The Hardick Page

One of the reasons for the family research was a letter by Paul Gruendel of Dresden stating that there had been a lot of famous family members in Germany. There were some doubts, because they were all over Germany: from Zittau to Hamburg. It included a description of the family crest and the fact that a Robert Walraven Hardick was drost (a kind of sheriff) in Haaksbergen (the Netherlands) around 1530. Both included a reference. A part of the family thought this story was true and had rings and plates made with the crest.

With the reference (Siebmacher Furst's und histor. Wapb. pag 288, the middle picture comes from this book) the crest was easily found. It was the crest of the Hardiges family of Hamburg, Germany. The name sounds a bit like Hardick so it could be true but everybody we knew did not come from there.

The reference of Robert Walraven Hardick was a bit harder to find because the documents were re-indexed. When it was found it revealed that there was a Robert Walraven in Haaksbergen but that the surname was wrong (Hendenich).

By then the doubts had risen and that we thought Paul Gruendel had never existed. We were wrong. Paul Gruendel had existed and was exactly had he had stated in his letter: Historiker und Mahler (historian and painter). The site of the Institut Deutsche Adelsforschung states that Paul Gruendel was a well known forger.

In a few books we found references (ie in De Kroniek van Sweder Schele) to the count(ess) of Hardick (or De Hardick) with the note that it concerned the Count(ess) of Hohenlohe. The connection between the two names is unknown. Also a newspaper article in The Pointer of November 23, 1923, Riverdale, Illinois on Page 8 mentions a Countess Hardick, but that is the only reference we could find of her. She is probably Eleonora Jacqueline Johanna Karolina, countess Hadik de Futak (married to Hubert Philipp Maria, Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and died 15 Nov 1923 in Vienna)