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J. Henry Harden (born John Henry Harden) was an agricultural county agent and Georgia state legislator. He went by his middle name, Henry, as was the custom then in the Deep South and signed his name J. Henry Harden.

He was born May 9, 1912, is Osierfield, Georgia, on the family farm, the second born fraternal twin with William Harmon Harden, both sons of Seaborn Judge Tecumseh Harden and Ola Esther Lee Harden. He died December 6, 1982, in Athens, Georgia. He was the son of Seaborn Judge Tecumseh Harden and Ola Esther Lee Harden, and the grandson of William Harmon Harden and Jane Jones Harden.

He married Mary Juanita (Nita) Puckett August 20, 1939, in Irwinton, Georgia. He was the daughter of William Marcus Puckett, M.D., and Sara Madissa Hembree Puckett.

Henry was the first resident of Osierfield to graduate from college. He was president of the University of Georgia Class of 1936, secretary-treasurer of his junior class, a member of Demosthenian Literary Society, and editor of the Georgia Agriculturalist. He was elected to Aghon and Alpha Zeta agricultural honor societies. He worked his way through college, earned a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture degree on June 9, 1936, from The University of Georgia, majoring in agricultural economics. He was a student deacon at the First Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia.

Graduated South Georgia Junior State College, 1931.

He was a Sunday School Teacher at the First Baptist Church in Fitzgerald, Georgia for 20 years and a Deacon for seven. Later he was a member of the First Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia.

He was assistant county agricultural agent for Dodge County, Georgia from 1936-1938, then county agricultural agent for Wilkinson County, Georgia from 1938-1941, then county agent for Ben Hill Country from 1941 until 1948. His job was considered essential to the war effort, so he was not allowed to enlist during WWII.

He taught vocational agriculture at Lynwood High School in 1948 (later Ben Hill County Elementary School).

During WWII in Fitzgerald, Georgia, he had a weekly radio show on WBHB, and a weekly front page column in The Fitzgerald Leader-Enterprise and Press.

From 1950-1955 he was a cotton and tobacco broker in Fitzgerald.

He served in the Georgia state legislature from 1949 to 1950 as Democratic Representative from Ben Hill County and served on eight committees. He introduced four bills and co-sponsored four resolutions.

He served in the Georgia state legislature from 1951 to 1953 as Senator for the 45th District. While Senator, he introduced seven bills (four passed) and two resolutions (both adopted).

His grandfather, William Harmon Harden enlisted in the Confederate States Army in January of 1863. He became a Corporal, then Sergeant, in the 63rd Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army, serving at Thunderbolt Battery, Fort McAllister, and Rosedew Island near Savannah, Georgia. Then he fought at Resaca (where he was wounded), Kennesaw Mountain, and Jonesboro, Georgia in 46 engagements (77 days of combat). In April 1965, he was in charge of a battery of heavy artillery near Macon, Georgia where he was captured and paroled. Before the war, he was a schoolteacher; after the war, he was a farmer and Primitive Baptist minister.

In 1972, he graduated from The University of Georgia with a Master of Education degree, majoring in counseling.

At various times, he was a vocational agriculture and shop schoolteacher at Lynwood High School from 1948 to 1955, Boy Scout official, member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Georgia state vice-president), Rotary Club, Farm Bureau, a Mason and Shriner.

He retired from public service as a probation officer in Georgia and died in 1982 in Athens, Georgia at age 70.