When I was a boy, Daniel Boone was a Brand Name. American Youth thought he was all about being free in this Democracy. He came here to be himself, and do what he wants. No one could stop him. He is above the law. The truth is, he was in constant litigation after the failure of Boonsborough and Transylvania Company that he co-founded with Colonel Thomas Hart, and his brother, Nathaniel Hart, who are kin to Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and the famous artist of the same name who was father-figure to artist, Jackson Pollack. The artists, Garth Benton, his daughter, Drew Benton, and my late sister, the world famous artist, Christine Rosamond Benton are in the Hart family tree, along with thousands of other history making folks, that made America great!
History has proven that founding and ruling families produced much of the world’s art. The artist, Philip Boileau, was the grandson of Senator Benton, who secured the Oregon Territory with the help of his daughter, who was married to ‘The Path Finder’ John Fremont. Oregon Historians exclude the truth the Hart-Benton partnership employed the best attorneys in America who happened to be their kindred, to purchase seventy million acres from the Cherokee. To read the history of this family, is to know why we are a Nation of Laws. a fact President Trump is about to find out. British Parliament is meeting in order to restrict our President’s visit.
This article was written when President Obama made special laws to protect U.S. citizens from terrorists attack. Trump refers to it without the help of a bevvy of attorneys by his side. He is a fool! Meanwhile, Melania is suing someone who has tarnished her Brand, she stating she expects to make millions marketing the First Lady. If you were wondering if she is the brains of the family, wonder no more. Both of them are on the cheap when it comes to hiring the most brilliant legal minds – in the world. Consider my autobiography ‘Capturing Beauty’.
https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2011/06/pres_responsibility/
Then there is the Budweiser commercial and the call of Trump supporters to boycott this family founded brewery, along with other companies that are against the BAN. Consider the Hobby Lobby ruling. The Boone, Hart, and Benton brothers, knew everything was won and lost in a court of law. It appears this BAN is the invention of Steve Bannon, who studied law at Harvard, but, being a IDEALOGUE, and a racist, he has been looking for a way to cut corners and make America – HIS! The couple, Bannon is supposed to protect, are now deep, and sinking, in a Louisiana Swamp!
These Great Businessmen were British subjects when they started to carve up this country with legal deeds of trust. Senator Thomas Hart Benton wrote ‘Manifest Destiny’ where he envisioned his Families Legal Firm taking over China, and, white men siring half-breeds by Chinese women, in order to make a new breed of men that will Go West, into Russia. Trump&Bannon are employing the Syrian Scare, and, the Border Banditos, suggesting non-whites want to breed with white women, in order to overcome the hold white folks have on America. They want to own the franchise! They’re talking about my kinfolk, who, own the Legal Franchise. Trump&Bannon must now prove they are NOT Co-terrorists – at least! It’s time for Trump to divest and show is tax returns, or, face Impeachment! The Trumpites are severely hurting the All American Brand! I need a good attorney.
Jon Presco
“The constitution is built to ensure safety and happiness by restricting the sovereign government from cannibalizing the people. Madison wrote extensively in the federalist about the dangers of a war time executive hell bent on security, safety, etc. as a pretext for limiting liberties. Thus the president as well as officials/reps in all three branches and even in state governments are sworn to protect, as you said, the constitution above all else.
https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2011/06/pres_responsibility/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania_Colony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(politician)
http://americanillustration.org/project/philip-boileau/
According to President Obama, he has no higher duty than to protect the American people. But that’s not what the Constitution says.
“As President, I have often said that I have no greater responsibility than protecting the American people,” wrote President Obama in the new “National Strategy for Counterterrorism” (pdf) that was released by the White House yesterday. A similar sentiment appears in the Introduction to the new Strategy, which states that the President “bears no greater responsibility than ensuring the safety and security of the American people.”
This seems like a fateful misunderstanding. As chief executive and commander in chief of the armed forces, the President obviously has responsibility for national security. But to claim that he has no greater responsibility than “protecting the American people” is a paternalistic invention that is historically unfounded and potentially damaging to the political heritage of the nation.
