William Harris Hardy Biography
Hardy decided to remain in Mississippi and start the school. He founded the Sylvarena Academy in Flowers, Mississippi, and while the academy flourished until the end of World War II, Hardy did not remain there long. He decided to enter into the legal profession and, in 1856, worked in the law offices of Shannon and Street in Paulding, Mississippi. In 1858, he moved to Raleigh, Mississippi, where he took and passed the bar examination. It was there that he began his successful law career. During this time he met and married his first wife, Sallie A. Johnson. They were married in October of 1860. Captain Hardy and Sallie had six children: Mattie, Willie, Ellen, Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jefferson Davis; during their marriage the Civil War began. Captain Hardy led Company H of the 16th Mississippi Regiment and fought under the command of General Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He became ill and returned home in 1865, to resume his legal profession. After the death of his first wife, Hardy moved to Meridian, Mississippi, and set up a law office. While visiting Mobile, Alabama, he met his second wife, Miss Hattie Lott, who was born in Mobile, Alabama, on February 20, 1848. She received her education at the Barton Academy in Mobile, and was described as a sweet-natured, beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. William and Hattie were married December 1, 1874, after a brief courtship; she moved to his Meridian home and began to raise the Captain's orphaned children. They had three children: Lena Mai, Lamar, and Toney. Being a cultured woman, Hattie tried to improve the quality of life in Meridian. She helped organize a literary society, the Fortnightly Club, which is the oldest women's club in Mississippi. Hattie spent the rest of her life in Meridian, never living in the city that was named for her, Hattiesburg. She died suddenly on May 18, 1895, at her home in Meridian, Mississippi. During the time of his marriage to Hattie, Captain Hardy became interested in establishing railroad lines through the state. He was responsible for establishing the line between New Orleans and Meridian, with the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad Company [now part of the Southern Railway System]. Hardy chose and named the sites where stations would be established, thus establishing the cities of Hattiesburg and Laurel. Later, he became president of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad Company and established the railway station that became known as Gulfport. Perhaps the establishment of these cities is considered Captain Hardy's greatest achievement. After Hattie's death, Hardy became interested in public service. He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1895, and while there he served as the chairman of the Committee on Corporations and Finance Committee. He introduced a bill to remove the penitentiary from Jackson, Mississippi, and to construct a new Capitol on the old site. In 1905, he served as circuit court judge for district two in Mississippi, and when the district was split in two, he accepted the Coast district and was judge there until he retired at the age of 72. Captain Hardy married a third time. On June 14, 1900, he married Ida V. May, of Jackson, Mississippi. He and Ida were the parents of three sons: William H. Jr., Hamilton Lee, and James Hutchins. He spent the remainder of his life as an attorney in a firm he had with his son, Toney, in Gulfport. Captain Hardy died at the age of 80, on February 17, 1917. |
