Stephen Selwyn Harding
Born: February 24, 1808
Birthplace: Palmyra, New York
Father: David E. Harding 1768 – 1837
(Buried: Old Milan Cemetery, Milan, Indiana)
Mother: Abigail Brown 1777 – 1857
(Buried: Old Milan Cemetery, Milan, Indiana)
Wife: Avoline Sprout 1811 – 1893
(Buried: Greendale Cemetery, Greendale, Indiana)
Married: October 31, 1830 in Chautauqua County, New York
Children:
Selwyn Stephen Harding 1831 – 1913
(Buried: Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate, Kentucky)
Attilius C. Harding 1836 – 1837
(Buried: Old Milan Cemetery, Milan, Indiana)
Attilla L. Harding 1836 – 1914
(Buried: Mount Olivet Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah)
Mucidora “Musa” Harding Hillis 1840 – 1903
(Buried: Greendale Cemetery, Greendale, Indiana)
Anastasia “Anna” Harding Connelly 1842 – 1906
(Buried: South Park Cemetery, Greensburg, Indiana)
Political Party: Whig Party, Liberty Party, Peoples Party, Free Soil Party, Republican Party
Occupation before War:
Attorney in Richmond, Indiana
Took a steamboat from Louisville, Kentucky, to New Orleans, Louisiana
Unable to find employment as an Attorney in the south.
Clerk on the steamboat Belvedere on the Mississippi River
Became an abolitionist after witnessing the slave trade in New Orleans.
Attorney in Versailles, Indiana
Anti – Slavery Speaker around the state of Indiana.
1842: Unsuccessful Candidate for Lt. Governor of Indiana
1844: Liberty Party Presidential Elector
1846: Unsuccessful Candidate for Lt. Governor of Indiana
1848: Indiana Delegate to Free–Soil Party National Convention.
1852: Free Soil Party Presidential Elector
1854: Speaker and Leader at People’s Party meeting
Member of Indiana State Republican Party Committee
Civil War Career:
1862 – 1863: Governor of Utah Territory
As Governor he had conflicts with the Mormon Leaders.
Issued blanket pardon for Morristies in the Mormon War.
Critical of Mormon Leaders and the act of Polygamy
1862: Defended the Anti–polygamy Act in his first speech.
1863: The Mormon citizens called for President Lincoln to dismiss Harding.
1863: Resigned as Governor of Utah Territory
1863: Resigned as U.S. Consul to Valparaiso Chile due to wife’s health.
1863 – 1865: Chief Justice of Colorado Territory
1865: responsible for certifying results of ballots to request Statehood for Colorado Territory.
Occupation after War:
1865 – 1881: Attorney and Businessman in Indiana
1881 – 1891: Suffered from the effects of blindness.
1882: Wrote a letter in The Prophet of Palmyra
Died: February 12, 1891
Place of Death: Milan, Indiana
Age at time of Death: 82 years old
Burial Place: Greendale Cemetery, Greendale, Indiana
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