The presidential oath of office that is prescribed by the U.S. Constitution (Art. II, sect. 1) makes it clear that the President’s supreme responsibility is to “…preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” There is no mention of public safety. It is the constitutional order that the President is sworn to protect, even if doing so entails risks to the safety and security of the American people.
Trump “had the unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as an extremely famous and well-known person, as well as a former professional model, brand spokesperson and successful businesswoman, to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world,” the lawsuit said.
The products could have included apparel, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics, hair care and fragrance, among others, the suit says. The first lady is seeking compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150 million. Richard Painter, who advised former President George W. Bush on ethics, said the language in the lawsuit shows Melania Trump is engaging “in an unprecedented, clear breach of rules about using her government position for private gain. This is a very serious situation where she says she intends to make a lot of money. That ought to be repudiated by the White House or investigated by Congress.”
One of Clay’s clients was his father-in-law, Colonel Thomas Hart, an early settler of Kentucky and a prominent businessman.[18] Hart proved to be an important business connection for Clay, as he helped Clay gain new clients and grow in professional stature.[25] Clay’s most notable client was Aaron Burr in 1806, after the US District Attorney Joseph Hamilton Daveiss indicted him for allegedly planning an expedition into Spanish Territory west of the Mississippi River. Clay and his law partner John Allen successfully defended Burr.[26] Some years later Thomas Jefferson convinced Clay that Daveiss had been right in his charges. Clay was so upset that many years later, when he met Burr again, Clay refused to shake his hand.[27] Clay’s legal career would continue long after his election to Congress, and in the 1823 Supreme Court case, Green v. Biddle, Clay submitted the Supreme Court’s first amicus curiae.[28]
http://www.lucysfamilytree.com/wilkerson/fort-boonesborough-nathaniel-hart-daniel-boone/
http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/region/8/daniel_boone/appd.htm
https://tao221.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/john-branch-dorothy-myra-branch-benton-battle-a-ghost/
Benton Genealogyat Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site
The Bentons were originally established in Lincolnshire England. A branch of the family went to South Wales. In 1731, three brothers, Benton, came from Wales to America. They intended to settle on Chesapeake Bay, but contrary winds drove the ship south, and the brothers landed on Albermarle Sound, North Carolina, whence they went to the uplands and settled at Hillsboro, Orange County, N.C. These brothers were Samuel, Abner, and Jesse. The latter never married. Abner married in Wales, Samuel in North Carolina. This sketch has to do with Abner Benton and heirs. To him was born Jesse B. and Catherine. The latter never married, both born in North Carolina U.S.A. Jesse B. Benton was sent to England and educated. On his return from England, he was appointed (by the Crown), Secretary to the Lord Tryon, Governor of the Province. Afterwards an ugly British General in the Revolutionary War, Jesse B. Benton broke with his chief in the War for American Independence, and was an officer in the American Patriot Army. He, Jesse B. Benton, was married during the War for Independence to Ann Gooch, the daughter of a disreputable English officer under Lord Tryon. Her mother was named Hart and was American born, and Ann Gooch always said, “I came from a family of Harts.” Her cousin Col. Nathaniel Hart was killed at the “River Raisin”, in a battle with British and Indians, during the War of 1812. To the union between Jesse B. Benton and Ann Gooch, there was born Thomas Hart [the Senator], Jesse, Samuel, Nathaniel, Susan, and Catherine Benton. Susan and Catherine never married. In 1793, at the age of 46, Jesse B. Benton died at Hillsboro, N.C.
