My Grandma, Phoebe Harding nee Gary had a sister.  Well, actually she had four sisters but the one I’m interested in tonight is Coralynn.  Coralynn married Harvey Albertus and they lived in Laurel Montana.  Whenever my dad was driving back and forth between Oregon and South Dakota he would stop at Coralynn and Harvey’s.  I remember stopping there a couple of times myself.

Coralynn and Harvey had three daughters, but the one I am interested in tonight is Marilyn Flo Albertus.  Just to make things a little more confusing for genealogists, Marilyn married a man named “Harding”; but we were always told that he was not related to the rest of us.  How can that be?  Well, I recently got curious and went on a mission to sorted it all out.

Here’s what I found.  Marilyn’s husband was Herman Harding.  His parents were Godfred and Charlotte Mohland Harding.  Indeed, they were not related to us because Godfred and Charlotte immigrated to America from Russia in about 1903.  Their name in Russia was “Hardung”.  And the old folks apparently continued to use that spelling since that is what appears on their grave markers.  But as nearly as I can tell, their 9 children, all born in Montana, went by Harding. 

So that’s why there is a whole clan of Hardings in Montana that aren’t related to us; except through Marilynn.