ASHLEY VALLEY PIONEER 99 YEARS OLD TODAY

Charles Allen Hardy will celebrate his birthday Thursday (today) with his family in Vernal.

Mr. Hardy was born November 20, 1876 in St. Charles, Idaho to Joseph Hardy and Lydia Rebecca Davis Hardy. He with his parents moved to Ashley Valley when he was two years old. They started into the valley over Taylor Mountain, but decided to stay there for the summer and raise their cattle and farm. The winter of 1879 they made their final move into the valley. Mr. Hardy's father was one of the men who made the trip to Rock Springs for food during the severe winter of 1879.

The Joseph Hardy family honesteaded east of the old Mill Corner, past what is now Wallace Caldwell's, then north. This contained 160 acres.

When Charles was 16 he was a Pony Express rider and carried the mail from Maybell, Colorado to the Brown's Park area on horseback. He would stay with the Bassett family overnight and then make the return trip to Maybell. In 1897 he served a mission for the LDS Church to the Eastern States. In 1900 he earned a scholarship to the University of Utah for his penmanship. January 30, 1900 he married Stella Smith Colton. She died May 3, 1963. They are the parents of 12 children, Elsworth, Elmo, Blaine, Norwood, Lawrence, Harold, Mrs. Thomas (Edna) McKeachnie, Mrs. Hiram (Sarah) Richardson, Mrs. Israel (Arline) Heaton. There are three deceased children, Beulah Stewart, Paul and Wilma.

Mr. Hardy clerked in the old Ashley Co-op in 1900 and has been a farmer, rancher and stockman. He owned and operated a saw mill on Taylor Mountain for many years. In the winter time they would bring the logs from the face of Taylor by bobsled.

He and his wife owned and operated the Rest Haven (Tiki Motel) until 1961, when they sold it because of Mrs. Hardy's health. He owned and operated a ranch north of Jensen (then known as Daniel's Ranch, now the Doug Chew Ranch) approximately 55 years ago and was neighbors with Josie Morris and Ann Bassett.

He is in very good health and lives in his own home. He attributes his longevity to being particular with his diet and has always been active all of his life. Until two years ago he raised a garden, enough for himself, his family and his neighbors.

According to his daughter, he has always had a "green thumb." He has entered vegetables in the Uintah County Fair. In 1919 he was keeping his eye on a large squash for the fair. When he backed the truck into the field to load the squash, he found one that was larger than the original one, so the family loaded it and took it to the fair. It weighed 188 pounds. It was also sent to the Utah State Fair and to the California State Fair. At that time it was one of the largest ever to be grown in the United States. It was grown on the ranch in Ashley Ward that was recently owned by Lewis Freestone, Sr.

Until recently Mr. Hardy has been active in the lDS Church. He was in the Stake High Council for 13 years, superintendent of the Vernal Sunday School (before it was made Vernal Utah Stake president of MIA, stake clerk for 10 years, served in the stake MIA and was also a member of the bishopric for many years.

He and his sister, Marie Porter, are the remaining members of his family. She resides in Clearfield, Utah.

-Vernal Express, November 20, 1975, transcribed by Rhonda Holton

Charles A. Hardy is the son of Lydia Rebecca Davis and Joseph Hardy.

He married Stella Smith Colton.

Children not listed below: Norwood Hardy