HENRY HARDGROVE

REMINISCENCES OF TIMOTHY HARDGROVE

HENRY HARDGROVE

Born 2 February 1809 in Kilkishin, County Clair, Ireland , fourth child of John Hardgrove, a grain merchant, and his second wife, Catherine Walker.The family lived in and about Lolla, Ireland.

Henry married Mary Hines (Hynes) in 1832 and produced 10 children. Mary was the daughter of Timothy Hines and Margaret Hawley. The Hines family lived near Callahan's Mill or Six Mile Bridge.

Henry Hardgrove held a lease for 14 acres of grazing land on the estate of Maurice O'Connell. This estate was called"Kilgory" (God;s Church) Henry was allowed to sell this lease, which perhaps, paid the family's passage to North America. Which price is estimated at about $ 20.00 a person.

Henry's brother, Richard, preceded him to Canada. His brother, Edward, came to Canada later. Henry sailed from Limerick with his family in the spring of 1846 and located in Toronto, where he engaged in the dairy business. He had a herd of 20 cows which was a large herd at that time.

Henry came to Milwaukee from Toronto in 1848. He bought 160 acres of government land in the town of Forrest in Fond du Lac County and moved there in 1851. During the time he was in Milwaukee, he was foreman in Roger's brickyard and at another time in Kendall' s brickyard. He also did the work of time keeper.

When the family moved to Forrest in 1851, Henry hired a man with a team to carry the family and the household goods. They drove out over the Fond du Lac avenue road. "Junken" (?) was then running a tavern at Theresa and the family stopped there over night. They drove through Fond du Lac and Taycheddah and out the Sheboygan road as far as the town of Forrest where they stopped at a tavern kept by a man named Butler.

They found a log home owned by one James Welch near the Patrick McNamara family where they lived for a part of the year, then commenced building their own home. They took what crop was left by James Welch. His place was a log shanty with a lean-to. The McNamara family had the letting of the place and that is how Henry came to move into it. The mother of Patrick McNamara was a relative. Her grandmother's name was Mary Hardgrove.

The lumber for the house was purchased at Clark's Mills near what is now Glenbeulah. The house contained 3 rooms on the first floor and several rooms on the second floor. The first season there was little planting done on the new farm. Only a few potatoes. Henry purchased a yoke of oxen from a man named Snell. They moved into the new house in the fall of 1851.

Henry, Patrick McNamara and Michael Seanell started the Osceola Church,
"Holy Angels" The first three loads of lumber for the church were hauled by Patrick McNamara, Michael Burke and Henry Hardgrove. It took three days to go to Fond du Lac and back with a team of oxen.

In an incident reported by Timothy Hardgrove, the tree men left Fond du Lac on a Saturday morning with a load of lumber. They drove out past Denevue Lake and up the east west road, past the school house about three forth of a mile south of what is now the village of Eden.

The wagons of lumber mired down at the home of John Gray, the father of William and John Gray, now of Fond du Lac. John Gray was then a young man, invited them to spend the night. The cattle were unhitched, corn was cut and thrown over the fence to feed them. The party went into Gray's house where they slept on the floor.

They rose early in the morning and resumed their journey. They reached the church, it was Sunday morning. A rough altar had been set up with a rude shelter of boards and Mass was being celebrated, the people kneeling on the floor of the open church.

During the winter, a school was organized. The school was built on a corner of Henry's place. The teacher was Miss Lucy Prentis, whose people came from the state of New York.

Henry Hardgrove was a justice of the peace and acted in that capacity for many years. Timothy Hardgrove related an instance in which someone had called at the house to see his father. Henry stepped outside to talk to the man for a while and when he came in he was pacing the floor in considerable anger. When asked what the trouble was, Henry explained with a great deal of indignation that the man had applied to him to perform a marriage ceremony.

Henry was in the habit of writing deeds and other documents for his neighbors. When he refused longer to hold the office of justice of the peace, he made application to be appointed notary public so as to continue to do the work of conveyancer for the neighborhood.

Timothy Hardgrove recalled an instance in 1900 when a man at the Register of Deeds Office at Fond du Lac, called him in to show him a deed which had been written by his father, Henry Hardgrove, and acknowledged, begore, his father back in the early days.

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Henry Hardgrove, Sr.
Henry Hardgrove, Sr. aged ninety years and for the past forty-five years a resident of this county, died Sunday morning at 10 o'clock at his home in Eden, the cause of his death being general disability. He is survived by ten children, four sons and six daughters. They are John of Minneapolis, Timothy of Eden, Henry of this city, Richard of Eden, Mrs. F. Tice of Janesville, Mrs. Twohig of Osceola, Mrs. J. Whealon of Osceola, Miss Mary Hardgrove of this city, Mrs. J. Redmond of Milwaukee, and Mrs. J. Smith of Eden.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock from St. Mary's church, at Eden. Rev. Father McFarland officiating. The remains will be interred at Osceola cemetery

Daily Reporter
Fond du Lac Wisconsin
1 April 1901