The actions of the royal government increasingly incited the wrath of the Regulators, and the sheriff was one of a group of officials they severely whipped in 1770. In view of such treatment, Hart undoubtedly received considerable satisfaction in serving as quartermaster for Tryon when the governor dispersed the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance. During the relative calm that ensued after the War of the Regulation, Hart was able to concentrate on business enterprises. The role of an entrepreneur appealed to him, and in 1774 he became one of the partners in Richard Henderson’s Louisa Company to buy and develop lands in what became Tennessee and Kentucky. Hart journeyed to the Watauga section of Tennessee as one of the company’s representatives at a meeting arranged by Daniel Boone with the Cherokee Indians. John Sevier and Isaac Shelby, who attended as spectators, saw the Indians accept several loads of “trading goods” in return for their titular rights to a huge area of western land. After this transaction, the company was reorganized as the Transylvania Company with Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, William Johnston, James Hogg, John Luttrell, John Williams, David Hart, and Leonard Henly Bullock as shareholders. Trading with the Indians for western lands strictly violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763, but, as many Americans were engaging in land speculation despite the king’s fiat, the Transylvanians ignored it also. The potential profit in the venture was enormous, and the partners lost no time in enlisting settlers to buy or rent land in the territory. Thomas Hart visited the Watauga again in 1775 and his brother, Nathaniel, became a resident agent for the company in the west until he was killed by Indians in 1782. The outcome of the American Revolution relieved the Transylvania Company of any interference in its affairs from the British government but presented a new dilemma because the states of North Carolina and Virginia claimed Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively, as part of their territory. The partners determined to establish their claim to the western land if possible and years of litigation followed. The final decision rendered that the company’s purchase was illegal but a tract was awarded the partners to recompense them for the expenses incurred in the transaction. Hart traded part of his share for land in Kentucky and eventually settled on it. After the War of the Regulation, Hart continued to fill an important role in political affairs, serving as a juror; member of a commission to build a new jail in Hillsborough; member of the colonial Assembly from Orange County in 1773; and then representative in the First, Second, and Third Provincial congresses.
When the Revolution began, he was appointed commissary for the Sixth North Carolina Regiment with the rank of colonel. In addition, he was elected a senator in the North Carolina General Assembly for the 1777 session where he became involved in the work of so many committees that he resigned his military commission in order to attend to them. Although Hart, with many others, could not condone the violent tactics of the Regulators, he felt no compunction in becoming an ardent patriot in the American Revolution when independence was formally declared. In doing so, he incurred the hatred of the loyal Tories who unleashed their persecutions when Lord Cornwallis approached Hillsborough with the British Army. Concerned for the safety of his wife and several daughters, Hart removed to Hagerstown, Md., accompanied by Nathaniel Rochester, one of his former business partners. Shortly after his departure the Battle of Hart’s Mill was fought on his property, which the British occupied. Hart and Rochester built a mill and a nail and rope factory, both of which prospered.
The colonel gradually disposed of his North Carolina property and never returned to the state. He sold his homeplace, Hartford, to Jesse Benton, husband of his niece, Nancy, and father of Thomas Hart Benton. As the purchaser died before paying for the place, Hart became the mortgagee of the property through a friendly lawsuit and allowed the widow and her family to continue to live there. The mortage was never fully redeemed, which apparently caused no ill will as Hart left the Bentons an additional tract of land when he died.
In 1794, Hart moved to Lexington, Ky., where he resided for the remainder of his life. He built up his rope and hemp business into a highly profitable commercial enterprise and engaged in various forms of trade and investment. Due to his affluence, pleasing personality, and shrewd mind, Hart soon became one of the most prominent men in Kentucky. His daughter, Ann (Nancy), married James Brown who had engaged in business with the colonel and Rochester back in Hillsborough, and who later became the U.S. minister to France. Another daughter, Lucretia, born after the Harts left North Carolina, married Henry Clay. A niece married Isaac Shelby, and the other members of the family made marital connections in influential circles
In 1796, the year Tennessee was admitted to the Union, Jesse B. Benton’s widow Ann, with her family, moved to Tennessee, and settled some forty miles south of Nashville, on land provided by her husband during his life. In 1800 Ann Benton’s sons Thomas H. and Nathaniel returned to North Carolina and entered the State school at Chapel Hill. Neither of them graduated. Of the four brothers Thomas H., Jesse, Samuel, and Nathaniel, the following facts are worthy of record: Samuel married in 1808, a Miss Grundy, and raised six children all born in Carroll County, West Tennessee. Four of these were boys, Nathaniel, Abner, Thomas H., and Samuel (the latter twins) and Catherine and Sarah. Catherine never married. The elder, Nat, went to California and reared a family. Abner died in youth. Thomas H. settled in Iowa, was a Democrat, was a Colonel and Brig. General in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Was father of Maria Benton, a brilliant woman who married Ben Cable of Illinois and is living. Samuel settled in Holly Springs, Mississippi, reared a family, was twice a Whig Candidate for Congress, was a Confederate Colonel and brevet Brigadier General, was wounded at Resaca, Ga., and died in 1864.
