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Joshua T. Hardy Cemetery

Siloam, Clay County, Mississippi

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The Joshua T. Hardy cemetery near Siloam, Clay County, Mississippi is simply a small family plot that was used in the mid 1800s by the Joshua T. Hardy family. This branch of the Hardys moved to Mississippi ca 1836 from Greene and Lenoir Cos., North Carolina. Visit page two about this cemetery here to have a look at the area in 1974 when a fence was built around it. Refer to the Rootsweb family tree at the link above and/or visit my page on the descendants of Sutton Hardy here. The information on the plot is provided here for the historical record, but since only eight persons were ever buried there (as far as we can determine, but see note below for information on three other persons possibly buried there) it will not provide a great deal of information for researchers. The cemetery is on land that used to be the Joshua T. Hardy homestead, but it is now in the middle of a pasture on a private farm and is largely overgrown with brush and trees. There is a reading of this cemetery in the "Cemeteries of Clay County, Mississippi, Vol. 1" by the Clay County Genealogical Society, West Point, MS., 1999 which can be found in the West Point library. The original reading was taken in 1950 by Mrs. John H. Bryan and reads:

Ball, Unity Elizabeth, 25 Jun 1838 - 12 January 1859; consort of William F. Ball
Hardy, Anna, 10 Aug 1916 (sic) - 19 Aug 1857
Hardy, Charles S., 17 Oct 1854 - 8 Oct 1855
Hardy, J. T., 20 Mar 1807 - 19 Jul 1871
Hardy, Lemuel S., 26 Jan 1857 - 18 Aug 1857
Hardy, Martha Ann, 8 Apr 1837 - 20 Nov 1858
Hardy, Mary M., 27 Oct 1840 - 26 Aug 1857
Hardy, Mary T., 10 May 1804 - 3 Oct 1857

The list of persons buried in the Joshua T. Hardy cemetery was again recorded in 1960 by Sallie Ila Hardy Lasley (granddaughter of Joshua, then 82 years old) and her daughter Sarah Lasley Branson. I have photos taken by those ladies on that date as well as photos I took in 2001 and 2002. Their written notes read:

Joshua Taylor Hardy 1807 - 1871
Charles H. Hardy 1854 - 1855
Mary M. Hardy 1840 - 1859
Unity Elizabeth Hardy - 1838 - 1859 - consort of William Ball
Mary T. Hardy 1804 - 1857
Martha Ann Hardy 1837 - 1858
Anna Hardy 1816 - 1857
Lemuel Hardy 1857 - 1857 (Lemuel is buried in the same grave as his mother Anna who died one day later)

It should be noted that Unity Elizabeth Hardy apparently married William F. Ball shortly before her death. On a visit in 2001 and again in 2002 we were not able to locate Unity's grave. It may simply be several inches underground and might be found with more work.

There is a letter written by Sarah Catherine "Kate" Hardy (1871-1960) to Sallie Ila Hardy in 1947 in which she is apparently responding to questions Sallie Ila had asked her about the JTH cemetery. In this letter she also mentions that "Aunt Nanny, Aunt Sue, and Uncle Joe are also buried there but without markers." These people would be Nancy Jane Hardy Ball (1842-1884), Susan Elizabeth Hardy Doughty (1846- ) and Joseph Doughty.

A copy of a letter from Kate to Sallie Ila Hardy dated 15 Jan 1947 is in possession of Greg Lasley (original with Jack Elliott, Jr.). Kate was a 1st cousin to Sallie Ila.
The letter reads as follows:
Jan. 15, 1947
Dear Sallie Ila,
Lizzie forwarded your letter to me at Catherine's in Brady, Tex., six hundred miles from home and I have been here since Dec. 10. I thank you so much for sending the pictures for me to see. I'm returning them as you requested. I don't remember when I have ever thought of the cemetery on Grandpa's old homeplace. He was married three times. I do not know the names of his wives but am sure "Anna" was one of them. Uncle William Ball was first engaged to Aunt Martha, she died, then Aunt Unity Eliz., she died. Then he married Aunt Nannie. He was killed during the war. Then she married Uncle Wes Harvey. Uncle John Hardy was also killed during the war. Willie Ball never saw his father as he was born after he was killed. Aunt Nanny & Aunt Sue & Uncle Joe both are buried there, but I don't think there are any markers at their graves. Yes, Mary passed away on Christmas Eve and we buried her X-mas day. She, like Henry, was put away nice, flowers beautiful, and enough to cover all three graves, Mr. Ross', Mary's and Cooper's. All her children and John were there. Will you still make your home with Sara Blanche since she is married? If you do not go to New Jersey stop on your way to Blanche's. I hope to be home soon. If I'm not there stop to see Lizzie and Nina. They will be glad to see you and they will take you to Henry's grave. Write again, I enjoyed your letter so much.
Love, Kate
 
The current (September 2002) appearance of the J. T. Hardy Cemetery near Siloam, Clay County, Mississippi. The eight graves are located in thick brush under the grove of trees in this photo. This location is 2.85 miles north of the intersection of Why 50 and Hwy 47 and lies 3000 feet east of Hwy 47 on private farm land. The cemetery is at GPS coordinates 33 deg. 39.09 N and 088 deg. 44.82 W.

   

The above B&W photo, taken in 1960, shows the graves of Joshua T. Hardy and Mary T. Hardy. We are not sure which Mary Hardy this is at this time. It may be Joshua's sister, but more work is needed to determine this. This is not one of Joshua's three wives. See the account about Joshua here on my Rootsweb site to learn more about his wives. In 1960 the JTH marker was leaned up against the Mary T. Hardy marker as shown, but in 2002 the JTH marker was found partially buried right next to the Anna Hardy marker. Furthermore, we were able to uncover the buried JTH footstone, shown above, indicating that he was originally buried next to his first wife, Anna. We have no explanation for why the headstone was next to the Mary T. Hardy headstone in 1960 except perhaps to get both in one photo since the JTH marker was broken. The Mary T. Hardy marker is about 8 feet in front of the JTH marker and in another "row". I have a diagram of the cemetery if anyone is interested. Here is another shot of that marker from 2002.

   
These photos (B&W in 1960 and color in 2002) show the single grave for Anna (Annie) Hardy and her son Lemuel Sutton Hardy who died one day apart. Joshua T. Hardy's marker is now immediately next to this stone, and his foot stone is about 4 or 5 feet from Anna's foot stone indicating they were buried side by side.

   
The grave of Charles H. Hardy in 1960 and 2002, son of Joshua T. & Annie Hardy who died as an infant.

   
The grave of Mary Mewborn Hardy who died at age 16 . Photos taken in 1960 and 2002.

  The grave of Martha Ann Hardy. The inscription reads: "Weep Not, O weep not, kindred dear, For whose last remains lie here; For Jesus she on earth did love and now she dwells with him above." For an incredible example of 1900th century "purple prose" read Martha Ann's obit by going to the Rootsweb site page about her here.

 

This is a map showing the location of the Joshua T. Hardy cemetery in Clay Co., MS. The town of West Point, MS is at the intersection of U.S. 45A and highway 50 in the lower right hand corner of the map. the cemetery is located on private land just north of Siloam, Clay County. The Siloam community is located immediately below the 47 number on the road going north off of highway 50.