Helen Hardie 1802 - 1886

Helen Hardie (1800 - 1856)

Helen Hardie was born on 1 December 1802 and was christened on 5 December 1802 in Saline, Fife. She was the tenth child and youngest daughter of John Hardie and Isabella Cousin. All evidence indicates that she grew up the pet of her brothers and sisters.

On 3 Jul 1824, against the wishes - and most likley without the permission - of her father, she married William Strang/Strong Spence in Saline, Fife. William was the second child and eldest son of John Spence and Agnes Strang/Strong. The Spences had seven other children - Agnes, David, Margaret, Edward, Jean, Christian and Henry He was three years younger than Helen, having been born on 4 Oct 1805 in Torryburn, Dumferline, Fife.

Perhaps it was his youthfulness (at 19) that may have had something to do with Helen's families disapproval of the marriage. Various theories have been advanced as to why the family disapproved, the reason may never be clear, and it may have been as simple as they just didn't like him, but the most likely reason is that Helen was 8 months pregnant when she married. It is thought that perhaps Helen and William eloped, she certainly did not need her parents permission given that she was nearly 22.

Whatever Helen Hardie's dreadful sin was the family was sorely disappointed, and refused to see her. On 4 June 1825 her brother John Hardie, wrote to their elder brother Joseph,

“I am very sorry indeed to notice what you say concerning sister Helen, but as matters cannot now be mended, why hold no correspondence with her? [If I could] I would go and see her, cannot you ... ‘forget and forgive’ and should she and her husband behave themselves properly, could you not return it? It must hurt her very much to be forsaken by her Brothers, Sisters and Mother; I feel very much for her situation.”

It is unknown whether Helen actually reconcilled with her mother and father, or for that matter the majority of her siblings. She and her family were obviously quite close to John, especially given their subsequent decision to emigrate to the Americas.

The family lived in Alloa, Clackmannan for most of the 23 years between their marriage and their emigration to the United States in 1848. Six of their seven children were born there:

Unnamed Spence (stillborn son). Born 6 August 1824.
Isabella Spence. Born 1826. Christened 23 Jul 1826.
William P Spence. Born 17 Mar 1829. Christened 29 Mar 1829. Died 15 Feb 1881. Married Parthenia Dink Elrod 15 Apr 1850.
Joseph Hardie Spence. Born 1831. Christened 22 May 1831
Robert H Spence. Born 30 Jun 1834. Christened 3 Jul 1834. Died 10 Nov 1896. Married Emma M Morriss
James Spence. Born abt 1836. Married Anna Price
David Spence. Born abt 1840. Died 13 Dec 1899.

Undoubtedly, William Spence and his wife Helen came to Talladega County in order to be near Helen's brother, John Hardie of Thornhill and his family. Travelling with them were their 5 five sons and Helen's "niece" Isabella Hardie, it is unknown what happened to their daughter Isabella however there are a number of marriages for an Isabella Spence in the Fife/Clackmannan region in the 3 years leading up to 1848.

Unfortunately, John Hardie died in August 1948, probably before the arrival of the Spence family. Nevertheless, the grieving widow with her eight, and soon to be nine, children to care for, still found room in her heart to welcome with love her husband's sister and her family, and the Hardie children and their Spence cousins became and remained close friends.

Besides practicing veterinary medicine, William Spence seems to have owned in Munford, where they settled, a good-sized farm, which he managed.

A letter from Mary Mead Hall Hardie, widow of John Hardie of Thornhill, to her brother-in-law William Hardie in Kinross, Scotland, dated Thornhill, 28 June 1868, Mary's fondness for her sister-in-law Helen shines through her words

“I must now tell you about Sister Helen and her family. They are all well so far as I know. William, her oldest son now living, is living in the State of Texas, is a farmer & was doing well, has a large family of children. Robert the next oldest is at home not very promising, was wounded in the war. James is merchandizing with my son Alva in Mississippi, has married well. David the youngest is at home managing the farm, he is a nice young man. Mr Spence has always been talking about going back to the old country and never fixed up to live comfortably till this year. He is now building a large nice house, it is nearly finished & all paid for. I am truly glad that dear sister Helen will be comfortable in her old age. I went up to see her not long since. She said her health was very good but that she was beginning to feel the infirmity of old age, tho she is very active & can run about much better than I can tho she is many years older than myself...”

