Ethel Hardy
(1883-1955)

1900-1909: High School Activities and Employment as a Teacher

1903

OldNews.com, Monroe County Mail, Fairport, New York, Thursday, 3 Dec 1903, p. 6 :
downloaded 20 Jul 2026.

OldNews.com, Cayuga Chief, Weedsport, New York, Thursday, 11 Mar 1905, p. 8 :
downloaded 22 Jul 2026.

The following clips from small town newspapers in upstate New York give us a glimpse of Ethel Hardy’s life as a teenager and young adult. We note mention of the church in two articles, and believe that Ethel and her siblings and parents were active in the Methodist Church in Jordan.

OldNews.com, Monroe County Mail, Fairport, New York, Thursday, 17 Dec 1903, p. 9 :
downloaded 20 Jul 2026.

1905

OldNews.com, Cayuga Chief, Weedsport, New York, Thursday, 8 Jul 1905, p. 8 :
downloaded 22 Jul 2026.

1904

OldNews.com, Monroe County Mail, Fairport, New York, Thursday, 14 Jul 1904, p. 7 :
downloaded 20 Jul 2026.

1906

OldNews.com, Monroe County Mail,
Fairport, New York, Thursday, 5 Apr 1906, p. 3 :
downloaded 22 Jul 2026.

OldNews.com, Cayuga Chief, Weedsport, New York, Thursday, 24 Sep 1904, p. 8 :
downloaded 22 Jul 2026.

1909

OldNews.com, Altamont Enterprise,
Altamont, New York, Friday, 6 Aug 1909, p. 1 :
downloaded 22 Jul 2026.

1910: Marriage to Sven Harry Liljestrand

The following documents and a newspaper account provide details of Ethel's marriage to Harry Liljestrand
on 15 Jun 1910 in Elbridge, New York. Note that one of the witnesses recorded in the License was Ethel’s first cousin Charles M. Bramley, son of her aunt Amelia Hardy Bramley (see Bramley cousins page).

Affadavit: 8 Jun 1910. Scan from family copy

License: 15 Jun 1910. Ancestry.com, New York, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1847-1849, 1907-1936 > Onandaga > 1889-1920 > image 618 of 654 :
downloaded 23 Oct 2024.

FultonHistory.com, Patterson Weekly News, Patterson, New York, Thursday, 23 Jun 1910, p. 4 : downloaded 20 Jul 2026.

Photograph Gallery

1916-1919: Missionary trip to China with Harry

Jan 1916 - portrait taken before she left with Sven on a Missionary mission to West China's Szechuan Province, provided by Christine Thompson, an Ancestry.com user

We have the following additional photographs related to Ethel and Harry’s initial missionary trip to China in 1916.

1916 Portrait

1916 Passport Photo

From Harry’s July 1916 Passport application (see Sven page)

1918 Passport (Family) Photo

From Harry’s May 1918 Passport application (see Sven page)
L to R: Ethel, Paul Howard, Sven Harry, Oscar Eric, Robert

China Correspondence

Originals of these papers are in the Huntington Museum in San Marino, California

Pages 1-78

(click images to view .pdf files)

From Page 1: This was a huge collection of correspondence that was organized and scanned in 1997 by Li Ban Bei. Jim’s grandfather Robert S. Liljestrand wrote the following description for his brothers Howard, Eric and Sven Jr. “This collection of letters came mainly from the estate of Mrs. Hulda Liljestrand Henschke of Utica, NY…Letters had come to Hulda … from Eva Masters of Springfield, MA, Bertelle Chandler of Dunkirk, NY and Mabel Hardy of Jordan, NY. It seems as though Harry and Ethel Liljestrand depended upon Harry’s sister Hulda to hold in security their letters and papers for them until they retired. It seemed important to keep this collection together…for the immediate families to get a sense of Harry’s and Ethel’s experiences in China, in peaceful times and in the periods of horrible war.”

Pages 79-155

Pages 156-225

Pages 226-256

Death in 1955

Obituary

FultonHistory.com. Pawling-Patterson News-Chronicle, Pawling, New York,
Thursday, 16 Jun 1955, p. 1 : accessed 12 Nov 2025.

Obituary

GenealogyBank.com, Utica Daily Press, Utica, NY, Friday, 10 Jun 1955, page 31 : accessed 2 Dec 2024.

Memorial Service

Family copy