HARDIE, William Farmer and Fiddler ^{1 3 4 5 6}

   Cause of his death was old age and exhaustion.

   Other names for William were HARDIE, Wm Stearn and HARDY, William.⁹

  General Notes:

In 1831 William Hardie was living at Sauchentree farm, Methlick, according to several baptism records of his children.

The 1841 census for Methlick in Aberdeenshire recorded William Hardie with his wife and seven children living at Auchencrieve. He was a crofter by occupation, aged in the 40-44 years age group. He answered 'No' to being born in Aberdeenshire.

William Hardie was head of the household living at Goosepools in Methlick Parish, Aberdeenshire, according to the census for Scotland in 1851. He and his wife, Mary, and their nine children lived together there, the baby only 5 months old. William was recorded as 41 years old and had been born in Capet, Perthshire. He was, by trade, a handloom weaver.

In the marriage certificate of his son, John, in 1860, William Hardie was recorded as a farmer.

In 1861 the census for the parish of Methlick in Aberdeenshire recorded William Hardie as head of the household living at Auchencrieve. The household consisted of William and his wife, seven of their children, and two boarders, both of whom worked as carters and were born in Banffshire: Joseph Allan, aged 52 years and married, and John Allan, an unmarried man of 27 years. William Hardie himself was recorded as a farmer of 21 acres, born in 'Kepeth', Perthshire, and aged 65 years.

In his son Robert's death certificate of 1868, William Hardie was recorded as a crofter.

The 1871 census for Methlick, Aberdeenshire, found William and Mary Hardy [sic] living and working at Auchencrieve. William, though aged 71 years according to this record, was recorded as a farmer of 22 acres. His birthplace was noted as Caputh, Perthshire. With them lived their daughter Eliza, aged 23 years, their son, William, aged 15 years, and their grandson, Charles Mackay, aged 6 years.

In 1881, William Hardie was recorded as 80 years of age. He continued to be described as a farmer - of 20 acres. His birthplace was Caputh, Perthshire. He was head of a household of five living in Auchencrieve, Methlick, Aberdeenshire: himself and his wife Mary, his son William aged 24 years, his grandson, William Cheyne, aged 7 years, and a domestic servant called Elizabeth Taylor.

William Hardie's death certificate of 1884 recorded him as a farmer, married to Mary Strachan, and 97 years of age when he died.
Note: see Research Notes for further discussion of William's age

In 1899, when William Hardie's daughter, Jane Sinclair, died, her death certificate recorded him as a 'crofter deceased'.

In the death certificate of his wife, Mary Hardie, in 1910, William Hardie was recorded as a farmer, and this designation was also recorded of him in the 1916 death certificate of his son John Strachan Hardie and the 1925 death certificate of his son, Thomas.

William Hardie is buried in the churchyard of Methlick parish in Aberdeenshire. His gravestone inscription reads:
"To the Memory of William Hardie sen. Auchencrieve who died 4th June 1884 aged 97 years" ^{4 10}

  Research Notes:

Note: Information about William Hardie's wives and children may be found in the Our Family section of Patrick's People website.

NO BAPTISM RECORD

There are various possible reasons for this. First William may not have been baptised, though this almost certainly not the case as he was married in the Established Church of Scotland twice which normally requires baptism. William may have been baptised in a Dissenting Church whose baptism records have not been inspected or are not available.

In the 1791 Statistical Account for the parish of Caputh, the Reverend William Innerarity remarks that 'many children in distant parts of the parish, noy being baptised by the minister, are neglected to be registered by the parents.' There is some variation in the distribution of baptism records for William's own children, so there may have been baptisms which was not recorded for an unknown reason. At certain short historical periods a fee or tax was payable for the record to be entered in parish register.

