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Ancestors of Dorothy Anne ATKINSON


      14. John H HARDING, born June 04, 1831 in Newfoundland, or Ireland; died December 25, 1894 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL. He was the son of "pop" HARDING and "MOM". He married 15. Bridget KENNA 1856 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co, WI.

      15. Bridget KENNA, born 1832 in Carbonear, Newfoundland; died December 24, 1896 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL. She was the daughter of Patrick KENNA and Elizabeth WHELAN.

Notes for John H HARDING:
1880 Census --- United States
Vol 15 E.D. 183 Sheet 50 Line 10
State Illinois, County Cook, Town Chicago City
Street - 59 Illinois


Age <6/1 Birthplace
Harding, John W M 49 Canada
Harding, Bridget 49 wife Canada
Mary 17 daughter IL
Catharine 6 daughter IL
Frank 10 or 13 son IL
William 8 son IL
******
1880 Ill. Soundex for Harding
Harding, John 47 b. Canada……………………………….Cook Co.
Bridget wife 47 b. Canada
Mary dau 17 b. Ill
Catherine dau 16 b. Ill
Frank son 13 b. Ill
William son 8 b. Ill

****
Living in Chicago in 1885
*****
Death Certificate Cook Co Illinois
John H Harding
Male, white
Age 63 years, 6 mo, 21 days
Occupation: Bookkeeper
Date of death - December 25th at 7 a.m.
Married
Nationality and place where born - Irish, Ireland
How long a resident in this State: 45 years
Place of death: 467 Irving? Ave. 12th Ward
Cause of death: General Debility
Duration of disease: 3 months
Place of burial: Calvary
Name of Undertaker: Howard
Dated at Chicago Dec. 27th 1894 J.E. Reynolds M.D.
*******
State of Illinois, County of Cook
In the Probate Court of Cook County
In the matter of the estate of John Harding, deceased, Frank H. Harding Administrator
Real Estate
Frank H. Harding, Administrator herein, respectfully reports unto your Honor that he finds that the deceased was the owner of certain real estate in Cook County, Illinois, with the improvements thereon, to-wit: Lot thirty-five (35) of H. M. Hookers' Subdivision of Block five (5) of Morris' and others subdivision of the W. one-half (1/2) of the South West quarter (1/4) of Section eighteen (18) Township thirty-nine (39), N.R. fourteen (14), East of the Third Principal Meridian in Cook County; title to the said property having been conveyed to John Harding, deceased, by a warranty deed dated the thirtieth day of August, A.D. 1886. Improved-Unincumbered
Personal Property
None
I. Frank H. Harding hereby certify that the above and foregoing inventory is a full, true and perfect inventory of all the real estate and personal estate of John Harding, deceased, so far as the same has come to my sight, knowledge and possession, and that I believe the said real estate above described to be worth about four thousand dollars, ($4,000)
signed Frank H. Harding
Administrator.