Sarah married a Brandt, reared a family and lived and died in St. Louis. Jesse, son of Jesse B. and Ann Benton, married in middle Tennessee, Mary (Polly) Childress, both of whom in old age died near Nashville without children. Thomas Hart, the eldest son was a member of the Tennessee Legislature, a lawyer and a Lieut. Colonel in the War of 1812. An unfortunate break between Generals Jackson, Carroll and Coffee, and Thos. H., Jesse and Nathaniel Benton brothers, resulted in a street duel in Nashville, in September 1813, in which General Jackson and General Carroll were both shot.
In 1814 Thos. H. and Nathaniel moved to the Territory of Missouri. Thos. Hart Benton was elected one of the two first United States Senators for Missouri, and served thirty consecutive years, followed by two years in the lower House of Congress. After becoming a Senator he married a daughter of Governor McDowell of Virginia. To this union were born: Sarah, Mary, Jesse Ann, Elizabeth, and Randolph Benton. The latter died in his minority. Sarah married Baron Bolieau, French Minister to the U.S. in the forties, and was the mother of the celebrated artist Philip Bolieau later of New York, now deceased. Mary married a Mr. Jacobs of Jefferson County, Kentucky, an extensive Planter. Jesse Ann married Jon C Fremont, a U.S. Lieutenant of French descent, and afterwards the California Pathfinder, and later in 1856 the first Republican Candidate for President, against James Buchanan, and was not supported by Col. Benton, his father-in-law. Fremont was a Major General U.S.A. in the Civil War. Fremont and Jesse Ann Benton, had born to them John C. (who was a U.S. Naval Captain), and Lilly, who never married but lived to be sixty years old. John C. Jr., died a Captain and has a son John C. now a Captain in the U.S. Navy, and two girls not married. Elizabeth married Commodore Jones, U.S.N. and died in Florence, Italy in 1903.
Nathaniel Benton (our direct ancestor), was born in February 1788, in Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina, moved with his mother and family to middle Tennessee in 1796, spent afterwards two years in the North Carolina University and in 1810 married Dorothy Myra Branch, daughter of Governor Branch of North Carolina. To this union were born Nathaniel in 1811, Alfred in 1814, Columbus in 1819, Abner in 1816, Susan in 1822, Thomas Hart in 1825, Rufus in 1829, and Maecenas in 1831. Nathaniel and Alfred were born in middle Tennessee; Abner, Columbus and Susan were born in Jefferson County, Missouri; Thomas Hart, Rufus and Maecenas were born in Dyer County, Tennessee. The elder of this family Nat Benton, spent two years at West Point Military Academy, resigned, and with his mother’s family (his father Nat Benton having died in 1833) moved to Texas in October 1835, and settled on the Brazos, near Waco.
In February 1836, Nat Benton together with his brother Alfred joined the army of General Sam Houston for the liberation of Texas from Mexican domination. Nat Benton however, accidentally shot himself in the foot, and came near passing away. Alfred Benton and Ben McCulloch were with Houston at San Jacinto and helped in Texas Independence in 1836. Nat Benton in 1837 returned to Tennessee and married Harriet, the sister of Henry and Ben McCulloch. To this union was born Benjamine Eustace Benton. Nat Benton’s wife died in 1845. In 1853 Nat Benton and son left Dyersburg, Tennessee and went to Texas. Both he and his son Eustace were in the Texas Rangers, and while so engaged Eustace was badly wounded, losing one eye. Captain Nat Benton married again during the’50s to a Miss Harris and children were born to this marriage, but the family history to which I had access did not state how many children, nor where the second Mrs. Benton died.
