Thomas Hardeman

Ancestor Number

A051418 »

Date of Birth

January 8,, 1750

Place of Birth

Virginia

Date of Death

June 3, 1833

Place of Death

Williamson County, Tennessee

Spouse(s)

1) Mary Harding Perkins, 2) Susan Pryor Perkins Marr

Children

Nicholas Perkins, Nancy Ann, John, Constantine, Eleazor, Susannah, Peter, Dorothy, Thomas Jones, Sophie Western, Blackstone, Elizabeth, Pitt, Bailey, Franklin

Service during theAmerican Revolution

Captain under Sevier in 1782-1783 against Cherokee Towns

State of Service

North Carolina

Donor

Barbara Stevens, Proud member of the Texas Society DAR

Thomas Hardeman was born January 8, 1750, in Virginia.

His parents were John and Dorothy Hardeman. His mother is a DAR-recognized Patriot for providing supplies. In 1778, Hardeman and his wife Mary Harding Perkins settled in Washington County, then North Carolina. The growing family resided in the Watauga settlement.

Hardeman was a captain in William Bean’s Company of Watauga Riflemen at the battle of King’s Mountain.

In 1782 and 1783, Hardeman served as a captain under Col. Sevier in the battles against the Cherokee Towns. After the Revolutionary War his service to the new nation continued and in 1788, he served in both the North Carolina House of Commons and North Carolina Convention to ratify the Constitution. He served in the legislature of The Territory south of the River Ohio in 1795 and in Tennessee’s Constitutional Convention of 1796. Hardeman was a Senator in the Tennessee Second General Assembly in 1797-99, representing Davidson County. His first wife, Mary Hardeman, died in 1798 and he ended his public service. Hardeman married his widowed sister-in-law Susanna Perkins Marr in 1799. In 1816 upon the death of his second wife, he moved to Howard County, Missouri. His son John and family joined him soon after. Letters from his political allies in Tennessee urged him to become involved in the drafting of the Missouri to take advantage of his experiences in constructing the Tennessee State Constitution. He lived with his son until John’s death in 1829, when he felt a burden to the family and moved back to Tennessee. Hardeman died in Williamson County, Tennessee on June 3, 1833. The legacy of civil service of Thomas Hardeman was carried on by several of his descendants, with sons serving as county clerks, serving in the War of 1812, and two sons, Bailey and Thomas Jones Hardeman, participating in the first government of the Republic of Texas. His grandson Peter Hardeman Burnett was the first Governor of California. Thomas Hardeman was a patriot of the backcountry, a states’ rights supporter who helped build a nation he fought to create.