat at this time. Beach, North Dako ta was only a small section of the county. Sentinel Butte was a thriving t own at that time. James Hardy worked for J. B. Stoddard on his ranch. He w as very proud of J. B. Stoddard and herded sheep for him from 1906 to 191 2, along with keeping up his own homestead. He spent $50.00 building a 1 2. x 20' home, which included lumber, doors, windows, etc. This home lat er became part of the main home he was to build. It was the kitchen ar ea of the main home. Remains of the old home are still at the Sentinel But te farm site. In the fall of 1911, he returned to Wisconsin where he renew ed his friendship with his wife to be, Mary Winifred Mailey. On Februa ry 7, 1912, he and Mary W. Mailey were married at St. Mary's Catholic Chur ch in Appleton, Wisconsin by the Reverend Fitzmaurice. This church still r emains in Appleton. Returning to Golden Valley, March 1, 1912, they enjoy ed lush crops from 1912 to 1916 and were very happy in their new found la nd with all they needed or wanted. On February 6, 1913, their first sons w ere born at the farm home, 14 miles south of the town of Sentinel Butte. T he boys were named James F. Hardy, Jr. and John Edward Hardy, later call ed "Jack". On April 14, 1914, Robert E. Hardy was born in the same home. O nly mid-wives attended during these births, possibly the doctor would st op by the next day. On December 23, 1915, Donald J. Hardy was born at t he family home. Howard W. Hardy was born May 16, 1917, also in the fami ly home. In June, 1918 the barn, home, and grainery were moved from the or iginal homesite to the SW 1/4 of Section 19. Here the Hardy family acquir ed 3 quarter sections, totaling 480 acres instead of 160. This was the beg inning of James Hardy's expansion and success story. With the help of Char lie A. Lundeen, who traded the South 1/2 of Section 19 for the Hardy's ori ginal homestead, they were able to expand. Charlie Lundeen had a great de al of land for sale; some of it was railroad land. At the new site, a ne w, huge grainery was built and the old grainery, which was hauled over fr om the homestead, was used as a work shop and to fix harnesses.We all learned a great deal watching dad, who was a perfectionist with lea ther tools and could make a complete harness. During these early days, th ey enjoyed good crops and escaped the lean year of 1916 where most had po or crops due to rust.On July 31, 1918, Maurice E. Hardy was born at the farm home. The followi ng year, 1919 was the first bad year for farming. There was a bad drough t, grasshoppers, hail, and cutworms. Mother became very disenchanted wi th everything. The land looked bad from April through the year. That yea r, dad, mom, and four boys; Jack, Jim, Bob and Maurice, took a trip ba ck to Appleton. They were considering relocating.We spent a couple of mon ths there to look over things. I can remember the trunks loaded on-the pla tform at the depot in Beach. Beach was then a thriving town. In 1919 the re were people all over the depot with wagons of freight to load on the tr ain. Today the depot still remains and the platform is still there.There was a big Hardy family reunion in Appleton when we arrived. Aunt Ne ll Hardy wasn't married then and I remember Grandpa John Hardy kidding h er about her boyfriend, George Kronschnabel. That summer was so green a nd lush in Appleton. We went to the cemetery and saw several graves of o ur relatives. Grandma Anne Ringrose Hardy died on August 1st that summe r. Uncle John Hardy had a new car and everyone seemed to be doing very wel l. The 4th of July celebration was fantastic. I have never seen larg er or more colorful fireworks since that time. Mom and dad later made up t heir minds to go back to North Dakota even though there were no trees or v egetation as in Wisconsin.(Lone Tree County was so named because a tree w as found there, so you can see how desolate it must have been.) Mother dec ided that North Dakota was probably a better place to raise childre n. We had several 50 gallon barrels of molasses out in the grainery whi ch were used to poison the grasshoppers. But the damage had already been d one, the crops were gone.
Jerry Schumaker and dad bought a machine which gathered up what little hea ds you could find of wheat but it was so short you couldn't bind or bund le it. This was the first year Jack and I worked in the field. We dro ve a header box with pretty old, well trained horses. While we were livi ng at this place, Mary and Margaret were born on April 19, 1921. I was o ut in the field on the N.E. quarter working when they were born.I remember Lena Tanisch coming up in the buggy with two horses to tell m e. Then Paul E. Hardy was born on January 28, 1923, the first of the fo ur little kids. Richard J. Hardy was born on June 14, 1924. Gerald D. Har dy was born on April 18, 1926, the year of the worst drought. Gerald was b orn in Dickinson. I can remember going to Dickinson to the hospital to s ee mom and him. Mom announced she called him Gerald David Hardy and dad sa id "WHAT?" He liked to joke with her about things like that.
Mary and Margaret were born in the telephone office in Golva. Mrs. Bert Co vert was a midwife of sorts and helped deliver the girls. When Paul was bo rn mom went to a hospital in Beach and she became deathly sick and bare ly hung on to life all summer. She had bed fever, as they diagnos ed it at that time. They felt she contacted this from uncleanliness at t he hospital. A man was severely burned in Beach, he was in the same hospit al and they were not washing the bed linen and clothing as they shoul d. It wasn't actually a hospital, but they did the best they could. Mom wa sn't sure she wanted to have any more kids in a hospital after this bru sh with death.Charles M. Hardy was born on January 29, 1928, to complete the family of t en boys and two girls. They had difficulty finding a name for Charlie as F r. Lack felt that after twelve children; at least one should be named aft er the parish priest. The parish priest's name was Michael and so Charl ie was named Charles Michael.The early 1930's brought low prices for crops and another drought. The la te 1930's and early 1940's were prosperous years after many years of sacri fice or as Jack Hardy would say: "Blood, sweat and tears."On February 8, 1951, mom died in Mesa, Arizona after suffering many yea rs from arthritis and kidney trouble. She was buried in Beach, North Dakot a. She was born in Delavan, Wisconsin on March 25, 1886. Her parents we re John Mailey (Maley) and Margaret "Hawley" Mailey. She had two brother s, Frank D. Mailey and Ed Mailey. She was a woman deeply respected by a ll and had all the qualities of a saint. Her family and community were h er first concerns and she always made sure her family was raised with go od Catholic values, sending each to religion class each week and to chur ch on Sunday.The following years, dad spent traveling to visit sons and daughters in Wa shington and California, after attending the 1964 Democratic Conventi on in Atlantic City, New Jersey, dad's health began to fail and he pass ed away on October 14, 1964. He is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Beac h, North Dakota. Dad was a man admired and respected by his family, alwa ys there with a helping hand and deeply devoted to his children and grandc hildren. He devoted much time to his community, church, family, home, Knig hts of Columbus, and as a delegate for the Democratic Party for his count y. To date, he would have had 57 grandchildren.
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1884 - 1964 (79 years)
1900 Census