GOOSEPOOLE

"The farm name was indexed as Goosepoole and their neighbours were at Tillyfar. It may have been Gowanwell."

suggestion made on The Cheyne Family website

LATER COMMENTS

In the Introduction to The Beauties of the North (52 pages : ISBN 0-946868-02-6), Bill Hardie comments:

"My family, the Hardies, originated in Perthshire, near Dunkeld, my great-great-grandfather Peter Hardie (c. 1775-1863) being a pupil of the famous Niel Gow (1727-1807). His cousin Matthew Hardie (1755-1826) was the Edinburgh violin-maker whose work was so highly praised by William C. Honeyman in his Scottish Violin Makers: Past and Present.

In view of this, the reader may well ask how the Hardie family came to embrace the North-East or Buchan style of playing. Around 1830, Peter's son William (1787-1884) moved up to Aberdeenshire and eventually became the tenant of 'Auchencruive', a croft in the Methlick area. He married Mary Strachan (1805-1910), the daughter of John Strachan, 'Drumnagarrow' another celebrated NorthEast fiddler. Of their family of fifteen, three sons, James, Charles and William distinguished themselves musically."

Note: Mary Strachen, William Hardie's wife was the daughter of *James* Strachen, also known as 'Drumnagarrow'

TRYING TO ESTABLISH SOME FACTS

William Hardie and his antecedents present something of an enigma to the family historian. For example, it seems that some of his children were baptised, some were not, or rather we do not have a record of their baptism to hand. Names of the family from which he emerged are repeated in one article after another but do not lend themselves to documentary proof. When this occurs, the family historian gives thought at least to the possibility that there has been deliberate obfuscation in the past where, for example, names have been changed to disguise events, or that there has been genuine confusion on the part of those who reported the 'facts' as they knew them. This being the case we have to begin with the facts we do know, and work back.

An additional complication arising from that is William Hardie's year of birth. His death certificate and his gravestone record record his age at death as 97 years. We should not take that as gospel. If William was 97 years old on 4 June 1884 then his birth must have ben either 1786 or 1787. From other data this does not seem entirely probable. His father, Peter Hardie, was born about 1776-1777 and married May Hutton in 1795. All of the census documents place William's birth year before or at the turn of the century. Even three years before he died the census of 1881 recorded him as 80 years old. His first marriage took place in 1821. All of this suggests he was born in *97* that is 1797, not aged 97 years when he died.

1821: William married Jean Barber
1833: William married Mary Strachan
1841: William recorded as crofter; in 40 to 44 years age group making possible birth year between 1797 and 1801; born in Scotland but not born Aberdeenshire.
1851: William recorded as 41 years, born in Capet Perthshire, by trade was handloom weaver
1861: William recorded as farmer of 21 acres, aged 65 years, born Kepeth Perthshire
1871: William recorded as 71 years of age, born in Caputh Perthshire, and worked as a farmer of 22 acres
1881: William recorded as 80 years old and a farmer of 20 acres whose place of birth was Caputh Perthshire
1884: William died. His death certificate, for which William's son William was the informant, recorded him as aged 97 years, husband of Mary Strachan and a farmer by occupation. His parents' names were noted as 'Peter Hardie' and 'Margaret Hardie MS Heaton'. Peter's occupation was noted as 'gamekeeper'.
¹¹

  Medical Notes:

The cause of death was certified by J. Ligentwood MD.

William Hardie, son of the deceased man, gave notice of William's death before the registrar, James Stephon, at Methlick on 4 June 1884.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. marriage: to Jean Barber, 14 June 1821, Old Meldrum parish, Aberdeen, Scotland.

William married Jean BARBER, daughter of John BARBER and Helen WATT, on 14 June 1821 in Old Meldrum parish, Aberdeen, Scotland.^{1 2} (Jean BARBER was baptised on 15 February 1801 in Old Meldrum parish, Aberdeen, Scotland and died about 1832.)

  Marriage Notes:

"HARDY
WILLIAM
JEAN BARBER/
14/06/1821
229/ 30 256
Old Meldrum"

from Index of Marriages



Old Parish Registers
Old Meldrum parish Aberdeenshire
Marriages

"Hardy & Barber
May 29th 1821
William Hardy & Jean Barber both in this Parish having contracted in order to marriage & consigned pledges, were, after due proclamation, married June 14th." ^{1 2}