Article by Gladys G. Dietz, 607 Dixon Avenue, Rock Falls, Illinois 61071 entitled Hardesty Migration.( In Hardesty Letter FIle)
NOTE:Gladys Diets was a very respected Hardesty researcher, she freely
shared her information with family members and never copyrighted any material.
This is being shared in the memory of her generosity.
The town, Wakatomika, probably got its start as a pioneer frontier village nearly two centuries ago. In the days of the Revolution Wakatomika was a thriving Shawnee village but was burned to the ground by the expedition of Major Angus McDonald in July or August of 1774.(1) The first settler of the tract of country now composing this township(Washington) was John Hardesty. He was originally from Maryland, and about 1806 came from Wheeling, Virginia and settled on the southeast quarter of section 22, the quarter through which Mill Fork flows into Muskingum County. He was a powerful man physically, and his good dame was by no means diminutive in stature. Their family consisted of 16 children, 10 sons and 6 daughters, whose aggregate weight, it is said exceeded 3200 pounds. John Hardesty was a regular frontiersman, and kept moving with the tide of emigration westward while his years permitted. He sold his farm in this township to William F. Compton, nad died some years ago in St. Louis, Missouri. Most of his family preceded or followed him west.
Edmund Hardesty and his wife, Ruth Chaney, left Ann Arundel County, Maryland, and came to Ohio by covered wagons and ox teams over this same route with their six children, Harriet, Thomas, Nancy,John, Elizabeth, and Sophia. Their 7th child, Rachael Hardesty, was born in Bethlehem Township, Coshocton, Ohio, February 14, 1811 while her parents were camping for the night at White Women's Rock. Rachael Hardesty married Hamilton Cox on October 4, 1832. They never left Ohio and many of their descendants are still living in the Coshocton area.
Edmund Hardesty and his family located on the south half of Section 19, Washington Township, Coshocton County. He lived there until his wife died in 1855 and was buried in Chalfant Cemetery. Edmund then decided to leave Ohio and come to Illinois. Before leaving Washington Township he sold to the trustees of the Methodist Church $-8 T-4 1st of S.W. Sec. 19 154/160 acres for $100 on May 19,1856. Then on Nov. 10, 1857 he deeded his son Thomas R-8 T-4 Qr S.W. Sec. 19 160 acres. He came to Illinois that year and made his home with his daughter Nancy (Mrs. William) Tilton until he died February 6, 1864. He is buried in Washington Grove Cemetery, Ogle County, Illinois. All of Edmund's children preceded him to Illinois except Rachael Cox and Edmund's second child Thomas (uncle Tommy). Thomas lived on the land he purchased from his father until his death on October 21, 1893 at the age of 103 years and 5 days.
Abigail Ferguson was born in Pennsylvania December 24, 1818 and with her parents came to Coshocton, Ohio where she later married Daniel Hardesty, 8th child of Edmund Hardesty, on December 24, 1836. In the spring of 1852, Daniel Hardesty and wife Abigail and their eight children emigrated to Ogle County, Illinois in an ox-drawn covered wagon. Hattie Hay, a granddaughter, can recall several interesting things her grandmother told her about the hardships of this trip and early pioneer life onthe wagon trains while coming to Illinois. Hattie can recall her grandmother telling that when they stopped to make camp the wagons were all placed in a circle. The men then gathered firewood from the forests and huge fires were kept burning day and night in the center of the circle so the heat would protect the children from the snakes. There were many snakes in Indiana and Illinois at this time and snake bite was their biggest fear. Records show that Edmund Cross, a nephew of Daniel Hardesty, was also in this group of pioneers.
My grandmother, Daniel and Abigail's 6th child, often spoke of the covered wagons and oxen, but she could not recall many of the events of the trip as she was only six years old at the time.
Harriet Hardesty and her second husband, James Akens, nad their family were the first of Edmund's children to come to Illinois. They came in 1835. Records show that David Maxwell, a brother-in-law to James Akens, came with this first group. Thses early Hardestys settled in Washington Grove, Lafayette Township, Ogle County, Illinois.
When these early immigrants came, they looked for land near timber with a spring close by. The timber was used for material to build the home and furniture, fence rails and fuel. They also looked for some prairie close by so they could break up the land without clearing away the trees. Washington Grove must have satisfied all these qualifications. Harriet saw the necessity for a saw mill, and Harriet's husband and son Richard Hardesty, by her first marriage, built and ran the first saw mill in the Washington Grove area. In 1842 when the settlers came into this area, the land was not yet surveyed so could not be purchased. Harriet acquired her land on which she built the first log cabin from the United States Government May 1, 1843 at Dixon, Illinois when the land was opened to claims. Harriet lived to be 99 years old, and is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery west of Flagg Center, Ogle County.
In 1843 Nancy Hardesty and husband William Tilton, Nancy's sister Elizabeth Hardesty and husband Joseph slaughter, and their families came into Lafayette Township. In 1845 Amy Hardesty, sister to Nancy and Elizabeth, and her husband Spencer Tilton, also a brother to William Tilton, and their families came into this same area. In 1852 Daniel Hardesty and wife, Abigail Ferguson, with their children and a newphew, Edmund Cross, followed. In 1853 John Cross and wife Sophia Hardesty and their nie children reanging from two to nineteen years followed Sophia's sisters and brother and settled in Pine Rock Township where their oldest son, Edmund Cross , had settled. Our family records show that aoo the Hardestys came in covered wagons drawn by ox teams. Other families are mentioned as coming with them but no names have been left on our records for us.