William Spence died on 21 February 1877, at his residence six miles north of Talladega. His funeral was held the next day, and a death notice/obituary appeared in the Talladega newspaper, which describes him as

“a true Scotchman, possessing in an eminent degree, the firmness and decision of character peculiar to his nationality. He loved his friends with the clannish devotion of a genuine Scotchman and made no pretension of friendship for those he disliked. He was not only candid in his speech, and true in his friendships, but strictly honest in all his dealings.... Dr. Spence was a large man, of great power and strength in his younger days, and if there were three things, in which he specially prided, they were his Scotch blood, his physical manhood, and the character of an honest man. Habits of rigid economy and honest industry, secured the comforts of a well supplied home, and a competence oaf worldly goods. He was a kind husband and father, a good neighbor and a substantial and valuable citizen.”.

William Spences gravestone in the Thornhill Cemetery reads

"Wm. Spence,
Died April 11, 1876, age 72 years.
Born in Cowie, Scotland."

William Spence's will, signed on 18 May 1872, probated on 11 July 1877, left: “300 acres to Robert Spence, 500 acres to wife Helen Hardie Spence for her lifetime, then to son David Spence, and smaller amounts to Isabella (the "niece" who had come to America with them in 1848) and William, and debt of son James cancelled if not paid.”

Helen outlived her husband by 8 years dying on 11 June 1886, she was 85 at the time. Of their children

William served in the Confederate Army, was wounded at Chickamauga, and moved to Texas, probably shortly after the Civil War. He and Parthenia had ten children, the first six born in Alabama, the last four in Texas. [More about this family can be found among the Hardie Memorabilia at THNOC.]
Joseph probably lived in Selma.
Robert and Emma lived in Talladega County on the family farm, which Robert managed, as well as practicing veterinary medicine. They had at least four children.
James and Anna lived in Tuscaloosa, where he was a cotton broker and banker. They didn't have children.
David married, but had no children. He was buried at Thornhill.

Agnes Spence

Williams Spence's sister Agnes also emigrated to the United States. Agnes was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1807. She was married on 19 December 1834 in Scotland to Andrew McArthur (born in 1810 in Scotland). They lived in Alva , Clackmannanshire. They moved to a farm near Ardee, Ireland, in 1845. After a number of years farming in Ireland, they decided to emigrate, and left Ireland with their 6 children on 2 November 1852 aboard the 'Plantagenet' arriving in New Orleans on 6 January 1853. According to a memoir handwritten many years later by Agnes's eldest son John McArthur, born in 1835 the story of their journey and early experiences in the 'new world' was not a happy one.

From New Orleans “the whole family, 4 boys & 2 girls, Father and Mother, we went up to Wetumpka on the side-wheel steamer Fashion, then by wagon to Talladega, to a farm we thought we had secured. We [had] paid 50 lbs. on it but couldn't get it nor a place to put our head. Mother took [to Mobile] all but Father and I. We were to stay & get the farm, the others were to stay in Mobile & go to a trade, 3 boys and 2 girls. Father & I staid in Talladega in hopes of getting the farm but failed. Mobile was quarantined. The fever broke, & two bros. & a sister were carried to the Graveyard, don't even know where they were buried. Mother came up to Talladega when quarantine was raised, when we all left for Mobile. I got the farm about 20 years afterwards. The shock was too much for Father, he pined away & died about 18 mos. after. “Mobile the home of God's People was good to us.”

Of Andrew and Agnes Spence McArthur's six children:

Three died in the yellow fever epidemic.
James married but had no children.
John McArthur married in Mobile in 1861 to Isabella Hardie (the 'niece' who travelled to the US with Helen).