Enid Lyle Broward Hardee was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1894, when her father Napoleon Bonaparte Broward was Sheriff of Duval County. Enid's NYC born mother, Annie Hutchison Douglass Broward was a housewife and activist for suffrage for women. The third daughter of one of the best known families in North Florida, Enid was close to her mother, father, and her eight siblings, Annie Dorcas, Josephine, Elsie, Ella, Agnes, Florida, Elizabeth, and Napoleon Broward IV.

Her maternal grandfather born in New Bern North Carolina, Alexander Mitchell Douglass was a first generation Scottish immigrant, her grandmother Margaret Anne Hutchison Douglass, was also a first generation immigrant from Scotland born in NYC to a lawyer and housewife William and Margaret Hutchison from the Orkney Islands. Annie's life began dramatically as her mother, Enid's grandmother, died of complications from childbirth two weeks after giving birth to her in March 1867. Two years after the end of the terrible Civil War that had claimed the lives of more than six hundred thousand men in the North and South. Margaret Anne Douglass was buried April 2, 1867 in Cypress Hills cemetery in Brooklyn Queens New York where thousands of the Civil war dead were laid to rest.

In Florida Enid's paternal grandparents Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Sr., and Mary Dorcas Parsons, raised seven children during the American Civil War, dying as a result of the difficult living conditions when the South fell to the Union Army. Like so many families brothers fought brothers, Mary Parsons had been born and raised in New England, descended from the founders of Harvard University. Her move to the South to marry Napoleon Broward Sr. in her teens meant her families would be divided in the war. The same was true for the Douglass family from North Carolina and the Hutchison family from NYC.

Enid grew up with her parents in the political vanguard of the state of Florida. Her father was elected Governor in 1905-1909, with Enid moving into the first Florida Governor's mansion attending the Governor's Ball in Tallahassee. The family kept their homes on Church Street in Jacksonville and Fort George Island. As she attended public school in Jacksonville her father ran for the democratic nomination for the US Senate winning the primary assured of a seat in the US Congress. In 1910 Enid and her mother and siblings were crushed when her father died suddenly of a gallbladder attack after campaigning for the Senate seat.

The family's story is told in a biography of her father Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Florida's Fighting Democrat written by Samuel Proctor University of Florida Press. Enid was 16 years old when she lost her father. She helped her mother with her siblings while she pursued her education. She married Lucius Augustus Hardee a salesman living with her mother when their first two children Enid and LA Hardee Jr. were born. Her life changed dramatically when the couple relocated to Bothell Washington moving across the continent where five more children were born, Randolph, Douglass, Annie Lee, Patricia, and Barbara Jean Hardee. In 1925 she ran for Mayor of Bothell leaving the race before Election Day because of her family demands. Her interest in creating a political legacy following in her father's footsteps had begun. In 1928 as the US economy began to fail, Enid and Gus left Washington State, driving across the USA with seven children in Lizzie one of the first cars made by the Ford Motor company. The family leaned on her widowed mother Annie Douglass Broward, living in her home on Church Street until they were able to gain independence again relocating to Sebring, Florida. The hardships made Enid politically ambitious to help women and families survive in a time of malnutrition and economic uncertainty. In 1936 Enid was elected to a role as National Democratic Committee woman traveling to Chicago as one of the first women to become active in party politics. A big moment for women as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt accepted her husband's nomination for a fourth term as President of the United States. While women had gained the right to vote the poll tax had kept most women and black and brown Americans from voting in elections. Enid began working towards running for public office successfully winning a statewide election in 1940 as her children were growing up. She wanted greater rights for women especially mothers and children as great poverty still afflicted the country in the 30's. Enid was known for her advocacy for the poor often collecting money for poor families standing on street corners helping to feed families in need. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, her youngest son Douglass joined the US Army. Douglass died on active duty one year later. Enid was sick. Gus took her to many doctors finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer Enid died serving the state of Florida in development of affordable housing. Her final wish in April of 1943 was to be buried next to her Sergeant Son Douglass Waldo Hardee. www.GirlsonthePorch.com

Bio submitted by granddaughter Sharon Patrice Hardee Jimenez www.sharonhardeejimenez.com Feb. 15, 2022