GNB
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

1,109 records available in this database
IntroductionIntroduction | Name IndexName Index | Occupation IndexOccupation Index | Organization IndexOrganization Index | Full-Text SearchFull-Text Search | The DictionaryThe Dictionary

LanguageLanguage
Page 411 of 1109

jump to page
HARDIE, JOHN (1833-1901)

HARDIE, JOHN, principal of the Newcastle Grammar School, 1855-67; b. Chatham, 25 Aug 1833 (bap. Nov 1833), s/o Thomas Hardie and h/w Janet, natives of Scotland; m. 1861, Mary Mitchell, sister of Peter Mitchell; d. Ottawa, 28 May 1901.

After studying under James Millar for some years at the County Grammar School, John Hardie completed the "literary and philosophical course" at the West River Seminary in Pictou Co., N.S. In 1855, at twenty-two years of age, he succeeded Robert Falconer as principal of the grammar school at Newcastle. At the start he was responsible for about fifty boys in a building not more than twenty-five feet square. The school was doubled in size in 1861-62, and since the enrollment had grown to more than seventy, a teaching assistant was hired.

Hardie was a stern disciplinarian whose enthusiasm for the practice of 'birching' was said to have terrified the youth of the town. "I can still recall," stated Father William C. Gaynor, "the appalling stories that were told of his ingenuity in devising modes of punishment." Nonetheless, his school was praised by local examiners in 1861, and he occupied a position of respect in the community. In 1858 he was elected an elder of St John's Presbyterian Church in Chatham. In the mid 1860s he was a frequent lecturer at the Mechanics' Institute in Newcastle, addressing topics as diverse as "Poland," "Heat," and "The Pursuit of Knowledge."

The chief inspector of schools stated in 1867 that, having "faithfully conducted" the Newcastle grammar school for a number of years, Hardie had now "retired, at least temporarily, from the service." The creation of Harkins Academy, he noted, had rendered the grammar school no longer a necessity. In November of that year Hardie accepted a clerical position in the Department of Marine and Fisheries in Ottawa, of which his brother-in-law Peter Mitchell was minister. In 1872 he was promoted to chief clerk of the department, and he occupied this position until his death.

Hardie and his wife, Mary Mitchell, had nine or more children, several of whom died young, and most of whom did not marry. They had two daughters and three sons living in 1901. Their eldest son, Thomas M. Hardie, MD, was a prominent larngologist in Chicago.

Sources

[b] Can. Parl. Comp., 1889 [m] Gleaner 13 Jul 1861 [d] Ottawa Morning Citizen 29 May 1901 / Advance 30 May 1901; Advocate 15 Jun 1887; Educ. reports, 1861-67; Gleaner 14 Sep 1861, 30 Jan 1864, 22 Apr 1865; Memories; Ottawa city directory 1895; scrapbook #100; Presb. Witness 1 Jun 1901; tombstone (Beechwood Cem., Ottawa)


4.11.1