Thomas Reardon Family

Thomas Reardon migrated to Dorchester County, Maryland on July 12th, 1679 with twenty three passengers aboard a ship captained by William Doulberry, mariner.  Records indicate Thomas Rawdon/Raddon owned 600 acres of land in Dorchester before 1700.  In 1725 a Dennis Reardon died in Old Rappahanock County, Virginia and left several children for guardianship.  Thomas and Denis spelled their name Raredon, but Dennis's
children all went by Reardon.  There were connections to the Bronaugh and George Mason families several times during this time.  Old Rappahanock became Richmond County, then King George County, Prince William County and then Fairfax.  Two of the son of Dennis farmed in
Fairfax County, Virginia. William farmed for Traverse Waugh, a relative.  Henry Reardon farmed for George Mason, writer of the articles of the U. S. Constitution and the Virginia Constitution.  In 1746 he married the widow of John Bronaugh (a relative) Ann Bronaugh and Truro Parish gave Henry the guardianship of her two children.  By 1754 he had moved to Granville County, North Carolina, where he was listed as a member of the Granville County militia.  Henry had land grants there and also bought and sold land with the John Searcy family and his brother William of Fairfax County, Virginia.  By 1757 he had married Mary Searcy.  The family worked their way through the Cumberland Settlements of western North Carolina
(now Tennessee) and up through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky in the the late 1780's.  They were in Fayette County by 1790, near
Clifton and Versailles, Kentucky.  Several of the family were included in the lot drawings for the town of Versailles, in Woodford County.  Along
with the Reardon's were several of the Searcy family and other relatives from Granville County, North Carolina.  Henry was an uncle of Richard
Henderson, who funded the Transylvania Company, which had signed a treaty with the Indians and purchased about two million acres in
Tennessee and Kentucky.  Daniel Boone was the scout and surveyor for this company.  The state of Virginia revoked this treaty, but assigned thousands of acres to them for making the treaty and doing the surveying.  A couple of the Searcy boys were killed by Indians in 1790 while surveying.  Henry's second son Joseph married the widow of Bartlett Searcy.  My great, great, great, great grandfather, Hiram Reardon married
the step-daughter of John Searcy, Jr. in Woodford County, Kentucky - Isabella "Eby" Aynes on September 28, 1803.  They soon moved on to
Franklin County, north of Frankfort at what is called Bald Knob.  Old Henry was taken off the tithable rolls in 1795 and died shortly thereafter in Woodford County.  Hiram and Eby had several children including Dennis, who was born in 1809 and is my great, great great, grandfather.  He farmed on Goose Creek neat Lebanon Road and married Polly Shannon.  They also had several children, one being Hiram, named after his grandfather.  Dennis died in 1885 and Polly in 1875.  Hiram married Molly Quire and lived and owned property on Flat Creek in Franklin County. They also owned a store at Polsgrove before selling it to the I.O.O.F. Lodge.  Molly died in 1900 and Hiram in 1918. They are both buried in Antioch Church of Christ Cemetery.  They only son of Hiram and Molly was Robert Washington Reardon, who was born on June 10, 1862.  He married Sophronia Bell Moore, of Swallowfield on November 11, 1890.  Robert farmed for a while in Franklin County, but moved on to Woodford County where he farmed the Fishback farm on McCracken Pike near Versailles.  They had eleven children, one being Enos Price Rarden, who was born February 28, 1900.  Robert and Frony both died in 1958 and are buried in the Versailles Cemetery next to my grandmother and grandfather Thompson.  Enos also farmed with his dad and was married to Perlina Ellen Thompson Rarden on February 27, 1924.  They lived in Woodford County until 1927 when they both moved to Gypsum, Ohio where Enos found work with the U. S. Gypsum Company.  They had children James and Allen in Kentucky and Lois, Elton, Harold and Gerald in Ohio.

Compiled by:  Harold W. Rarden

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