Thank you for your reply and indepth clarification of your Hardin line. I will try to be brief and hope I answer all your questions.

Near me is a friend named Jimmy Harden. I asked once "is yor family related to John Wes Hardin"? "No we are not" he replied. Then, I resarched his line and YES he WAS.

The spelling is like any other surname. My SUllivans had probably 30 different spelling. Hardin versus Harden started (probably) with someone failing to dot the i, thus making it read Harden rather thatn Hardin. Keep in mind that many in the old days did not have the opportnity to attend schools so grammer was lacking in many families.

I suggest you find this book by Leon Metz "John Wesley Hardin"! It has a subtitle that escapes me at the moment. Leon is an accurate historian and he reviewed just about all that is known of Wes Hardin and Yes he did kill a man for snoring to loud BUT it was an accident according to Wes. He said he banged on the wall and told the man to stop but could not wake him. He intended to shoot his pistol above the mans bed, and did but the man had gotten up and plugged him with a lead pill right in the kisser (could be mouth or rear)...did not say where the ball struck, but did kill him.

My interest is as a writer and student of history. All gunfighters and pioneer lawmen interest me in general as does Wes.

My interest at present with Hardins is John Wes's little brother Jefferson Davis "Jeff" "went by J. D." who was probably more of a gunfighter than his big broter. He looked up to Wes and wanted so much to be like him but he was not cold blooded like Wes except one time and that was went he shot a man below the left eye with a .45 pistol. The man was unarmed and Jeff was charged to go before an inquest. He was killed in a real gunfight with his first cousin by marriage in 1901. The terms were equal with both using hangguns and both prepared to duel. Most of Wes's gunfights were not really gunfights. He killed many with a shotgun and many were not stand up duels. But he was fast and knew how to handle weapons. He invented the "Border roll"!

One story had been written on Jeff Hardin but they had some facts wrong and published a photo of him BUT it was not him. It was his brother Joe. Jeff was killed about 30 miles south of my cave in West TX. No one has published the reason for the gunfight or what led up to the fight or even the date of his death. His headstone reads "died 1901"!

My barber (and close friend) is Morris Hardin and he is related to this line of Hardins. He has provided a lot of the information I have on Hardins.

I have a copy of the death certificate on John Wes Jr. and Mollie Hardin Billings was informant on details.

I am always seeking information on Hardins for two reasons. One is to fill in gaps for my friend Morris and to further my research efforts.

In summary, I believe that Mr. Metz has given the best accounting of John Wes Hardin in an unbiased and indepth manner. He is a respected historian and writer and I personally think he did an excellent job on covering the life of Wes. He went indepth on each and ever killing and as I recall it exceeded 40. He was not a man to one wished to bother!

If you need to contact me personally please email at
turfbind at yahoo dot com!