My Genealogy Hound

William H. Hardister, who is classed among the well-known and highly respected planters of this county, was born in North Carolina in 1845, being the son of Asbury and Cyntha Ann (Cramford) Hardister, natives of North Carolina. The former’s ancestors were formerly from Maryland, and came to the Carolinas with the early settlers. The father was the youngest of his family, and a farmer by occupation, his death occurring in the sixty-sixth year of his age. The mother died in 1866, at the age of fifty. To them were born ten children, of whom all but one lived to be grown, but only four now survive. William H., the seventh son, was reared in North Carolina until the age of twenty-three, when he came to Arkansas and located at Garrison Landing, there engaging in farming. He afterward went to Mud Lake, and in 1876 came to his present location, on what is known as Elm Grove farm, since which time he has put the place in a good state of cultivation, working 200 acres. At the beginning of the late war he enlisted in the Sixth North Carolina Cavalry and served until the close, receiving not the slightest wound. In 1875 Mr. Hardister married Miss Nettie Cramford, a daughter of O. P. Cramford, of South Carolina, who came to Arkansas long before the war and settled in this county, Mrs. Hardister being then a child. This union has been blessed with two children: Cynthe A. and Walter M. Mr. Hardister politically is a Democrat. He has on his place a large cotton gin and supply store, and is recognized as a man who has given decided influence to the progress and development of this section. As a citizen he is held in great esteem.