Description:Full-length portrait of Harding as a mature man with dark hair and full beard, wearing a dark three-piece suit and white shirt, seated in a chair with his right elbow resting on a table and holding a walking stick in his right hand
Notes:William Giles Harding was born the second of three surviving children to John and Susannah Harding, the couple’s only surviving son. He was born September 15th 1808. He began working on the family farm at Belle Meade at a very young age, and in turn farming the land became one of his true passions. As a teenager he enrolled at Captain Partridge’s American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy in New England, where he graduated in 1828. November 19th 1829, William married Mary Selena McNairy. From their marriage five children would be born, only one surviving into adulthood. Mary Selena died March 29th 1837. In 1839 William took control of his father’s Plantation at Belle Meade. A year following in 1840 William married Elizabeth Irwin McGavock, January 2nd 1840. Harding and his second wife would have nine children, two surviving into adulthood. By 1853, the married couple renovated the original Federal style house to the Greek Revival Structure. During the Civil War, after Nashville had fallen to the Union in 1862, William was imprisoned in Michigan for refusing to pledge his oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. Following imprisonment a few short months later, William was released to be with his family and farm, September 25th 1862. By 1867 William was widowed again after the loss of his second wife, Elizabeth. In 1883, Williams health was failing after suffering a stroke, at which pointed he executed his last will and testament by 1884. His estate was divided among his three children, John Harding II, Mary Harding Jackson and her husband Howell E. Jackson, and the largest portion of properties going to his daughter Selene Harding Jackson and her husband General William Hicks Jackson. William Giles Harding died at the age of 78, December 15th 1886. Location: Library