Nat Benton was a soldier in the Confederate army attaining the rank of Colonel, and was badly wounded at Port Hudson. He returned to Sequing Texas, and lived there till his death which occurred in 1873. His son Capt. Ben Eustace Benton married during the Civil War on April 15 1863, Miss Margaret C. Walker, daughter of General B.W. Walker, and to this union was born Miss Eulalia Benton now living in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Capt Ben E. Benton died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas June 13 1914.
Alfred Benton, second son of Nat and Dorothy M. Benton, after serving in the war for Texas Independence, died in Texas in 1838. Abner the third son, married Mary Ann Wardlaw of Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tenn., and to this union were born eleven children. Fannie, the eldest, married Tom W. Neal at Dyersburg, had two children. Ella N. Crook, now of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Lillian Simpson, and died in 1880. Alfred lives in Louisville, Ky., Ed at Trenton, Tennessee, Hattie at Memphis, Annie at Dyersburg, Tenn., and Minne at Memphis, others all dead. Columbus Benton died in infancy. Susan married one Boggess, had eleven children, none of whom are living to my knowledge, and she died in June 1885.
Thos H. Benton Jr, son of Nat and Dollie Benton, married Mary Ellen Eason, whose father was Carter T. Eason, and mother Ellen, daughter of Gen. Daniel Morgan who defeated Tarleton at the “Cow Pens”. To this union were born Maecenas E., Mary Ellen, Nat (both the latter died in infancy), Jesse Ann, Thomas H. (both of whom died when about grown), Dollie who married Frank E. Miller and had one child named Mary Ruth Miller. Dollie Benton Miller died May 1895. Samuel Abner born in 1863 died in 1894, and Fannie May, who married E.L. Logan and has had two children, Sam Benton and Ernestine. They live in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Maecenas E. Benton, the eldest of this family is a lawyer, born in Obion County, Tennessee, removed to Missouri in 1869. Was two terms State’s attorney, one term as State Representative, one term United States Attorney, and five terms a member of Congress. He was married in 1888 to Elizabeth Wise of Waxahachie, Texas and of Kentucky parentage. To whom were born Thomas Hart [the artist], Mary Elizabeth, Nathaniel Wise, and Mildred Benton, all now grown.
Rufus and Maecenas, the youngest of the children of Nat and Dorothy Benton and brothers of Nat, Abner, and Thomas H., died in youth.
This statement covers the direct line from Abner Benton the Englishman who came to America in 1731, down to and including all of the present generation of whom the writer has any knowledge.
Compiled by Maecenas E Benton of Neosho, Missouri from old family records, from Dorothy Myra Benton’s family bible and from his personal knowledge.
Dated July 22, 1915 (signed) ME Benton
About Thomas Hart, Sr.
Thomas emigrated about 1690 from London, England to Hanover County, Virginia He was a Merchant who likely became blind late in life. He died in Hanover County and left his only son Thomas Hart who was about 11 when he died.
His son, Thomas Hart, Jr., was born in England in 1679 and married Susanna Rice, daughter of Thomas and Margaret(House) Rice of Hanover, Virginia. Thomas Junior died in that County about the year 1755, leaving six children: Thomas, John, Benjamine, David, Nathaniel, and Ann. The children removed with their mother to Orange County, North Carolina, about the year 1760. From the above children sprang a numerous connection, now scattered widely over the United States. These include some of the most noted families in the nation, among them the descendants of Henry Clay, of Thomas Hart Benton (Senator from Missouri for thirty years), the Fremonts, Adairs, Shelbys, Pindells, Mogoffins, Dixons, Dallams, Todds, McDowells, Irvies, and the descendants of Judge Deadrick of Tennessee.
The following is from a Genealogical Report from a paid source, perhaps the American Historical Society in NYC. It was probably written in the 1940s or 1950s.The reliability is uncertain.
