Joshua T. Hardy Cemetery

Greg Lasley's Web Page
Joshua T. Hardy Cemetery
page 2
Siloam, Clay County, Mississippi

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. Refer to the Rootsweb family tree at the link above and/or visit my page on the descendants of Sutton Hardy here. This is page 2 about the cemetery so click here to go back to page 1. In October, 2002, we found some photos taken in September, 1974, when the cemetery was judged to be in disrepair. A contingent of the Lasley, Hardy, and Elliott families went to the site, cleaned it up and built a chain link fence around it. The fence is 30 feet on each side in a square. While their intentions were good, this actually caused more harm than good in the long run. The site is about a half mile off the nearest road and is on private farm land, so it is not visited on any regular basis and undoubtedly years or even decades went by between visits. Prior to 1974, cattle grazing in the area kept the grass, trees and brush down from around the headstones, but when the fence was built it kept the cattle out. With cattle fenced out of the plot it became extremely overgrown. At the time of this writing (late 2002) it would be an expensive and major undertaking to totally clear out the trees from among the graves, some of which are now more than 6 inches in diameter. Still, for the historical record, I am posting the 4 known photos taken in September, 1974, when the fence was built.

The man standing facing the camera with the white short-sleeved shirt is William H. Lasley, then 58 years old, great grandson of Joshua T. Hardy. The man with the white, short-sleeved shirt facing left is Clyde Dill and the woman facing right is Mary Dill (nee Lasley), sister of William H. Lasley. The young man with the dark shirt is probably Jack Elliott, Jr.

In this photo, William H. Lasley is to the far right. The slender woman in white facing away is Mary Dill (nee Lasley), sister of William H. Lasley. Clyde Dill and Jack Elliott, Jr. are also in the photo. We do not know who the young woman on the left is.

This was the appearance of the Joshua T. Hardy Cemetery just after the fence was installed in 1974. Certainly a far cry from its appearance in late 2002 when the below photo was taken from approximately the same angle, but from further away. The large cedar tree just visible on the right edge of the above photo is now dead and can be seen clearly in the below photo.

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 Hwy 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.