*******
A TYPICAL CATHOLIC COUPLE
Mr. and Mrs. John Harding - written for "The New World"
"She was the wife of one of the best men that ever lived in the city of Chicago, and like him she has left to her children the best legacy it is possible to leave, the legacy of a pure and stainless character."
The words we quote are the words of a pastor who knew them well. The occasion was the funeral of Mrs. John Harding, who died on Christmas eve and was buried from the Church of St Charles Borromeo, sunday, December 27, (1896)
We are prone to flatter the friends of the dead, and often laurel wreaths are placed where only withered leaves should be, but even with this tendency so prevalent, such words of praise for man or woman are rare indeed, rarer when we know that if words could be found to express more forcibly the feelings of the speaker, these words would have been used and still have found an echo in the hearts of all who had been privileged to know, to love and revere these two pure sould who had been separated for a little while, now spending a happy, happy Christmas at the foot of God's eternal Throne.
In this age of skepticism and doubt, of selfishness and greed, of mad rushing after place and power, we can ill afford to lose two such beautiful examples of true Catholic Christian womanhood and manhood. They are the beacon lights that lead the way safely through the rocks and shoals, the pitfalls of a too material age, up to the higher plane of the real Christian Catholic life--the life that follows in the footsteps of Him who said: "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart."
How well they knew that voice, and how cheerfully they responded, never faltering, though the path was often rough and thorny. Even in very early life cares and sorrows came to them that fall to the lot of very few. But their thorns have turned to roses, and in their declining years they enjoyed the inestimable rivilege of seeing their children safely and securely settled in life, respectable and respected by all who knew them. Their work was done. The thorny path they had trod had led them upward and onward, out into the broad sunshine, where they waited with joy the dread summons that must sooner or later come to all the children of Adam.
For want of proper date we can give but the simplest outlines of their early history. Born near St. Johns, Newfoundland, they were comrades from early childhood, and their parents inseparable friends, so that when one family decided to migrate, the other was ready to go. Therefore it is we find them about the year 1849 embarking thogether on what was then a long, tedious and dangerous voyage around the "banks" through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and up the St. Lawrence river by way of the Great Lakes, with Port Washington, Wis. as their objective point. Here they arrived after weeks of almost unimaginable suffering, a heart-broken party. Cholera had broken out on board, and John Harding's mother, already weakened by the hardships of the voyage, was its first victim. Under such circumstances death is indeed a bereavement, and John Harding in his first great sorrow was cheered by words of comfort from her who in after years became the angel of his home. Hardly eighteen years of age, he was called on to pass through a fiery ordeal that seldom falls to the lot of man. Landing among strangers they found the land devastated by the plague, and in some cases the dead lying still unburied. Did they turn and fly from this stricken land? No! Like the martyrs has always developed in time of great trial, they remained to comfort the dying and bury the dead.
Only those who have passed through the fearful ordeal can appreciate the heroism of their deeds. Day and night they labored, and often by the dim light of the lantern they knelt to say a prayer over the newly made grave. Going on one occasion to an isolated cabin a horrible experience awaited them. The lonely occupant had died, no one knew whom, and the stench was overpowering. John Harding alone of all the dead man's neighbors had the strength and courage to enter the cabin, in some way place the body in a rough pine box, drag it to the open air, then with the assistance of his father carry it on their shoulders to the cemetery, dig the grave and bury a man they never knew. The next day others were buried, and the following night, though tired and wearied by their hard and heroic labors, they left their beds to dig another grave for a man who was dying. It was nearly daylight when their task was done, and a messenger arrived to tell them they need not come for the body, the man was recovering. Before sundown John Harding's father slept in the grave his own hands had dug.
Doubly bereft, it required all the courage of his superior nature to face the seemingly cruel world, and make for his two sisters and younger brother a home in this new land; but he was equal to the occasion, and a merciful Father in his own mysterious way provided the means, but not without sending other hardships and heart burnings.
Even at this distance we can understand something of the privations of a Wisconsin lumbering camp, and here he was obliged to go and work for the support of those left in his charge. Little by little he improved his opportunities, and at the end of seven years like the brave man he was, he went to the playmate of his childhood days, the girl who spoke to him words of comfort in his first great bereavement. His story was simply and easily told; all he had to offer was two strong hands, a heart unspoiled, unsullied from the world, a conscience clear as the noonday sun. Well she understood and well she appreciated the priceless value of the gift he offered. And the years that followed proved the wisdom of her choice. She was the best of wives to the best of husbands, and the girl who had often bedewed her pillow tears of pity for her hero struggling with adversity and against such odds, remained a girl true to the last, and he seemed to grow fonder of her as years went by.
It was about the year 1864 when he came to Chicago, and was employed by a coal dealer, as bookkeeper, retiring from business Mr._____ continued his salary for almost a year, thinking all the time of working up in some other city and not wanting to lose the services of a man he knew he could trust so well. It speaks volumes for Mr. Harding, and also for Mr. Silverman. He was then employed by the Stotz & Waltz Furniture Mfg. Co., where he remained twenty-five years, until the firm ceased business about three years before his work was nearly done.
During the years of his residence her he had been an active member of St. Vincent de Paul Society, and God alone knows the number of poor people he relieved and encouraged to take hope and try again. During all the weeks of all these years, night after night he might be seen going with another member of the society to visit the homes of the wretched poor, and indeed his merry laugh and pleasant smile must have led many a poor person for awhile to forget the misery of their lot.
Only a few months after the firm for which he had worked so long had retired from business, he commenced to complain about his feet; they were giving out. About all he could do was to get from his home to the Church, and finally even that great pleasure was denied him. He wasn't sick and yet he was dying, and knew it. We called often and tried to make light of his ailment, but he would only shake his head and smile sadly when any arrangements were talked of for the future. An inner voice had told him his days were numbered, and he waited calmly for the message.
On Christmas day two years ago his family were all aroung him, and while there was some anxiety on his account, it was only a little cloud just showing above the horizon that might soon pass away, and beyond it there was nothing to mar the pleasure of the hour.
Theirs indeed was an ideal Catholic home; for them the voices of the angel choir singing "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace to men of good will" had a real significance. Without, the snow came softly down and wrapped the earth in a mantle of spotless white; within, all was good cheer. It was the ideal Christmas day, the Christmas of his early youth, and he was going home. The evening shadows had fallen and the festivities of that Christmas day were almost over when the Angel of Death came suddenly down and John Harding went to join that glorious band of saints and martyrs who sing their everlasting praises before the "great white throne." It was a fitting close of a remarkable, an eventful and a saintly life. His whole life had been a preparation, and death found him in the full possession of all his faculties and left him grand and beautiful in his marble whiteness.
With the sadness we all must feel for our loved ones, there was real mourning in that once happy Christian home. Almost in his prime the husband and father was taken, and the ties that bound him so strongly to them were rudely sundered. There was no resistance then, but the blow went home, and the playmate of his early childhood days, the helpmate and the friend in every trial, the patient mother and fond wife, drooped and faded day by day, and when another Christmas came around she seemed indeed to be more of heaven than of earth in her transparent whiteness -- and oh so patient in all her sorrow, so thoughtful of others, so earnest in her petitions for those she loved. summer came again, and when the leaves had just commenced to turn she paid a last visit to her sisters and her children, took a last look at their home, and returned to her youngest daughter, Mrs Rome O'Connell, to wait for Christmas. It came , but the days must have dragged wearily indeed, and the months seemed years to the patient sufferer. Nearly every day the good priests came and administered to her, sometimes her mind wandered and she would urge them to come surely tomorrow, " because you know it is Christmas " It was while the shepherds on the hillsides of Gallilee listened in silent wonder to the Heavenly choirs, the glad summons came that set her pure spirit free to join her loved ones on the other side. She is gone and her children are sad, but no one mourns why should they? Death came as a glad message and she hailed him with joy and thanksgiving. again she is united with the husband of her youth, and side b side they sleep in Calvary, While the restless waters of Lake Michigan sob and sigh their requiem.
                  "Farewell ! I go to mourn the dead;
                  Yet ye have crowned yourselves today,
                  For they, whose hearts so faithful, love
                  The lonely grave---the very clay;
                  They crown themselves with richer gems
                  Than flash in royal diadems."
                              J.M.
--It requires greater virtues to support good than bad fortune.

