When Benjamin Harding was born in 1874, in Tabusintac, Alnwick, Northumberland, New Brunswick, Canada, his father, Robert Harding, was 32 and his mother, Sarah Jane Blanchard, was 38. He died in 1878, in his hometown, at the age of 4.
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English: from the Middle English personal name Harding (Old English Hearding, literally ‘the hard one’ a derivative of Old English heard ‘hard, harsh, strong, firm, brave’). The surname was first taken to Ireland in the 15th century, and more families of the name settled there 200 years later in Tipperary and surrounding counties.
North German and Dutch: patronymic from a short form of any of various ancient Germanic compound personal names beginning with hard ‘hardy, brave, strong’, or a habitational name from a farm named Harding, of the same etymology.
History: Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865–1923), the 29th president of the US, was born on a farm in OH, of English and Scottish stock on his father's side. Early American bearers of this very common name include Joseph Harding who died at Plymouth in 1633. His great-great grandson Seth was a naval officer during the American Revolution.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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