Joseph Hardin was born in 1734 in Virginia and died July 4, 1801 in Hardin Valley, Tennessee. He was the father of seven sons and one daughter. He participated in the American Revolutionary War and was given the rank of Colonel for his service and was awarded a land grant. Colonel Joseph Hardin came from Roane County, North Carolina, to Tennessee with a land warrant to survey 3,000 acres.
In 1816, a company of four families, numbering 26 in all, including two of Colonel Hardin's sons, came to the area and settled on the land that Colonel Hardin was granted. The following year, four more of Colonel Hardin's sons settled in the area.
On September 13, 1819, by an act of the Tennessee Legislature, Hardin County was established, and it was named for Colonel Joseph Hardin.
The following is a list of Colonel Hardin's accomplishments:
Veteran of the American Revolutionary War
Major, 2nd North Carolina Minute Men, Salisbury District 1775
Captain, Tryon County Light Horse, Cherokee Expedition 1776
Colonel of Western Counties (Tennessee) 1788
Lost three sons in Tennessee Indian Wars
Member of Committee of Safety, Tryon County, North Carolina 1775
Member of Provincial Congress at Hillsborough 1775
Member of Provincial Congress at Halifax 1776
Member of the General Assembly of North Carolina 1778-1779
Member of the General Assembly of Tennessee 1782-1788
Organizer State of Franklin, Jonesboro 1784-1785
Member of the General Assembly, Territory South of Ohio, Knoxville 1794
Colonel Joseph Hardin died July 4, 1801, in Hardin Valley, Tennessee. He is buried in Concord, Knox County, Tennessee, at Hickory Creek Cemetery (Family Cemetery) on Watts Road off of I-40 exit 369 leading into Hardin Valley, Tennessee, in the cemetery at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on Buttermilk Road and Everett Lane.
Just as the Revolutionary War gave birth to a new nation
in America, Colonel Joseph Hardin gave birth to a
new settlement known as Hardin County, Tennessee.