Sources:
1. Death Certificate Cook Co IL
2. "The New World" Catholic Diocesan Newspaper 1896
3. 1880 U S Census Vol 15 ED 183 Sheet 50 Line 10
4. Church Records St Mary's Church Port Washington WI
5. Marguerite Ryan's Notes

More About John H HARDING:
Burial: Evanston, IL
Cause of Death: General Debility


More About John H HARDING:
Cause of Death: General Debility

  Notes for Bridget KENNA:
Notes for Bridget KENNA:
baptized 10 June 1832, Newfoundland

City of Chicago Report of Death
Bridget Harding
Female, White
Born in Newfoundland
Age 63 years
Lived in Illinois 35 years
Died on the 24th day of Dec. 1896 at about 6 p.m.
Widowed
Occupation: Housekeeper
Place of death: 1281 W Adams St Ward 12
Place of burial: Calvary
Undertaker: Hursen Bros, 974 W Lake St
Cause of Death: Tuberculosis
Duration: 2 years
Witnessed 26th day of December 1896 J.E. Reynolds M.D. , 514 W Oakley Ave
*********
"She was the wife of one of the best men that ever lived in the city of Chicago, and like him she has left to her children the best legacy it is possible to leave, the legacy of a pure and stainless character."





More About Bridget KENNA:
Baptism: June 10, 1832, Newfoundland
Burial: Unknown, Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, IL
     
Children of John HARDING and Bridget KENNA are:
  i.   Annie HARDING, died Unknown.
  ii.   Ida Ellen HARDING, born 1857 in WI; died 1884.
  iii.   Alice HARDING, born September 13, 1859 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co, WI; died October 21, 1875.
  iv.   Mary Frances "Mamie" HARDING, born August 21, 1863 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL; died February 03, 1945 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL; married Thomas P Ryan April 27, 1893 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL; born April 21, 1863; died April 03, 1907.
  v.   Frank H HARDING, born 1867 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL; died Abt. 1930; married Agnes L BARRY; died Unknown.
  vi.   William HARDING, born 1872 in Chicago, Cook Co, IL; died 1902.
  7 vii.   Catherine Agnes "Kitty" HARDING, born July 19, 1874 in Chicago, Cook, IL; died May 21, 1949 in Oak Park, Cook, IL; married Jerome Daniel Francis OCONNELL August 29, 1893 in Chicago, Cook, IL.


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