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| Stephen A. Hart courtesy of D. Evans |
So, after having reviewed the documents
I have pertaining to my two times great grandfather, John Hart, the
publications, the census data, the land records, and the probate
records, the only other pieces of evidence I have not mentioned are
his headstone, which I have shared elsewhere in this blog, and the
civil war record of my great grandfather, Melvin Hart, which lists
his parents when he enlisted in the Civil War. I have one more
roundabout way left of connecting John with his father Stephen, which
would help me claim Jeremiah Hart as a Revolutionary War patiot
ancestor. I believe that if I could create a link between John and
one of his siblings who have a strong link to their father Stephen,
then I could perhaps strengthen my case. Here is the one chain of
connection through records that I have found.
John and his children were not the
only members of the Hart family who removed to Minnesota, as we have
discussed. His uncle Philip Hart and his brother Stephen A. Hart went
to Goodhue County. I have previously blogged about the latter.:
Stephen
A. Hart: The Singing Surveyor of Goodhue County, Minnesota
(Since then, I have been the happy recipient of a photo of him from
another descendant of Jeremiah Hart, which I share above). The one
connection I found between Stephen A. and John's family is a
newspaper article stating that Stephen died in home of Gilbert Samuel
Chase, the husband of John's daughter Chloe (The Faribault
Republican, Feburary 27, 1895).
(It must be remembered that Stephen Junior was perhaps the youngest
child in his family, having been born in 1818, and was therefore
close in age to his niece, Chloe, who was born in 1821). This
strongly suggests, but does not prove, a family connection. A brick
is not a wall, but several bricks help make a wall. The Hart
Genealogy explicitly states that Stephen Senior had a son Stephen
Junior who lived in Red Wing, Minnesota. This is the clearest
statement of the connection I have found. There are, however, other
documents which connect Stephen with his siblings in New York,
siblings whose obituaries and other documents clearly show that they
are the sons of the elder Stephen. These are George and Alvin Hart.
Stephen Jr. travelled back to visit
family in New York at least three times in his life. There are
newspaper articles showing that he visited with family in 1868, 1889,
and 1893. The article which is the strongest evidence for his
connection with the family of Stephen Sr. is from The Watertown
Daily Times, dated March 8,
1889, which connects him with his brother, George:
I
plan to keep looking for other documentary evidence of John Hart's
relationship with his father Stephen Hart. For example, I have yet to
obtain the Civil War Pension Files for John's sons James and Joel.
This is a longshot that there may be something in one of those files,
and it is costly to order them. If you, gentle reader, are in
possession of one of these files, and are willing to peruse them for
this evidence, you would have my gratitude. I think may be worthwhile
to go ahead and prepare a written case for their connection based on
what I have. I will keep you informed if I am able to prove the
connection between John Hart and his father to the D.A.R.'s
satisfaction.
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