Robert Ulla Hardeman
1838 - 1896
Robert Ulla Hardeman, son of Thomas Hardeman and Sarah B. Sparks, was born in Bibb County. His ancestors, five Hardeman brothers, settled in Tennessee and Texas, each founding a county in those states.
Robert Hardeman graduated from Emory College in 1858 and was a classmate of Bishop Haygood.
Robert Hardeman graduated from Emory College in 1858 and was a classmate of Bishop Haygood.
He married Martha Euginia Murrelle that same year. They lived in a large Victorian house on Emory Street, next to the Murrelle House, believed to have been located on Fletcher Street, just east of Old Church..
He entered the Confederate Army as a private in the 3rd Georgia Battery commanded by Thomas Hardeman, Jr., his brother. He was promoted to captain and served in the 45th Georgia Regiment, acting adjunct to his brother’s brigade in the Virginia Army until the end of the war.
After the war, he worked as a bookkeeper for Hardeman and Sparks in Macon until 1876, when he went to work for the Georgia Office of the Comptroller General in Atlanta. He was elected State Treasurer in 1884, a position he held until 1892.
He entered the Confederate Army as a private in the 3rd Georgia Battery commanded by Thomas Hardeman, Jr., his brother. He was promoted to captain and served in the 45th Georgia Regiment, acting adjunct to his brother’s brigade in the Virginia Army until the end of the war.
After the war, he worked as a bookkeeper for Hardeman and Sparks in Macon until 1876, when he went to work for the Georgia Office of the Comptroller General in Atlanta. He was elected State Treasurer in 1884, a position he held until 1892.
Martha Euginia ("Jennie") Murrelle Hardeman with daughter, Nina Madge Hardeman.
|
Martha Euginia Murrelle Hardeman
|
Robert Hardemand's obituary published in the Atlanta Constitution on December 4, 1896 reads in part:
… He is a remarkably rapid, accurate and original worker, and a thorough and able master of finance. His books are models of system, beauty, and correctness. He has introduced many valuable features into the state's financial records, and his knowledge of state financial matters is so complete and accurate that he is regarded as an authority upon all facts and questions connected with the revenues of the commonwealth. He has originated some of the most important public measures for state taxation and state indebtedness, and he has suggested and carried through the best of financial schemes. It was upon his recommendation that the sinking fund was established in 1886, and $100,000 applied yearly to the redemption of bonds, which in 1892 had wiped out $500,000 of the public debt and that will by 1934 completely pay off the state indebtedness. In 1884 he funded $3,000.000 7 per cent, bonds of the state at 4 1/2 per cent, against the most vigorous and venomous opposition in New York, in 1886 he floated $2,000,000 of 7 per cent, bonds at 4 per cent., and in 1889 he placed $2,000,000 of the state sevens at 3 1/2 per cent. These financial achievements have established his reputation as a successful and able financier.
His funeral was attended by Governor Atkinson, the Statehouse Officers, including President Burner of the Senate and Speaker Jenkins of the House, as well as a joint delegation from both the State House and Senate and the General Assembly. All General Assembly activities were suspended for the day. A special train was dispatched to carry the funeral party from Atlanta to Oxford. Services were held at Allen Memorial Church and Hardeman was buried at Oxford Historical Cemetery. The service was conducted by Drs. Hopkins and Candler.