My paternal 5th great-grandfather

There seems to be an error on the headstone. According to added records here, his birth year was 1758. His mother, Sarah, died in 1758 making it impossible for him to be born in 1759.

Family Data Collection ~ Births
Name: Thomas Harding
Father: John Harding
Mother: Sarah Mary Moss
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1758
City: Elizabethtown
State: NJ
County: USA

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Family Data Collection ~ Individual Records
Name: Thomas R S Harding
Spouse: Sarah Payne
Parents: John Harding, Sarah Mary Moss
Birth Place: Elizabethtown, NJ
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1758
Marriage Place: Fayette County, KY *ACCORDING TO MARILYN VAN BERG ~ THOMAS AND SARAH WERE MARRIED IN FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.*
Marriage Date: 5 Feb 1784
Death Place: Linderman Cem, Brownsburg, IN
Death Date: 20 Jun 1840

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Roster of Soldiers and Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Indiana, Compiled and Edited by Mrs. Roscoe C. O'Byrne, Chairman, Brookville, Indiana, Published by Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution, 1938, 973.34 I385d v.1, pages 177-178:

"HARDING, THOMAS
Hendricks County
Born--Jan. 8, 1759, Virginia.
Service--Volunteered at Stradler's Fort on Dunker's Creek in Penn. and served 6 or 8 mos. in Capt. McCleary's CO., Col. McFarland's Regt. of Militia. Also served 8 mos. in Capt. Cross' CO. of Militia under Col. Evins in Gen. McIntosh's Indian Expedition. Served 9 mos. as an Indian Spy under Col. McFarland; 6 mos. under Col. Gaddis; 6 mos. under Col. McCleary and 9 mos. under Col. Evins, all a Spy.
Proof--Pension claim W.10079.
Died--Jun. 20, 1840. Buried Lingerman [sic-Lingeman] Cemetery, S. W. of Brownsburg, Hendricks County.[page 178]
Married--Feb. 5, 1784, Sarah Payne, b. Dec. 18, 1765. CHILDREN: John Harding, b. Jan. 16, 1785-1854, m. Rachel Carlisle; Samuel Harding, b. Dec. 5, 1767-1836, m. Annie Shipp; Rebecca Harding, b. May 25, 1790, m. Hezekiah Puryear; Sarah (Sally), b. Jul. 29, 1792, m. John Clark or Carlisle; Amy Harding, b. Dec. 27, 1794, m. Mordecai Hardin; **Noah Harding, b. Aug. 28, 1797, m. Lucinda Rogers (my 4th great-grandparents)**; Ruhama Harding, b. Feb. 18, 1799, m. Nathaniel Reed; Payne Harding, b. Feb. 8, 1802, m. Matilda Reed; Aaron, b. Feb. 20, 1805, m. (1) Margaret Campbell, (2) Sallie Callender.
Collected by Alexander Hamilton Chapter D. A. R."

He bought 3 tracts of land from the Crawfordsville Land Office on 2 Dec 1830:
11359: east half of NE quarter of section 11 in township 15 N of range one East, 80 acres

11360: east half of the SW quarter of Section 24 in township 15 N of range one East, 80 acres

11361: west half of NW quarter of Section 12 of township 15 N of range one East, 80 acres.

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Info. taken from the book titled "History of the Hardin Family in the Early Settling of Kentucky", written by Jack Hardin, Jr., grandson of Jack Hardin, Sr., & Mary Hardin**.

In the fall of 1799, Mark (Short Mark) and Little John Hardin visited the Falls (of the Ohio), and scouted as far out as the Salt River, up to Harrods Creek. This embraced nearly the whole of what is now Jefferson County and parts of Oldham, and Bullitt Counties. They were so pleased that they determined to search no farther, but go home and return with their effects and locate as much of the fine land as possible. Neither of them had families. The glowing account they gave of the country fired the restless spirits of the whole race on either side of the Mononogahela, and the general preparations commenced to move to and take possession of the rich lands on and near Beargrass Creek, which empties into the Ohio River, or did originally, at the foot of First Street, in the (now) center of Louisville, KY.

A number of them were in the old Continental Army; these were summoned home for the move. Two flatboats were rebuilt during the winter of 1799 and the spring of 1780. On the first of March, fifteen families, composed entirely of kindred by blood or marriage, embarked with their effects, bade farewell to their old homes and floated down the Mononongahela, many of them never to see the proposed new homes. They had one large boat. This was loaded with their horses, cattle and heavy movable property. The other was a small, light boat prepared especially for the families and lighter effects. The heavy boat required nearly all the strength of the party to navigate it and care for the stock on it. It was arranged that the family boat should be manned by two of the men and some boys, and that it should be kept immediately in rear of the heavy boat in order that any assistance should be needed in managing it, it would be in reach, or in case of an attack by the Indians it could be defended.

All went well with them up to the 20th of March, when near the mouth of the Limeston they were furiously attacked by a large force of Indians of the tribes from the Sandusky towns and Chillicothe or Scioto. The men steering the family boat were both killed by the first volley fired. The other boat was being riddled with balls. The men near half were soon killed or crippled. No assistance could be given to the family boat. It soon drifted on to the northern shore and was stormed by the Indians after one of the most heroic defenses possible. The Indians were kept at bay until the last man and boy were killed on board the boat. The last to fall was Stephen Hardin, a boy of ten years old, a son of John Hardin (Jack Hardin, Sr.). This little fellow had been exposed through the whole fight, but had loaded and fired his rifle over twenty times. When the Indians had killed all but him, he abandoned his place and planted himself by the side of his mother, saying, "Mother, the last shot shall be in your defense". The words of the brave boy were hardly uttered when the Indians came pouring into the boat; two of them, tomahawk in hand, rushed in on him; he shot one of them dead, the other one paused and at that moment another Indian shot Stephen through the head, and he fell dead at his mother's feet.

Mary Hardin and her four year old son Robert were captured along with a man named Robertson's wife and two children, another wife and two daughters, and others were all taken captive of the Indians that attacked the Hardin Family boats that day. Jack Hardin, Thomas Harding, Robertson, Mordecai Lincoln, and many others made many attempts to rescue Mary and the others in the months they were captives, several men were wounded and a few died in the attempts. At least one man was captured and tortured to death in the ordeal. The book gives great detail to the events following the attack on the 20th of March 1780.

Mary Hardin and her son Robert were captives for two and a half years, during which time Mary gave birth to a daughter she named Mary. They were ransomed from the Indians by the French in November of 1781. They were taken to Montreal and then to Quebec (Canada). Not being able to travel with two small children, Mrs. Hardin was cared for at the expense of the kind-hearted French people, until a means of transportation was available. In February of 1782, a means was presented to transport her and her children to Philadelphia. When she arrived a number of members of the Continental Army were there who knew her family, these men took up a small collection for her to send her and her children to her family on the Mononogahela.

Jack and Mary were reunited in April of 1782 on the Mononogahela, where they stayed until March of 1785. Jack and Mary Hardin settled on Cartwright Creek, two miles below where Springfield, where St. Rose Catholic Church now stands, and built his cabin about one hundred yards above where the mill now stands at a large spring on the bank of the creek.

I assume Jack & Mary Hardin were buried in the cemetery Col. John Hardin started on Pleasant Run, which eventually had around two hundred people buried in it. It was destroyed in the 1800's by a man named Charles Cameron, who wished to use this particular piece of land for a mule lot. He commenced to removing all of the crudely marked stones, with the names of most of the families of the original settlers of Pleasant Run carved in them, from the cemetery.