Abram Hardee was a native of Chester, South Carolina. He graduated from Draughn’s Business College in Columbia and became secretary to Mr. P. A. Willcox, the General Solicitor of the Atlantic Coastline Railroad, at Wilmington, North Carolina. While working, he studied at Wilmington Law School and was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1917.
He moved to Florence, South Carolina in 1921 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1922, continuing in practice with Mr. P.A. Willcox until the latter’s death in 1922. Thereafter, he formed a partnership with Mr. Frederick L. Willcox. That association became the firm of Willcox, Hardee, Houck, Palmer and O’Farrell of which he was a senior partner for over thirty years.
In 1918, he married Cornelia Covington and they had a daughter and a lawyer son. He joined the First Presbyterian Church in 1920 and was ordained an Elder in 1945.
Known for his thoroughness, legal acumen, fairness, graciousness and moral rectitude, he was often appointed as a Special Judge.