Jemima Susan (Hardage) McReight (1764 - 1830)

Fairfield Co, in 1895: "My grandmother was Jemima Hardage who md Matthew McCreight and in her lifetime told me these Hardage items, but said she was not sure that she had them right, but that what she knew on the Hardage Family was as she recollected from her knowing some of the family personally and from what her father had told her.

My grandmother Jemima Hardage McCreight was one of the two children of James Hardage. His other child was Sarah Hardage who md William Bryant. James Hardage died before 1800 at his home on the Broad River across from the Newberry Co line and left but two children, Sarah Bryant and my grandmother, Jemima McCreight.

James Hardage was the son of a James Hardage who died sometime before 1750, but Grandma did not recollect the date he died. He came up from Charleston to prospect for lands but he died before he could patent the lands he laid out on both sides of the Broad River. His sons later patented these lands for themselves when they were grown. James Hardage Sr was my own grandmother's grandfather. This old James Hardage married a Miss Hassel or Hasel of the rice field aristocracy down towards Charleston. He left her in Charleston when he came up the state to prospect for land. He built himself a rude cabin and died there of a fever before he ever got a patent on his lands he had laid out.

The children of this James Hardage were in the rice country near Charleston with their mother who was, as I have said, a Hasel... Grandmother said these children were

--Hassel Hardage who settled further up on the Broad River on the east side in what is now Chester County.

--William Hardage who settled on the Broad River on the west side in the upper part of Newberry County.

--James Hardage settled on the Broad River on the east side in Fairfield County. He was named for his father.

--Joseph Hardage, who was named for an uncle Joseph who died just a few years after he was married in the rice fields near Charleston of a fever. This Joseph settled between the Broad and Wateree River and was the youngest child of James Hardage Sr and his wife whom I think was Mary Hassel.

--A daughter was named Mary Hardage and was the only sister of my James Hardage Jr...This Mary Hardage married a Sams.

The reason I think the Hassel wife of James Hardage Sr was named Mary is because the only daughter of James Hardage Sr was named Mary and grandmother said she recollected hearing the older members of the family say she was named for her mother.

My grandmother said that her Uncle William Hardage lived on the west side of the Broad River and had several children and his oldest son was named William and she thinks he had a son named Moses and a son named Holcum...some two or more daughters of her uncle William Hardage married Bailey men.

Uncle Hassel Hardage was named for his mother's family and was quite wealthy. His oldest son was named for his uncle William Hardage. Uncle Hassel Hardage's son William was a brave captain in the Rev War and was killed in the bloom of youth. Uncle Hassel had a large family.

Nat Hardage and I suppose his name was Nathan, grandmother said she could not recollect whether he was a son of James Hardage Sr or not but she thought he was a nephew whom he raised. They called him Uncle Nat tho as if he were a brother to James Jr. This Nat Hardage stayed in Charleston where he died young. His widow married a Smith.

Grandmother said that her great grandfather was named James Hardage also and that he came to Charleston as a merchant soon after that city was founded. He came to Charleston from London, England, but he was born in Norfolk Co in England or Norfolk Shire. This first James Hardage died of the Stranger's Fever and left his widow with several children in Charleston. His wife was a Boyce and I think her name was Susie Boyce. I know we are related to the Boyce family who moved up to Broad River. This first James Hardage's oldest son named James and he was the one who died in his rude log cabin when he came up on the broad River to prospect for land.

The first James Hardage had several children but all were small when he died and some were still over in England with their grandfather. I do not know the names of these children except there was one named Joseph Hardage for whom the Joseph Hardage of Fairfield was named. His widow married a man named Bruce and lived to be an old lady in Orangeburg. Then James Hardage, my grandmother's grandfather, was a son, as I have already written about him. There was a son named Richard Hardage but I do not know what became of him. I believe that Richard Hardage was the father of Nat Hardage...There was a daughter who married a Jones I know for some of the Jones kin came up from Charleston way and settled in Fairfield and grandmother said she knew they were first cousins of her father, James Hardage Jr of Fairfield. The first James Hardage had a daughter named Susan and I think she married a man by the name of Spencer.

The wife of the first James Hardage from Norfolk, England, married again after her first husband died and she had some children by him, but my grandmother did not tell me about them or if she did, I forgot who they were. I think that the daughter of the first James Hardage married a Jones who was a son of Phillip Jones and I think that another one may have married a Jones but I believe she was a half sister of James who died on the Broad River in the Parish of St. Matthew."