David Morris Harding Family Papers

David Morris Harding was born on March 9th, 1795 in Goochland County, Virginia to Amidia Morris Harding and Giles Harding (2). His family would later move to Davidson County in Nashville, Tennessee where they would acquire large plots of land. Amidia Harding died in 1800, and Gile Harding remarried Martha Harding sometime after. In 1810, Gile Harding died leaving his land to Martha (2). When Gile Harding’s second wife died in 1816, David Morris and his brother Thomas Jefferson Harding inherited the family land, which would become Devon Farm and later the site of Ensworth High School (3). In that same year, he married Fanny Grieves Davis Harding, daughter of another large landowners in Nashville, John Harding (1). They never had children, but frequently looked after and cared for Fanny Grieves Harding’s nephew Edward Dickson Hicks II. David Morris Harding died in 1854, leaving all his land to his wife (3). At her death in 1865, Edward Dickson Hicks II inherited the property (1).

David M. Harding is also notable because of his relation to the Hardings of the Belle Meade Plantation. His brother John Harding first established the plantation, and his Nephew (the son of John Harding) built the famous mansion on the property (1).

1. Cornwell, Ilene J. “Devon Farm: Harpeth Landmark,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 34, no. 2 (1975): 113-29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42623513. 2. “David Morris Harding.” Geni Family Tree. December 04, 2016. Accessed February 08, 2018. https://www.geni.com/people/David-Harding/6000000019049539085. 3. Hoobler, James A. A guide to historic Nashville, Tennessee. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2008. https://books.google.com/books?id=CvF_CQAAQBAJ&pg=PP23&lpg=PP23&dq=david morris harding nashville family&source=bl&ots=IqtoaheV54&sig=ewHy-O9JavPDKbWPQxmihIRZOj0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicna2wm5fZAhXEY98KHeFqB-AQ6AEIQjAF#v=onepage&q=david%20morris%20harding%20nashville%20family&f=false