Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/103

Rh moreland county, Pa., in 1784; d. in Bardstown, Ky., 24 Sept., 1852. He removed to Kentucky in childhood, received a primary education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1806, and began to practise at Bardstown. He served in the state house of representatives in 1810-'ll and 1824-'5, and in 1815 took his seat in congress, having been elected as a Whig, and served till 1817, and again from 1833 till 1837. In 1844 he was appointed secretary of state of Kentucky, held office till his resignation in 1847, and was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1849. He was distinguished as a debater, and his style was pungent and sarcastic. John Randolph, of Roanoke, described him as "a kitchen-knife, rough and homely, but keen and trenchant." — Martin D.'s son, John J., lawyer, b. in Frankfort, Ky., 6 Jan., 1810; d. in Buena Vista, Mexico, 27 Feb., 1847, was educated at Transylvania university, studied law, and removed to Jacksonville, 111., where he practised his profession. For several years he was prosecuting attorney, and a member of the legislature in 1836-'42. In 1842 he was elected to congress as a Democrat, and served one term. He volunteered when the Mexican war began, was appointed colonel of the 1st Illinois regiment, and was killed on the second day of the battle of Buena Vista, while leading his men in the final charge.

HARDING, Abner Clark, soldier, b. in East Hampton, Middlesex co., Conn., 10 Feb., 1807 ; d. in Monmouth, Warren co., 111., 19 July, 1874. He was educated chiefly at Hamilton, N. Y., academy, and after practising law in Oneida county for some time removed to Illinois. In that state he . continued to practise law for fifteen years, and to manage farms for twenty-five years. In 1848 he was a member of the convention that framed the constitution under which Illinois was governed from 1848 till 1870. He also served in the legis- lature in 1848-'9 and 1850. During the ten years preceding the civil war he was engaged in rail- way enterprises. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the 83d Illinois infantry, and rose to the rank of colonel. For bravery at Fort Donelson he was promoted to brigadier-general, and in 1863 had command at Murfreesboro, Tenn. In 1864 he was elected a representative in congress, and was re- elected in 1866, serving from 4 Dec, 1865, till 3 March, 1869. Gen. Harding early entered with zeal into the construction of railroads in central Illinois, and was one of the projectors and build- ers of the Peoria and Oquawka railroad, now a {)art of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy. He eft a fortune of about $2,000,000, no small part of which he had amassed in railroad enterprises. Several years before his death he endowed a pro- fessorship in Monmouth college.

HARDING, Benjamin F., senator, b. in Wyo- ming county, Pa., 4 Jan., 1823. He was educated at the public schools, studied law, and was admit- ted to the bar in 1847. He began practice in Illi- nois in 1848, and in 1849 removed to Oregon, where he was clerk of the territorial legislature in 1850-'l, and a member of that body and its speaker in 1852. He was U. S. district attorney for Oregon in 1853, and secretary of the territory in 1854-'9. After its admission to the Union he was a member of the state house of representatives in 1859-'62, being speaker during the last two years. He was then elected a U. S. senator as a Republican, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Edward D. Baker, who was killed at Ball's Bluff, and served from 1 Dec, 1862, till 3 March, 1865.

HARDING, Chester, artist, b. in Conway, Mass., 1 Sept., 1792; d. in Boston, Mass., 1 April,

1866. His family removed to Caledonia, N. Y., when he was fourteen years old, and he was early thrown upon his own resources for support, and eventually became a house-painter in Pittsburg, Pa. He worked at this occupation a year, when acquaintance with a travelling portrait-painter led him to attempt art. Having succeeded in producing a crude portrait of his wife, he devoted himself enthusiastically to the profession. He painted several other portraits at Pittsburg, and then went to Paris, Ky., where he finished 100 portraits in six months at $25 each. After receiving slight instruction in Philadelphia, he established himself in St. Louis. In August, 1823, he went to London, and spent three years in studying and painting, when he returned to Boston, where he became very popular. In 1843 he went to England again, and afterward resided in Springfield, Mass., spending his winters frequently in St. Louis or in some of the southern cities. Among the distinguished persons who sat for him were James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, John Marshall, Charles Carroll, William Wirt, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Washington Allston, the Dukes of Norfolk, Hamilton, and Sussex, Samuel Rogers, and Sir Archibald Allison. His last work was a portrait of Gen. William T. Sherman. His portrait of Daniel Webster is now in the possession of the Bar association of New York, and that of John Randolph is in the Corcoran gallery at Washington, D. C. He wrote &ldquo;My Egotistography,&rdquo; which has been printed, but not published.

HARDING, Jesper, publisher, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 5 Nov., 1799 ; d. there, 21 Aug., 1865. After acquiring a knowledge of printing under Enos Bronson, the publisher, he engaged in the business on his own account at the age of eighteen. In 1829 he purchased the " Pennsylvania Inquirer," which had been established a few months before, and at about the same time he began to print Bibles, of which he subsequently became the largest publisher in the United States. The first Bible published by him — a quarto, bound in sheep — was sold for one dollar. As the first editor of the "Inquirer," Mr.Harding, during the contest between President Jackson and the directors of the Bank of the United States, attemptedthe difficult task of defending the latter while supporting the former; but, when the government deposits were removed from the bank, he supported the anti-Jackson faction of the party, and in 1836 advocated the election of Harrison. Finally, however, the " Inquirer " espoused the cause of the Whig party, to the fortunes of which Mr. Harding adhered until the overthrow of the party in 1852. Mr. Harding was also largely engaged in the manufacture of paper at Trenton. N. J. In 1859 he retired from the publishing business, and was succeeded in it by his son, William W. At the time of his death he held the office of collector of internal revenue, under appointment by President Lincoln. — His son, George, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia. 26 Oct., 1827, was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1846. read law with Hon. John Cadwalader, and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He has since continued in active practice, devoting himself to patent cases. When arguing the telegraph case of Samuel F. B. Morse against O'Reilly in the U. S. supreme court, he operated in the court-room miniature lines of telegraph representing the entire system then existing between New York and Washington. In the " hat-body " case he operated machinery so as to make a complete hat in the court-room. He was associated with Abraham Lincoln and Edwin M. Stanton in the McCormick reaper case, and in-