Zachariah Hardy Gave His Life for His Friends

Zachariah Hardy

1799-1846

Zachariah Hardy felt the chill that cold and icy night in February, 1846.  He was ferrying the fleeing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to safety across the icy Mississippi river.  The flat boats took skill to maneuver, especially in this terrible ice storm.  Zachariah possessed the skills necessary to do this difficult work.     

Zachariah was born in Belfast, Maine in 1799 into a long history of seafaring men. He was the oldest of 4 children. His father, Joseph Hardy Jr., was a sea captain in a large fishing and trading vessel that traded primarily between New York and Maine. Joseph Jr. also built ships, teaching his sons the carpentry and seamanship trades. As a boy, Zachariah watched the fishermen sail out into the sea and return with the catch of fish, the fishermen’s food staple. Their tales of adventure fascinated him. Zachariah eventually became the captain of a large boat, just like his father.

Life seemed beautiful, especially after Zachariah married Eliza Philbrook in 1822. Then their life was turned upside down by the arrival of Elder William Hyde in August 1840 in Maine. Elder Hyde taught and baptized the whole Hardy clan in Searsport, Maine. Early the next year, they left their farms and comfortable homes to join a group of converts gathering in Nauvoo. They sold most of their possessions and used money inherited from Zachariah’s grandfather’s recent death to make the trip. Three generations left for Nauvoo: Zachariah’s parents, their children and spouses, and their families, including several small children. The journey took a long time because of Zachariah’s parents’ poor health.

When they finally arrived in Nauvoo in 1841, the first person to greet them was the Prophet Joseph Smith. Zachariah was chosen to be a body guard for the Prophet shortly after they arrived, a position he held gratefully until the Prophet’s death. They settled in La Harp, Illinois, an area bordering the city of Nauvoo and also bought land up on the hill near Nauvoo.

This was a happy time for the whole family as they helped build Nauvoo into a beautiful city. The saints knew the city of Nauvoo would be complete when they finished the temple of God. Persecution against the saints intensified, and the Hardys, along with the body of the saints, mourned when the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. It is said that Zachariah was one of the first to arrive in Carthage when word of his death reached the saints in Nauvoo. When the Nauvoo temple was completed, Zachariah and his wife Eliza were among the saints who received their endowments and had their marriage sealed for time and for all eternity. This strengthened him and Eliza for what lay ahead.

Brigham Young, now leader of the saints in Nauvoo, asked Zachariah to be one of the first to leave Nauvoo with the advance parties heading west. Zachariah’s duty would be to help build bridges and rafts along the way, as rivers would be swollen in spring along what would become the Mormon Trail. But, because of his seamanship skills, Brigham Young later asked Zachariah to stay and run the ferry across the river. This was a relief to the family, especially Zachariah’s wife, who gave birth to Mary Ann Hardy on February 8th, 1846. The couple rejoiced in the fact that this child was born sealed to them for time and all eternity.

It must have been hard for Zachariah to watch the saints lined up along Parley Street, waiting to be ferried across as early as February 4th, knowing that they needed his help, but his wife needed him first. Now that Mary Ann had safely arrived, on February 9th, 1846 Zachariah took up his post on the ferry, beginning what would become three days of constant ferrying. He was never relieved of his duty. The chilly winds of winter were terrifying, but Zachariah never wavered from his task. Halting only long enough to comb the ice out of his hair and beard he worked until all that were ready, including his own family, were ferried safely across the river.

On February 11th, a terrible storm arose, taxing what remained of Zachariah’s strength. When his ferry didn’t return from one of its trips, the saints grew worried and sent a rescue party onto the river, who found him lying on the ferry, feverish and frozen to the deck. His hair and beard had to be cut from the ferry floor before they could carry him to his family. They laid him in the wagon box at the side of the Mississippi river near Montrose, Iowa, where his family was staying under the canvas until they could move further west. Zachariah died of pneumonia two days later, on February 13, 1846. He was only 47 years old. His brothers quietly buried Zachariah back in Nauvoo under the cover of darkness the next night, as the mobs were still terrorizing the city. Fortunately for the rest of the travelers leaving Nauvoo, the river froze over on February 14th, allowing them to cross the river on firm ice.

Although a man of the Maine sea, Zachariah returned to the rough waters of the stormy Mississippi to help the saints find safety from the mobs in Nauvoo. Others might have lacked the courage to take on such a task, or given up when exhaustion came, but Zachariah was willing to serve until all readied wagons had been safely ferried to the other side.  This led to such exhaustion that he gave his life in the process. The Savior taught in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Sources:

__________, "History of Zachariah Hardy and wife.  Hardy or Hardie." Nauvoo Ancestors Land and Records, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record #14453, pgs. 16-17.
__________, "Zachariah Hardy's History" Nauvoo Ancestors Land and Records, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record #14453, pgs. 13-15.

Charlene Stoddard Buchmiller, "History of Zachariah Hardy , His Wife Eliza Philbrook" Nauvoo Ancestors Land and Records, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, File folder, pgs. 16-17.

Melis, Arlene Ellis, "Life Story of Ezekial Wells Cheney and Lucy Elizada Hardy Cheney" found on June 6, 2012 at http://tthompsonmedia.com/cheney/getperson.php?personID=I00627&tree=Cheney

Smith, Linda, "Zachariah Hardy Biography" Linda's Hardy Ancestors and Cousins webpage, found on June 6, 2012 at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~smithhouse/andergen/hardyfam/aqwn04.htm


Wadsworth, Martha Ann Hardy, "A brief Sketch of Hardy History" L. Tom Perry Special Collections; 20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts; 1130 Harold B. Lee Library; Brigham Young University; Provo, Utah 84606; http://sc.lib.byu.edu/; found on June 6, 2012 at http://findingaid.lib.byu.edu/viewItem/MSS%20SC%20185

Wadsworth, Martha Ann Hardy, "Biography of Eliza Ann Hardy Wadsworth" in Abiah Wadsworth:  His Wives and Family, 1810-1979.  1979, pages 32-36.