The Hardy Family Tree

Grace (Fairbanks) McGlew's mother was Delia (Knox) Fairbanks, and her mother was Lovercia (Hardy) Knox.  We can also trace the Hardy branch of our family tree back to Puritan ancestors who immigrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.

Lovercia Hardy was born on Oct 19, 1847, in Bradford*, MA.  Her name was spelled in a variety of ways on different vital records, including what appears to be a phonetic spelling of "Loversha," but was spelled as "Loversia" on her birth record and "Lovercia" on her gravestone.   On April 22, 1866, she married Willard Knox, and together they had five children.  Lovercia passed away on March 16, 1869, from what was recorded in the death record as an access of the abdomen, and was laid to rest in Groveland's Riverview Cemetery.

*(A note on the Hardy family in Bradford - they actually lived in the area that we now know as Groveland.  Groveland was originally the East Parish of Bradford, which was originally part of the town of Rowley. Before Bradford was separated from Rowley in 1672, it was called "Rowley on the Merrimack", or just "Merrimack."  This is why their birth/marriage/death records will state "Bradford" while they were buried in Groveland's Riverview Cemetery). 

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Lovercia's parents were Ira Hardy and Eunice Langley.  Ira was born on Dec 7, 1806, in Bradford, MA.  He married Eunice in Dracut, MA, on Dec 19, 1847, and they had three children together.  On the 1870 census, Ira was living with his family in Groveland, MA, and listed as a farmer.  He passed away on May 26, 1886, from heart disease.  Eunice had passed away from consumption almost a decade earlier, on Jan 12, 1877.  Both Ira and Eunice were buried in Groveland's Riverview Cemetery.

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Ira's parents were Jacob Hardy and Hannah Hardy (distant cousins).  Hannah was born to Joshua Hardy and Hannah Tyler on Jan 8, 1768.  Her father, Joshua, was born on Sept 13, 1740.  He was a sergeant in the second company of minute-men, lead by Captian John Savory, who marched to Cambridge on the alarm from Lexington on April 19, 1775.  According to the book Hardy and Hardie, Past and Present by Claude Hardy,  Joshua brought the famous Paul Revere bell to Groveland from Newburyport by ox-cart, and installed it in the Congregational Church.  He lived in the area between King and Rollins Streets, where he died June 3, 1814.

Hannah's husband, Jacob, was born on July 29, 1769, in Bradford, MA.  He married Hannah on Nov 3, 1792.  They had eight children together.  Jacob was recorded as being a shoemaker.  He passed away at at 81 in Groveland, MA, on July 14, 1850, from a "paralytic stroke." Hannah had died on Sept 29, 1836, and was buried in Groveland's Riverview cemetery.

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Jacob's parents were Joseph Hardy, Jr. and Susanna Bailey.  Susanna was born on  June 10, 1733 to John Bailey and Susanna Tenney. She first married Nathaniel Kimball, sometime before 1764.  She passed away on Oct. 1, 1810, and was buried in Groveland's Riverview cemetery.

Inscription on stone:

Mrs. Susanna Hardy

Consort of Mr. Joseph Hardy

died Oct. 1st, 1810

AEt. 77

Joseph was born on June 22, 1734, in Bradford, MA.  He first married Edna Hopkinson, who died in 1763.  Joseph married a second time, to the widow Susanna (Bailey) Kimball, on Oct 9, 1764.  Joseph died in Bradford on March 27, 1789, and was also buried in Riverview Cemetery.

Inscription on stone:

Sacred to the Memory of Mr Joseph Hardy 

who departed this Life March the 27th AD 1789

in the 55th year of his Age

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Joseph Jr.'s parents were Joseph Hardy, Sr. and Ruth Kimball.  Joseph was born Oct 19, 1692 in Bradford, MA.  He had first married Sarah Carleton, on April 3, 1729.  Sarah died in childbirth the following year, on April 16, 1730, while giving birth to their first child, Josiah.  Josiah passed away less than a month later, on April 12, 1730.  

Joseph remarried in October 1730, to Ruth Kimball.  Ruth was born on Jan 30, 1710 in Bradford.  They had seven children together.  Joseph passed away on Nov 26, 1745, at age 54, and was buried in Riverview Cemetery.  Ruth remarried several years after Joseph's death, on Jan 30, 1749, to Samuel Wood.  She passed away on May 15, 1790, and was also laid to rest in Riverview Cemetery.  

Joseph Hardy

Ruth (Kimball) Hardy Wood

The Joseph Hardy House on Garrison street in Groveland was most likely built by this Joseph, after 1720.  It was probably fortified to act as a garrison against attacks by Native Americans.  

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Joseph Sr.'s parents were Jacob Hardy and Lydia Eaton.  Lydia was born in 1662 to Thomas Eaton, Sr. and Eunice Unity Singletary.  The Singletary branch can be traced back to 1600s England, and I'm planning to write up a quick post on that line another day.  

