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Charles Henry Hardin

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Charles Henry Hardin
22nd Governor of Missouri
In office
January 12, 1875 – January 8, 1877
LieutenantNorman Jay Coleman
Preceded bySilas Woodson
Succeeded byJohn Smith Phelps
Missouri Senate 9th District
In office
1860–1862
In office
1872–1874
Missouri House of Representatives
In office
1852–1856
In office
1858–1860
Personal details
Born(1820-07-15)July 15, 1820
Trimble County, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedJuly 29, 1892(1892-07-29) (aged 72)
Mexico, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationIndiana University Bloomington
Miami University
ProfessionLawyer
Signature

Charles Henry Hardin (July 15, 1820 – July 29, 1892) was an American attorney and politician who was Governor of Missouri served in the Missouri Senate and the Missouri House of Representatives.[1] He founded Hardin College and was one of the eight founders of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.[1]

Early life

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In 1820, Charles Henry Hardin was born to Charles and Hannah Jewell Hardin in Trimble County, Kentucky.[1][2] Also in 1820, his family moved to Missouri and eventually settled in Columbia, Missouri.[3][4] Following his father's death in 1830, Hardin worked in the family's tannery business.[5]

Hardin began his secondary education in 1837 at the Indiana University Bloomington.[1] He transferred to Miami University in 1839 and graduated in 1841.[1][3] During his time at Miami University, he helped to found Beta Theta Pi fraternity.[5]

After college, he studied law with James M. Gordon in Columbia and passed the Bar.[1]

Career

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Hardin opened a law practice in Fulton, Missouri in 1843.[3] From 1848 to 1852, he was a circuit attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit of Missouri.[1][3] He served in the Missouri House of Representatives, with terms starting in 1852, 1854, and 1858.[1] He was a Democrat.[1] He was a member of the commission that revised and codified the state's statute laws.[4]

In 1860, he was elected to the Missouri Senate 9th District, with a term lasting until 1862.[1][2] As a state senator, he attended Claiborne Fox Jackson's secessionist meeting in Neosho, Missouri and was the only senator present to vote against secession.[4]

During the Civil War, he returned to the family farm in Audrain County, Missouri in 1862.[3] After the war, Hardin and his family moved to Mexico, Missouri, where he established a new law practice and co-founded Mexico Southern Bank following the close of the war.[1][3]

In 1872, Hardin was again elected to the state senate for a term lasting until 1874.[1] In 1876, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Missouri.[2]

He ran for governor of Missouri and was elected on November 5, 1874.[1] He served as 22nd Governor of Missouri between January 1, 1875, and February 8, 1877.[1] During his term, a new constitution was approved.[1] Hardin also reduced Missouri's debt from the Civil War and state funding for railroad expansion by ending wasteful practices and refinancing bonds.[5]

Hardin established Hardin College and Conservatory of Music in Mexico, Missouri. In 1873, Hardin gave land worth $60,000 to the college and afterward served as the president of its board.[3][4]

Personal life

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Hardin married Mary Barr Jenkins in 1844.[6][1]

Late in life, Hardin was in poor health.[4] In 1892, he died from conditions relating to old age in Ringo House in Mexico, Missouri.[2][4] He was initially buried in a private graveyard in Audrain County, Missouri, but was later re-buried at the Jewell family cemetery in Columbia, Missouri.[2][3]

Honors

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Charles H. Hardin is the namesake of the small city of Hardin, Missouri.[7][8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Charles Henry Hardin". National Governors Association. January 8, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Hardin Charles Henry". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Passed Away. Death of Ex-Gov. Charles Henry Hardin of Missouri". Herald and Review. Decatur, Illinois. July 30, 1892. p. 1. Retrieved July 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Ex-Gov. Hardin Dead". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 29, 1892. p. 4. Retrieved July 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c Heffernan Weil, Lisa (1999). Lawrence O. Christensen (ed.). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. pp. 371–372.
  6. ^ "C0111 Hardin, Charles Henry (1820-1892), Papers, 1842-1892" (PDF). The State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  7. ^ Eaton, David Wolfe (1917). How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named. The State Historical Society of Missouri. pp. 345.
  8. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 149.
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Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Governor of Missouri
1874 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Missouri
1875–1877 		Succeeded by
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