Theodorus Hart and his "Irish" Origins

Theodorus Hart from Simon Lobdell--1746 of Milford Conn.

With so much family history being available on line, we may tend to forget that previous generations had a much greater challenge piecing together their family trees, despite their being closer in time to our ancestors. Access to records was much more difficult for them, and it is likely that they relied more extensively on family stories. Because of this, it pays to be wary of what they had to say about their forebears.

A case in point is that of Theodorus Hart, (a.k.a. Theodore), the publisher of the Pittston Gazette in Pennsylvania. He lived in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and is responsible for many a wild goose chase on behalf of our mutual ancestor, and Revolutionary War patriot, Jeremiah Hart. I believe it is important to help set the record straight about Theodorus's mistaken notions about Jeremiah's origins.

It appears that Theodorus was the source for the sections in Irish Pedigrees: Or, the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation Vol. 1 by John O'Hart, and The Irish and the Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, When Cromwell came to Ireland: Or, a Supplement to Irish Pedigrees, by the same author,

which both deal with Jeremiah Hart and his descendants. This is because both works, in their discussions of Jeremiah's descendants, focus on Theodorus. O'Hart writes, "There is yet another branch of the 'Hart' family located in Pittston, Pennsylvania, which we cannot connect with any of the foregoing families, but which, judging by its coat of arms, is, in our opinion, a branch of our own family. We can trace the descent of that branch only from Jeremiah Hart, who when a young man lived in Duchess County, State of New York; removed to Saratoga County in said state, there married, owned a large farm, and lived and died". There follows a description of the lineage ending with Theodorus.

In addition, Theodorus's obituary in his own newspaper enlarges upon the same story. He appears to believe that Jeremiah and his brothers came from Ireland, which we now know is not the case. The records show that Jeremiah was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, and was descended from a line of Harts, with the first Hart in America being Nicholas, the merchant of Taunton. It is however, possible, that Nicholas, who very much appears to have been born in England, may have been of Irish descent at some point.

Theodorus, born September 10, 1847 in Athens, Pennsylvania, was descended from Jeremiah Hart's son Philip, who lived in New York, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Theodorus died of “muscular rheumatism” on April 13, 1901. His obituary in the Pittston Gazette, dated the day of his passing, (and may therefore have been partially written by Theodorus himself), states: "The blood of sturdy, patriotic Irish stock flowed in his veins. Three brothers of the O'Harts (as the family name was originally written) immigrated from the region of Dublin to America close to half a century previous to the outbreak of the Revolution. One of the brothers finally settled in the vicinity of Saratoga, N.Y. It was from this branch of the family that the subject of our sketch was descended, and it is a sufficient explanation of his patriotic instincts to say that his great grandfather on both sides fought in the War of the Revolution, and that his grandfather, again on both sides, served against the Mother Country in the War of 1812".

Theodorus also seems to be the source of possible misinformation about Jeremiah Hart's wife, Abigail Pearsall. Both of the O'Hart books state that Jeremiah married “Abigail Purcell (nee Macomber)". However, O'Hart makes a correction in the Irish Landed Gentry book, "At p. 86, No. 1 read: 1. Jeremiah Hart, of Saratoga County, state of New York, b. circa 1850; married Abigail (Macomber) Purcell instead of Abigail Purcell nee Macomber".

I have yet to find any sign of the name “Macomber” being associated with Abigail anywhere else. However, Jeremiah's sisters Hannah and Susannah both married Macombers, and so there may be a connection between Abigail and the Macombers of which we are not yet aware. I hope to write more about Abigail's more likely parentage in a future blogpost.