Jacob was born in 1648 in Ipswich, MA.  He married Lydia in 1690, in Haverhill, MA, and they had six children.  He  he was one of the 101first members of the new Congregational Church, which was organized in what is now Groveland, on June 7, 1727. Jacob passed away on Apr. 2, 1706 and was buried in Bradford's Ancient Burying Ground.  Lydia lived another three decades, and passed away on June 24, 1737.

Inscription on stone:

JACOB HARDY DIED April ye 2 1706 

& IN Y 58 YEAR OF HIS AGE

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Jacob's parents were Thomas Hardy, Sr. and Ann (surname unknown - although some genealogies state that Thomas was previously married to a woman named Lydia).  Thomas was born about 1605/6 in England (possibly in Dorset County, but unconfirmed).  Thomas came with Governor Winthrop's fleet in 1630 to settle in Massachusetts Bay Colony.  It is theorized that he was an indentured servant to Governor Winthrop.  He gained his freedom sometime between his arrival in the New World and 1633, when he was one of the twelve who were chosen to settle Agawam (later called Ipswich) with John Winthrop Jr.'s company.  He built what was reported to be the first wooden frame house, as well as the first well, in Ipswich (his property would have been in the vicinity of 8 Agawam Ave, across the harbor from the town warf).  

In 1653 Thomas and his family relocated to "Merrimack, near Haverhill" (the area we now know as Bradford was originally part of the town of Rowley, and was called "Rowley on the Merrimack" or just "Merrimack" before the name was changed to Bradford in 1672) where Thomas had been given a King's Grant of 1000 acres of land.  Along with being a husbandman and farmer, he was also said to have been a ferry operator in Bradford.  Thomas and Ann had seven children together.  

Thomas passed away on Jan 4, 1677, and Ann on May 1, 1689, in Bradford, MA.  They are both assumed to have been buried in Bradford's Ancient Burying Ground.  

Thomas Hardy's signature

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The Joseph Hardy House, on King Street in Groveland, was probably built by Thomas's son Joseph (brother of our direct ancestor,  Jacob) in 1676.  This Joseph does not appear to have had a wife or children, and in 1723 he willed his property to his brother Jacob's children, mentioning by name his nephew, Joseph (our direct ancestor), but reserved the right to reside there until his death.  He passed away in January of 1726/7.  My assumption is that our ancestor Joseph inherited this house from his uncle, and his descendants continued to live there over the centuries.  In 1933, Lawrence Hardy, a direct descendant of Joseph - and brother of Loversia (Hardy) Knox - was the occupant when a Hardy family reunion was held in the area. This blog post has many recent photos of the interior of this house, as well as more information about it's history.  

Knox Family Tree

In this post I'm going to trace back the Knox family line.  Grace (Fairbanks) McGlew's mother (Grampy's grandmother) was Delia Maria Knox.

Delia's bible, passed down to
her daughter, Grace.

Delia was born in Groveland, MA, on Aril 18, 1873.  She married Charles Otis Fairbanks on Dec. 25, 1890, at the Groveland Congregational Church.  Delia and Charles had ten children together.  Uncle Charlie had written in his notes that "Delia was a kind considerate mother and wife and loved by all her children."  Delia passed away on April 9, 1964, in Haverhill MA.

Delia Maria (Knox) Fairbanks
photo shared by Ruth McGlew

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Delia's parents were Willard Knox and Loversha Hardy (we'll be tracing the Hardy family back in a future post).  Willard was born in 1848/9 (birth year estimated from his age on census records, I have not yet been able to locate his birth certificate).  One interesting fact discovered on the 1850 census record: Willard and his future wife, Loversha, were likely next door neighbors as children, as the Knox family was listed immediately after the Hardy's on that year's census record.  

1850 census record - Hardy and Knox families were likely
neighbors.  Lovercia age 2 yrs, Willard 2 mos.

Willard and Lovercia married in Groveland on April 22, 1866.  He was listed as a farmer on their marriage record.  Lovercia passed away on March 17, 1896 from what was recorded as "access of abdomen," and Willard died three decades later, on June 26, 1926.  They were both laid to rest in Groveland's Riverview cemetery.

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Willard's parents were Eli Knox and Susan Ricker (b. Aug 20, 1823 in Dover, NH).   Eli was born on Sept 20, 1820, in Berwick, ME.  He married Susan Ricker on May 9, 1844, in his hometown, and they had five children together. Eli's occupation on the 1850 census record is listed as carpenter, and in 1849 he built his home in Groveland.  

Excerpt from "The Houses and Buildings of Groveland Mass"
- Compiled in 1854 by Alfred Poore, M.D. 

Eli died on October 13, 1908, in Groveland, Massachusetts, at age 88, and was buried in Riverview Cemetery.

