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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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HARDING, JESSE GILES (1821-1898)

HARDING, JESSE GILES, sawmill owner, general merchant, and shipbuilder; b. Saint John, 20 Oct 1821, s/o Thomas Harding and Mary Johnson; m. 1st, 1855, Sarah Jane Fraser, d/o John Fraser and Margaret Fraser, and 2nd, 1867, Augusta Amelia Bent, of Amherst, N.S.; d. there, 30 Dec 1898.

Jesse G. Harding was the son of a Saint John businessman and mayor of that city whose eleven children included two physicians and several men who played important roles in the commercial life of 19th-century New Brunswick. One of the latter was John H. Harding, who erected a sawmill at Shippegan around 1846. About 1852 this mill was transported to the Miramichi by water. In 1854 John H. Harding was joined by his younger brother Jesse G. Harding in a business which included the sawmill, a general store, and later a shipbuilding yard at The Rocks in Newcastle.

Between 1863 and 1867 J. H. & J. Harding launched five ocean-going vessels, including the ships Gladstone and Northumberland, which were built for McMorran & Dunn of Saint John in 1864. In that year it was stated that, "at Chatham, Newcastle, and Douglastown, the sound of the axe, hammer, or saw never ceases," but contrary to appearances, both the Harding firm and the wooden shipbuilding industry were then on the brink of decline.

John H. Harding returned to Saint John in the early 1860s, and in 1867 the Harding sawmill was advertised for sale, but Jesse G. Harding, who had married locally in the first instance and had played a larger part in community life than his older brother, remained in business in Newcastle until the 1870s. He was an adherent of the Baptist church and a member of the Miramichi Religious Tract Society. When he moved away it was to settle in Amherst, N.S., where his second wife, Augusta A. Bent, originated. He was survived in 1898 by her, as well as by two sons and two daughters. His brother John H. Harding died in Saint John in 1901.

Sources

[b] Biog. Review NB (re. Charles E. Harding) [m] Weekly Chronicle 26 Oct 1855; Gleaner 2 Nov 1867 [d] Advocate 3 Jan 1899 / Advance 30 May 1901; Biog. Review NB (re. John H. Harding); Gleaner 18 Mar 1854, 13 Jul 1867; Manny Collection (F6); Manny (Ships)


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