“Thomas Hart, a London Merchant, emigrated from England to New Kent County, Virginia, in 1638. His son Thomas Junior (1678-1755), married Susannah Rice, who, after her husband’s death removed with her children to Orange County, North Carolina, ca. 1760. Son Benjamin (1730-1798) to now Elbert County, Georgia, then to Kentucky. Lieutenant in American Revolution, he married Nancy Morgan who became the famous ‘Nancy Hart’, believed to have been the daughter of BG (Brigadier General?) Daniel Morgan, American Revolution. And finally, it notes that ‘Richardson Roundtree m. Mildred Hart, probably the grand-daughter of Thomas Hart, Jr., and Susannah (Rice) Hart’. Citations are included in the text.
Thomas Hart (senior), the founder of the family in the ‘Tar Heel State’ was a merchant, who married Susan Gray. Their children were Susan, Lucretia, Nancy, John, Nathaniel, and Thomas, Jr. With ….Daniel Boone & William Johnston, the elder Hart bought large tracts of land from the Indians in KY, whither he removed his household. Susan m. Price, Lucretia m. Henry Clay, Nancy m. a Brown, and her husband was afterward a US Minister to France. The daughter of Thomas Hart, Jr., m. Jesse Benton, clerk of the Superior Court of Orange County, North Carolina, and became the mother of Thomas Hart Benton, pioneer statesman and orator of Missouri. Nancy Hart, the Georgia heroine was of this family”
Thomas Rice, b. England of Welch parents-to Hanover County, Virginia, 1693, returned to England to settle a large estate, died at sea. His son, Hezekiah, was a Lt. & Capt. in American Revolution, and a delegate, Orange County, N. C. (Perhaps Susannah returned to her father (Hezekiah)’s home after her husband died in 1755. From Greek Poland Rice’s lineage in American Compendium, Vol VI, p. 226.
Thomas Hart, ancestor of the family in America, was a merchant in London. In 1638 he emigrated to Virginia and settled in New Kent County (See Early Virginia Immigrant, p 151). His son, Thomas II, married Susannah Rice. He was born in New Kent County, Virginia in 1679, died in Hanover County, 1755. His son Benjamin, b 1730, d in Brunswick County, Georgia, in 1799, after the death of his father, Thomas Hart, Jr., moved to Orange County, N. C., and in 1760 was appointed County Commissioner. He lived for a while at Edgefield, S. C., and married the famous Nancy Morgan (Hart). This is from a report written by George Stephens, filed at: 2000-12-17. Mary Head Burton (quoting from the 1935 edition of a genealogical reference work “Americana”, pp 134-135, which in turn cites an unknown volume by Tyler, Volume III, pg 169)
Mary Head Burton then quoted from the “American Compendium”, Vol. VI, pg 634. Thomas Hart, from London settled in Hanover County, virginia about 1690. He was a merchant. Thomas Hart, Jr., (1678-1755) Hanover County, Virginia, married Susannah Rice, who, after her husband’s death, removed with her children to Orange County, N. C. around 1760. Son Benjamin (1730-1798) to present Elbert County, Georgia, then to Kentucky; Lt. in american Revolution, he married Nancy Morgan (Hart) believed to be the daughter of Brig. General Dan. Morgan, American Revolution.
James Brown (September 11, 1766 – April 7, 1835) was a lawyer beginning in Kentucky, U.S. Senator from Louisiana, and Minister to France (1823-1829).
His brother John Brown was a US Senator from Kentucky and active in its gaining statehood. Well-connected among the southern elite, they were also cousins of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge and Francis Preston. James Brown was brother-in-law to Henry Clay and Nathaniel G. S. Hart, the uncle of James Brown Clay, Henry Clay, Jr., John Morrison Clay, the great uncle of B. Gratz Brown, and the cousin-in-law of Thomas Hart Benton.
Thomas Hart and Daniel Boone of Kentucky
My adopted son, Hollis Lee Williams, was born in Louisville Kentucky, and is kin to Thomas Hart from whom the famous artist, Thomas Hart Benton, descends. My brother-in-law, Garth Benton, was a cousin of Thomas
Jon
Colonel Thomas Hart
Colonel Thomas Hart was the son of Thomas Hart and Susanna Rice Hart and the brother to John, Benjamin, David, Nathaniel and Ann.
