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.
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Inscription on stone:
Mrs. Susanna Hardy
Consort of Mr. Joseph Hardy
died Oct. 1st, 1810
AEt. 77
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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.
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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.
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| Joseph Hardy |
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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.














