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MARK HARDIE, farmer and agent for the Lafayette Coal & Land Cornpanv, Mount Alton, was born in County Armagh.
Ireland, December 10, 1843, a son of John and Mary Jane Hardie, former a native of same county. His mother's father
was a soldier in the British army, and was in the battle of Waterloo. Mark Hardie moved with his parents to Scotland
and located near Glasgow, where he received an ordinary education, and was also educated for a practical miner.
He was married in Salisbury, Scotland, by Rev. John Ritchie, of Shotsburn, in 1863, to Miss Sarah Jane Stewart.
who was born in Ireland. Her parents, William and Mary (Brown) Stewart, were Highland people, who moved from Scotland
when she was three years of age. In 1865 our subject and wife emigrated to Canada, and later in the same year they
came to the United States, first locating in Bedford county, Penn., where Mr. Hardie began prospecting for ore,
coal and limestone for the Huntingdou & Broad Top Railroad Company, and afterward sunk a shaft to the coal
at Fairplay, Penn., and assisted in opening a new drift for Wigton & Co. He also prospected successfully in
Somerset county, Penn. In the spring of 1806 he came to McKean county and engaged with the Bondvein or Gilsville
Coal Company, Lafayette & Longwood Coal Company, and located in Lafayette township. He is one of the early
prospectors in this part of the State, and has done much toward developing the coal, ore, etc. He also prospected
over the State for Gen. Thomas L. Kane. For many years he has successfully conducted the agency for the Lafayette
Land Company. He has a wide business acquaintance among many of the largest business men of Pittsburgh and other
States. Mr. Hardie is an active member of the Republican party. In 1876 he was elected justice of the peace of
Lafayette township, also treasurer of the board of education for three years. Mr. Hardie is a member of nearly
all the secret societies; among the most prominent are Bradford Lodge, No. 334, F. & A. M.; Bradford Chapter,
No. 260, R. A. M.; Bradford Council, No. 43, R. & S. M.; Tuna Valley Lodge, K. of P.; charter member and past
grand of Kinzua Lodge, No. 442, I. O. O. F., of Mount Alton; charter member of the Knights of St. John of Malta;
assistant State deputy and counselor of the Knights of the Maceabees; charter member of the Big Shanty Lodge, and
past chief of the Good Templars Lodge. He and family are members of the Presbyterian Church. In connection with
his other business Mr. Hardie conducts a fine farm just outside of the village of Mount Alton. Mr. and Mrs. Hardie
are the parents of ten children, viz.: Margaret, wife of H. L. Shurwin. of Mount Alton, Penn., has two children,
Alfred LeRoy and William; Mary, principal of the Mount Alton school; William S., on the United States boat "Boston;"
Elizabeth, a teacher in the intermediate department of the Mount Alton school; Ella, Mark Alexander, Jennie, Sarah,
Laura Edna and George Walter, at home. Mr. Hardie has recently prospected across the State on the bituminous coal
belt, and finds near the New York or northern line of Pennsylvania the coal lies near the surf ace and in small
deposits or pockets, but toward the south and west of Pennsylvania the deposits of coal are larger, thicker, and
more pure, i. e., free from sulphur and other substances, and, on account of so much oil and gas being now produced
in Lafayette township, the coal at present does not pay to work. but will in the future.
From:
History of the Counties of
McKean, Elk and Forest,
Pennsylvania
With Biographical Selections.
J. H. Beers & Co., Publishers
Chicago, 1890.
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