State Web Site

CHARLES H. HARDIN was born in Trimble County, Kentucky on July 15, 1820. His education was attained at University of Indiana, and at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 1841. He returned to Coumbia, Missouri, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He served as circuit attorney of the Second Judicial District of Missouri from 1848 to 1852. Hardin first entered politics as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, a position he held in 1852, 1854 and 1858. He served on the committee that revised and codified the state statutes in 1855, and was a member of the Missouri State Senate from 1860 to 1862 and 1872 to 1874. He also joined the secession movement, and consequently was disfranchised in 1862 for his Confederate sympathies. Hardin next secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and was elected governor on November 5, 1874. He was inaugurated on January 12, 1875. During his tenure, a new constitution was approved; and St. Louis separated from St. Louis County. After completing his term, Hardin left office on February 8, 1877, and retired from political life. Governor Charles H. Hardin, who founded the Hardin Female College in Mexico, Missouri, passed away on July 29, 1892. He was buried in the Jewell Cemetery near Columbia, Missouri.

Sources:

Beta Theta Pi Fraternity

Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri (Produced by the Missouri Historical Society)

Missouri State Archives (Jefferson City, MO)

The Political Graveyard

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Virtual American Biographies