James Hard the first. Was given land in the Newport, conn. area. The story we have is that James family was wiped out by the plague in England when he was a very young man. He joined the Royal Navy and in turn when his enlistment was up was awarded the land. At a family reunion we had a few year ago alot of documentation and the entire chain of Hards go back to this one man. I live in the St. Louis area and could get some information to you. Send a reply to weslyn@webtv.net