ASHTABULA COUNTY OHIO 
***************************************************************************

Transcribed by Cherre Loftus Flynn.

THE HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO
        WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
           OF ITS PIONEERS AND MOST PROMINENT MEN
           Published in Philadelphia by Williams Brothers in 1878


 HANCE F. HARDY.  "The son of Captain William Hardy, born near Carlisle,
 Pennsylvania, November 3, 1797, Hance F. Hardy was left an orphan at the age
 of seventeen.  He early acquired habits of industry and no sooner was he bereft of
 his parents than he took a contract to carry mail from Sandusky to Fort Meigs, a
 distance of about one hundred and fifty miles.  The route lay through the Maumee
 swamp, and at certain seasons of the year was almost impassable.  The journey
 was made on horseback, following notched trees, and many of the streams could
 be crossed only by swimming.  The trip was made once per week.  When twenty
 years of age he bought a farm in Monroe township, this county,  and he made it
 his home for sixty years.  He was one of the early settlers of that part of the county,
 and had his full share of privations and hardships of pioneer life.  He was an
 industrious, law-abiding citizen, and lived a useful life.  He died December 23,
 1876, nearly eighty years of age.

 January 1, 1819, he was united in marriage to Acenoth Chapin, and the following
 are the names of Mr. Hardy's children, with dates of their birth:  Chloe P., born
 October 8, 1819; Laura A., born September 30, 1821; Margaret, born September
 8, 1823; Willilam, born August 30, 1825; Julia, born January 28, 1828; Carolin,
 born May 29, 1830; Matilda E., born April 29, 1835; Jane M., born April 24, 1837.
  Mr. Hardy was a member of the Congregational Church in which he was for many
 years a deacon."