Lamartine Griffin Hardman

Lamartine Griffin Hardman
Lamartine Griffin Hardman
65th Governor of Georgia
In office June 25, 1927 – June 27, 1931
Preceded by	Clifford Walker
Succeeded by	Richard Russell, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1856-04-14)April 14, 1856 Commerce, Georgia
Died	February 18, 1937(1937-02-18) (aged 80) Atlanta, Georgia
Resting place	Gray Hill Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Emma Wiley Griffin
Alma mater	Jefferson Medical College Medical College of Georgia
Occupation	Physician
Religion	Baptist

Lamartine Griffin Hardman (April 14, 1856 – February 18, 1937) served two terms as the 65th Governor of the state of Georgia from 1927 to 1931. He believed that state government should be run like a business and was best known for his effort to make governmental processes more efficient.

William B. J. Hardman, Lamartine's father, was Harmony Grove's first 'legitimate' doctor, and had come to Jackson County around 1848 as a 26-year-old graduate of Georgia Medical College in Augusta, Georgia, and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On January 2, 1851, W.B.J. Hardman married Miss E.S. Colquitt, who counted four governors of Georgia and Texas among her relatives. W.B.J. Hardman farmed a large tract of land, kept up a medical practice, and ministered in the newly formed Harmony Grove Baptist Church (now Commerce First Baptist Church) as its first preacher and pastor. He was active in city government, instrumental both in crafting the liquor prohibition clause in the city charter and in having the Northeastern Railroad located through Harmony Grove.

Lamartine Griffin Hardman was born on April 14, 1856, in Harmony Grove, Georgia. Hardman followed in his father's footsteps by attending medical college, graduating from Georgia Medical College around 1877. He then studied at Bellevue Hospital in New York, the University of Pennsylvania, the New York Polyclinic, and Guy's Hospital in London, from which he received a second degree. In 1890 he returned to Harmony Grove to join his father's medical practice.

Hardman quickly began buying up farming property in nearby counties. He founded the Harmony Grove Mills in 1893 for the purpose of stimulating economic growth in Harmony Grove and, by extension, rural north Georgia.