“The mother of Lucretia Hart was Susanna, daughter of John Gray, Colonel in the Royal Army. Tradition says he opposed his daughter’s marriage on the grounds that Thomas Hart, her intended, was a rebel. He was, indeed, a bold and active rebel, a member of two Provincial Congresses of North America, a Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, and one of the principals of that daring and romantic enterprise, the Transylvania Land Company. In spite of her father’s disapproval the wedding of Susanna Gray and Thomas Hart, parents of Lucretia Hart, went off as planned.” (Simpson, Letters to)
In 1780 Thomas Hart moved from North Carolina to Hagerstown, Maryland, where his two older daughters, Eliza and Susan, were married and where Lucretia was born.
“In the spring of 1794 Thomas Hart wrote to Governor Blount of Tennessee, who had married his wife’s niece, ‘You will be surprised to hear I am going to Kentucky. Mrs. Hart, who for eighteen years has opposed this measure, has now given her consent and so we go, an old fellow of 63 years of age seeking a new country to make a fortune in…
Another letter, written by Thomas Hart, dated Lexington, Kentucky 1795 says, ‘Oh, if my old friend Uncle Jacob Blount were here! What a pleasure we would have in raking up money and spending it with our friends -This is really one of the finest countries in the world -The society is equal to that of any interior town in the United States’. He did, indeed prosper.” (Simpson, Letters to)
“The fact that at a time when sailing vessels and clipper ships ruled the seas, Colonel Hart supplied all the rope used by the navy, proving that his cordage business was both extensive and successful. He rapidly laid the foundation of an immense fortune, comparable to the Vanderbilt wealth in New York”. (Schwartz)
“From his land sales Boone had raised about $20,000, and had been given additional money to purchase warrants by the Harts. Boone had between forty and fifty thousand dollars in cash in his saddlebags when he began his journey.” (Loforo)
There are conflicting stories as to exactly what happened with this great some of money. Here’s one version: “At the inn in James City, Virginia, described as Painter’s Fork, Boone while asleep was robbed of the entire amount. The incident caused much criticism and injured his reputation”.(Henderson)
Over the years, Boone paid this lost money back to the contributors, except for the Harts. “The Hart brothers, who had lost the most, saw the matter differently. In a letter dated August 3, 1780, Thomas Hart summed up their position on the robbery: ‘I feel for the poor people who perhaps are to loose even their preemptions by it,
but I must say I feel more for poor Boone whose character I am told suffers by it.’ Hart praised Boone as a ‘Just’ and ‘Upright’ person, who even in the most ‘Wretched Sircumstances’ was ‘a Noble and generous soul.’ He concluded his comments by stating that ‘therefore I will freely grant him a discharge for whatever sums of mine he might be possest of at the time.’ “(
challenged and removed. (September 2011)
Thomas Hart Benton (April 15, 1889 – January 19, 1975) was an American painter and muralist. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement.
Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri, into an influential family of politicians and powerbrokers. Benton’s father, Maecenas Benton, was a lawyer and U.S. congressman. His namesake, great-uncle Thomas Hart Benton, was one of the first two United States Senators elected from Missouri
“*Nathaniel G. Hart, in honor of whom Hart County, Ky., received its name, was a son of Colonel Thomas Hart, who was an immigrant from Maryland to Kentucky in pioneer days. Nathaniel G. Hart was born at Hagerstown, Md., and came to Kentucky when he was but a few years old. He was a brother-in-law of Hon. Henry Clay and Hon. James Brown, they having married his sisters. He was about twenty-four years of age at the time of his marriage to Anna E. Gist. At the breaking out of the War of 1812 he was in command of a volunteer company called the “Lexington Light Infantry,” and with his company enrolled for service in the Northwest. He served through the winter campaign of 1812-13, a portion of the time as staff officer. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of the River Raisin. On the way from Frenchtown to Malden he was massacred by his Indian guard. His wife survived him but a short time. They were the parents of two sons. Mrs. Judith Cary Scott had formerly been Mrs. Gist and at this time was the wife (second) of General Charles Scott, Governor of Kentucky. See Collins’ History of Kentucky.”
