The Ellen G. White Letters and Manuscripts: Volume 1

HARDY, William J. (1823-1888) and Eliza (1820-1890)

Thought to be the first African-American to be elected to public office in Michigan, William J. Hardy was a leading member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Gaines-Caledonia area. He was born in New York, and his family moved to Michigan in 1827. According to some sources, Hardy, after his father's death, was, when only 6 or 7 years old, bound out as an indentured servant for some years. By 1846 he was able to purchase his own farm in Gaines, which by the time of the 1870 census was valued at a very respectable $7,500. 1EGWLM 837.5

William Hardy, preceded by his wife, Eliza (née Watts), became a Sabbatarian Adventist in 1857 and remained a key member of his local church for the rest of his life. After the Michigan legislature in 1870 endorsed the Fifteenth Amendment, giving the vote to African-American men, William Hardy began to run for various public offices in Gaines Township. Although disadvantaged by his race, unpopular church affiliation, and by running on a Republican ticket in an area dominated by Democrats, Hardy was elected supervisor of Gaines Township in 1872. 1EGWLM 837.6

Ellen White was impressed by the Hardy family when she paid a brief visit in 1859: “We were heartily welcomed by the family. A good dinner was soon in readiness for us. … This is a colored family. Although the house is poor and old, everything is arranged with neatness and exact order. The children are well behaved, intelligent, and interesting.” Problems of disunity, however, at times beset the church in Gaines and Caledonia in the 1860s, and several times during that decade Ellen White cautioned William and Eliza Hardy over their part in the troubles. 1EGWLM 837.7

See: Obituary: “Wm. J. Hardy,” Review, June 19, 1888, pp. 398, 399; 1870 U.S. Federal Census, “William Hardy,” Michigan, Kent County, Gaines, p. 4; [Birth and death dates of Eliza Hardy] www.migenweb.net/kent/cemeteries/gaines/blain/1995go.html (Oct. 17, 2010); Franklin Everett, Memorials of the Grand River Valley (Chicago: Chicago Legal News Co., 1878), p. 29 (“Biographical Sketches” section); Randall Maurice Jelks, African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006), pp. 1-5, 15-20; Ellen G. White, Ms 5, 1859 (Jan. 25 entry); Lt 22, 1861 (Jan. 22); Ms 3, 1863 (July 22); Ms 10, 1868 (c. 1868); “Byington and Amadon Diaries, 1857-1912” (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Center for Adventist Research, Andrews University, n.d.), John Byington diary, Oct. 5, 1857, entry. 1EGWLM 838.1