George Harward

George Harward was born in Wake County, NC on 15 Oct 1791 to James Harward and Rosannah Barbee. He married Elizabeth Sugg of Wake County on 17 Jan 1817 according their marriage bond on file at the NC Archives. George first shows up as head of household in the 1810 federal census for Chatham County. During the 1820 and 1830 federal records, George and his family are in Chatham and Wake counties respectively. [Note: Beginning in 1769, the Harward/Howard family lived in an area of NC that was Orange County. In 1771, Wake County was formed. Our ancestors lived close the border of Wake and Chatham counties. Based on the county line developments, the family appears to have moved, but actually they stayed put and the county line moved. This holds true for most of our Harward ancestors in this area.]

Back to George...

George and Elizabeth had 9 children: Christian, James, Allen Mays, James Calvin, Matilda, Susannah, Caswell, Elizabeth and Julia. The family was in Moore County in 1841 as George is found in the church records of Juniper Springs Baptist Church. The Harward family was very active in the church and in 1857, George was a delegate to the Sandy Creek Association meeting at Bear Creek, NC.

George's first wife Elizabeth died 4 Mar 1854. He remarried to Margaret Oliver. It is Margaret his mentions in his will written in Oct 1869. I believe that both George and his first wife Elizabeth are buried at Juniper Springs Baptist Church, however I was unable to find their headstones. Otis Kelly (George's great-great grandson) told me in an interview that both are buried there, but their stones are missing. He stated that they are buried on the "church" side of Buckhorn Rd.

This little church played an integral part of two generations of Harward/Howards. I look forward to researching it more.