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Eli's parents were Joshua Knox and Patience Knox (possibly distant cousins?  She was born in 1793 to David Knox in Acton, ME).  Joshua was born in Berwick, ME, on May 25, 1787.  He married Patience on April 10, 1817, in Lebanon, ME.  It appears that they had eight children together, but only three survived to adulthood.  Joshua died on June 1, 1840, in Berwick, Maine, at the age of 53.

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Joshua's parents were Jonathan Nock and Elizabeth/Betsey (surname uncertain).  Jonathan was born on February 27, 1758, in Berwick, Maine.  He served as a private in the Revolutionary War, in Captain Emerson's company of Col. Joseph Cilley's New Hampshire Regiment.  A summary of his 1829 pension application stated that Jonathan "Enlisted for the term of three years January 1, 1777 (having before served eight months and twelve months). In Capt. Amos Emerson's Co., Col. Joseph Cilley's Regt., New Hampshire line. Discharged March 21, 1780, at Reading, Conn."

Jonathan was one of the many continental soldiers who endured the winter at Valley Forge.  Some of the 1st New Hampshire's previous engagements included the Siege of Boston, Defense of Canada, Lake Champlain, Trenton-Princeton, Saratoga, Philadelphia-Monmouth.

Found at "Valley Forge Legacy: The Muster Roll Project"

Jonathan and  Elizabeth married on July 23, 1780, and they had nine children together.  He died on January 6, 1840, and Elizabeth on Oct 15, 1769.  They were both buried in in the Knox family cemetery in Berwick, Maine.

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Jonathan's parents were Zachariah Nock and Judith Pitman.  Zachariah was born on Aug 1, 1720.  He first married Molly Hanson in 1737, and they had two children together.  After Molly's death, he remarried in 1750 to Judith Pitman, and had seven children with her.  

This story was shared in the book Thomas (Nock) Knox of Dover, N. H., in 1652 and Some of His Descendants: "Zachariah settled early in Berwick. The cellar hole where his house once stood is still seen about a mile northwardly of Berwick bridge. He settled far from neighbors and beyond the immediate protection of any garrison house. He had several encounters with the Indians, but he was a bold, brave man and always came out best. At one time when he was returning with his cows from pasture, he was beset by a large band of Indians, but he fought his way through them, reached his house and taking one child himself and his wife another, they reached the woods and made their way to the nearest garrison house which they reached unharmed."

Zachariah passed away in 1816.  I haven't been able to locate either birth or death records for Judith.

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Zachariah's parents were Zachariah Nock and Sarah (surname uncertain).  Zachariah Sr. was born about 1689 in Dover, NH.  The Thomas Nock genealogy states that he was a house carpenter.  Zachariah and Sarah settled in Berwick, ME and had nine children together.  He passed away in either 1769 or 1772.

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Zachariah Sr.'s parents were Sylvanus Nock and Elizabeth Emery (b. abt. 1652 in Kittery, ME).  Sylvanus was born about 1657 in Dover, NH.  On April 20, 1677, he and Elizabeth were married, and they had eight children together.  I found information that Sylvanus was apprenticed at about age thirteen to John Hall, Jr., a tavern keeper in Dover.  Sylvanus and his first wife moved across the border to Kittery, Maine, around 1689. Sylvanus passed away sometime between when he made his will on March 7, 1716 and when his will was probated on Feb 13, 1717.

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Sylvanus' parents were Thomas Nock and Rebecca Tibbetts.  Thomas was born before 1629 in England, and had immigrated to the New World sometime before 1652, when it , as recorded that he received a grant of land in Dover. Thomas died as the result of an accident on Oct 29, 1666, leaving behind his wife Rebecca, four young children (and another who would be born just over three months later).

Thomas' wife, Rebecca (Tibbetts) Nock, was born between 1636 and 1637 in Dover, NH, to Henry and Elizabeth Tibbets.  After Thomas died, she remarried to Philip Benmore on Sept 28, 1669.  Elizabeth died on March 30, 1680 in Dover Neck, NH.

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Elizabeth's parents were Henry Tibbitts and Elizabeth (possibly Austin?).  Henry was born circa 1596 in England, and he was shoemaker in London. He and his wife Elizabeth, and their two oldest children (Jeremy, age 4, and Samuel, age 2) left London on the ship James and arrived in the New World in Sept. 1635 (on the James's passenger list, their surname is recorded as "Tybbott").  The James was a relatively small ship, and carried one hundred passengers along with horses, cattle, goats and enough provisions to last the twelve week journey.  In 1642, Henry was granted 20 acres of land in Dover, NH.  “On the west sied of ye Back Rever or over ye Back Rever” (now called the Bellamy River). He also had a grant in 1643 to a 3 ½ acre house lot on Dover Neck, on the east side of High Street (now Dover Point Road).  His house was later fortified as a garrison against Indian attack.  Henry was a farmer, shoemaker and engaged in lumbering. He died sometime before the 27th of June, 1676.