376 LIBERTY COUNTY. 



to practice. Being then only nineteen years of age, he 

 hesitated, lest his age should prove a barrier to a success- 

 ful application. After mature reflection, he yielded to the 

 suggestions of his friends, and carried with him from Dr. 

 Daniell letters to several members of the Board, highly com- 

 mendatory of his qualifications ; and after a thorough and sat- 

 isfactory examination, he received a license. On his re- 

 turn, he commenced his professional career in the midst of his 

 relatives and friends, among whom he had grown to manhood. 

 His skill and devotion to his profession soon gained for him 

 the esteem and confidence of the neighbourhood, and his pros- 

 pects were every way flattering. He continued the practice 

 at home but a short time, when he received an invitation from 

 Dr. Raymond Harris, then of Liberty county, an experienced 

 physician, to associate with him in the practice of the profes- 

 sion. Dr. Harden accepted this overture, and in the fall of 

 1830 removed to Liberty county, and soon entered a wide field 

 of usefulness. Here he remained until December, 1832, when 

 he contracted a marriage with Miss Le Conte, which event 

 fully determined him to fix his permanent abode in that county. 



In the winter of 1835 and '36, he returned to the Medical 

 College of Charleston, where he received his degree of Doctor 

 of Medicine, and the award from the Faculty of a silver cup, 

 with suitable inscriptions, for his Thesis, written in Latin. He 

 then returned home and resumed his practice with renewed 

 vigour and success. His exposures to the inclemency of the 

 weather in attending on the sick, and his laborious application 

 to his books, sowed the seeds of disease in his constitution, 

 which gradually wasted his physical strength, so that a few 

 years before his death he had abandoned his practice, except 

 under special and peculiar circumstances. He died on the 

 morning of the 16th of February, 1848, under the roof, and 

 in the embrace of his only sister, near Tallahassee, in Florida. 



In manners, Dr. Harden was kind and conciliating, pos- 

 sessing social feelings, and delighting in the society of his 

 family and friends. He was conscientious and honourable 

 in all his dealings with mankind, and his friendships were 

 sincere and confiding. 



He was an excellent mathematician, and well versed in 



