John Marr Hardeman, Texas Ancestor of

Robert Charles Vivion, Fort Worth, Texas

John Marr Hardeman was born near Smyma, Rutherford County, Tennessee on February 2, 1804, the second son of Constantine and Sarah J. Marr Hardeman. Family tradition says that he was an medical doctor and affectionately referred to as 'Doc.' However, I have no proof that he attended Medical School. He served as an Assistant Marshal of west Tennessee, under his uncle, Col. Thomas Jones Hardeman, for whom the counties of Hardeman in both Tennessee and Texas were named. It was there on May 13,1828 that he married his first cousin, Mary, the daughter of Dr.

Blackstone and Anna Bunch Marr.

In the fall of 1835, with a group of families, some 25 people, including his uncles Thomas Jones, Bailey Hardeman and Blackstone Hardeman, an aunt, Ann Hardeman Bacon, John and Mary Hardeman came to Texas by wagon train. They settled first in Matagorda County, and then shortly thereafter went to Washington County on Yegua Creek.

John Marr received Bounty Certificate No. 9883 for 320 acres of land in Montgomery County for service from July 4 to October 4, 1836, in the War for Texas Independence. He also received Headright Certificate No. 127 for one league and one labor of land, which was surveyed in Burleson, Milam and Washington Counties (Washington First Class Headright Certificate No. 45, G.L.O.

Not only did he serve as Deputy Sheriff of Washington County, he was also a large landowner there, as well as in Grimes, Hill, Navarro and Milam Counties. About 1856, he moved to Ellis County near Chambers Creek and by 1870, with over 5,000 acres, he was one of the largest of landowners. Tradition indicates his slaves built the first bridge over Chambers Creek, and that he maintained the stagecoach stop, owning over 70 horses and mules.

John Marr and Mary were the parents of ten Children: Anna, William Constantine, Tennessee Eliza, Mary Lucretia, Louis L., Rebecca, James Henry, Glen Owen, Martha and Jerome Bonaparte Rankin.

John and Mary Hardeman are buried in the Hardeman family cemetery one and a half miles north of Italy, Texas. In 1936j, a Historical Marker was erected in the Italy Cemetery in their honor.