Nephi Preston Hardy

Zachariah Hardy was born in Belfast, Waldo Co., Maine, 12 March 1779 and died 13 Feb. 1846, in a small town just outside of Nauvoo, Illinois called Montrose, Iowa. He was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Thorndyke Hardy. He married Eliza Philbrook, she was born 25 July 1807 in Belfast, Maine, on an island called Siersmont of the coast of Maine.
She died in Hooper, Utah 5 January 1881. My great grandfather’s Father Joseph Hardy was a sea captain on a large fishing and trading or freighting vessel which transverse the coast from New York to Maine, sometimes being away from home many months. He was also a carpenter and ship builder and in these trades his three sons became very expert and followed these until they left their native land or home until they when they went west.
They first heard the gospel from Elder William Hyde in Siermont, Maine a little town near their home and where they afterwards moved. Elder Hyde’s sermon impressed them very deeply and they were soon converted and baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint, the date being August, 1840. Early the next year they joined a company of L.D.S. who were going west to Nauvoo, Illinois to be with the main body of the church. They left farms, comfortable homes and all they possessed, taking with them only what they could haul in wagons. In their family at the time was the father and mother, Joseph and Betsy Hardy their sons, Joseph, Lewis and Zachariah with their wives and children. Their daughter Eliza and husband Abiah Wadsworth also their children.
It was a long Journey over the mountains and mother Betsy was so frail and delicate that she soon became ill and was unable to travel longer. They decided it was best to accept the invitation of a family of saints who offered their home until the journey could be resumed. The eldest son Joseph returned for them about two months later. The rest of the family reached Nauvoo late in the fall of 1841 about the 28th of October.
The father Joseph died after reaching Nauvoo early in 1842 and the mother Betsy died in 1843 at Nauvoo. The first person they met upon their arrival at Nauvoo was the Prophet Joseph Smith with whom they became intimately acquainted. Zachariah Hardy was chosen to be a body guard for the prophet and held this position until the prophet’s death.
At the time of the martyrdom he was among the first to reach the scene of the tragedy. This event threw the saints into grief and confusion until Brigham Young took command of the church. They knew not what to do or where to go for protection. At the time of the move west Zachariah was called to go with the company going first but later Brigham Young ask him to stay and run the ferry boat across the river to assist the fleeing saints who were being driven and persecuted by angry mobs. Among the first to move was his own immediate family. He operated the boat night and day for three day as he could not depend on help. The night of February 11, 1846 a terrible storm cam up and the next morning when relief came he was very sick. He has a very bad cold which developed into pneumonia from which he died on the river bank with only a wagon bed covered and place on the ground as a means of protection. His wife was very sick with a baby five days old at the time as they dared not return to Nauvoo in the daytime his brothers Joseph and Lewis and brother in law Abiah Wadsworth and a son William took his body and buried it at night this left his wife alone with six children to provide for and with very little to live on until spring. Emma Smith, the prophet’s wife opened her home and cared for them until she could have a home with them, but she refused. Lewis took her family with the rest of the Hardy’s and Wadsworth’s to a small town about fifty miles farther on. Here they remained until the spring of 1849, when she joined a company leaving for the great Salt Lake Valley. They started on their journey west on the 10th day of May 1851 in Captain Day’s co., there were fifty persons. Eliza had a small team and an old wagon in which she had all her earthly possession. Her eldest son William drove most of the way. The older children walked and pulled a cart while the two younger ones rode in the wagon. It was a long tiresome trip and Eliza was often so tired and footsore at night that she found sleep impossible but she was never heard to complain of her sad lot but always had a ready smile and cheer for those around her. Their trip was uneventful although they were trouble with some Indians and they often dad to stop and repair bridges or build rafts to cross the swollen streams. They reached Salt Lake 18 September 1851, to them it was a land of promise. They were very pleasantly greeted and welcomed by those who had preceded them and after resting only one day and night, Brigham Young sent them with a colony of saints to settle East Weber, now called Uintah. It took them three days to make the journey, as they and their teams were so worn out from the trip across the plains. They arrived in East Weber 21 September 1851. There they lived several years, sometimes being threatened by Indians which at times were very troublesome. The saints built a Fort for protection against an outbreak and in the winter 1854 they were compelled to move all the families into the Fort as the Indians were on the warpath and would often drive off their horses and cattle. They move back to their home in May of 1855 and planted crops but as it was so late and a very dry season, they raised very little, they all knew what it was to go to bed so hungry they couldn’t sleep. In 1858 they moved to Mountain Green and from there to Morgan in 1869. Eliza moved her family to Grantsville where she lived only a short time with her eldest son William. They moved to Hooper and here she remained in peace and happiness until the time of her death the 5 January 1881. It was often said of her that she would forget her own grief and troubles in administering to others in their need. She worked hard to support her family which she did very well with the help of kind friends and her older children.