Hart vs. Benton Lawsuit
August 22, 1812
‘Just’ and ‘Upright’ person, who even in the most ‘Wretched Sircumstances’ was ‘a
p.187, August 22, 1812,
THOMAS HART, JAMES BROWN and ANNA BROWN, his wife, HENRY CLAY and LUCRETIA CLAY, his wife, NATHANIEL G. S. HART, JOHN HART, JAMES SHELBY and POLLY SHELBY, his wife, ELIZA PINDELL and THOMAS HART PINDELL, heirs and devisees of THOMAS HART, deceased,
v.
NANCY BENTON, SR., PEGGY BENTON, POLLY BENTON, THOMAS BENTON, JESSE BENTON, NANCY BENTON, SAMUEL BENTON, NATHANIEL BENTON, SUCKY BENTON, and SAMUEL ESTILL and DANIEL MAUPIN, et. al.
Petition recites: SQUIRE BOONE obtained a certificate of settlement and preemption, and Nathaniel Hart obtained a certificate for settlement and preemption of 1,400 acres of land adjoining said Boone. Jesse Benton obtained from same commissioners a certificate for settlement and preemption adjoining claim of Nathaniel Hart on north and east, which was entered with surveyor…your orator purchased of said Benton all his claims and paid him a full consideration and obtained assignment of said settlement and preemption. And said Jesse Benton, afterwards, by letter dated September 3, l789, acknowledged the sale of said claims to your orator and promised your orator another assignment if the original one was lost. And said Jesse Benton departed this life leaving a will disposing of all his lands excepting the said claim which being sold to your orator was omitted in his will. Said Benton leaving his wife Nancy and his children Peggy Benton, Polly Benton, Thomas H. Benton, Jesse Benton, Nancy Benton, Samuel Benton, Nathaniel Benton and Sucky Benton. Said court of commissioners granted JOSEPH HUGHES right of preemption which was surveyed contrary to location and in such manner as to interfere with the settlement and preemption of said Jesse Benton, and having underwent several sales hath at length been conveyed to Samuel Estill . PHILLIP WEBBER illegally obtained forom commissioners a certificate claiming 400 acres and vaguely entered same and sold it to said Estill who surveyed contrary to entry and so as to interfere, and obtaining grant in his own name, conveyed [blank] acres to Daniel Maupin, and said Estill and Maupin have refused…
Answers filed by defendants. Estill pleads that it may be true that patents have been secured in the names of Squire Boone, Nathaniel Hart and Jesse Benton, and that plaintiff hath purchased claim of Jesse Benton, but defendant has been informed that previous to the opening and establishing of the land office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the year of 1776, a certain RICHARD HENDERSON and Company claimed all the lands lying on the south side of the Kentucky River, that complainant and said Jesse Benton were partners with said Richard Henderson, who in the said year of 1776, for a valuable consideration actually paid by said Hughes, sold and conveyed to him 640 acres of the land now included in his survey and patented, which will appear from the books of said Richard Henderson and Company. That in consequence of said sale a survey was made in 1776 for said Hughes.
Said defendant is advised that although the claim of said Henderson and Company to these lands…was destroyed by act of law, yet plaintiff nor said Jesse Benton ought not deprive Joseph Hughes or this defendant of said land by any claim which they may have acquired since.
Amended petition recites: JAMES DINWIDDIE claims part of lands to which your orator is entitled as devisee, from Joseph Hughes.
Various interrogatories were filed. Complainant’s answer to same:
1. That he was one interested in the adventure of Richard Henderson and Company.
2. That the said company claimed at one time all the land on the south side of the Kentucky River to the Cumberland River by purchase from the tribe of Cherokee Indians, but the then Legislature of Virginia and North Carolina annulled their purchase and that of all persons claiming under them, and they now hold no lands except those granted by said Legislature at the mouth of the Green River.
3. That Jesse Benton was never considered as an original partner in the company but obtained a part of DAVID HART’s share by private purchase, who was one of the original partners of the company.
4. That he does not know Joseph Hughes ever purchased 640 acres of land from Henderson and Company, but thinks it probable that he might have, as many others did, but believes no monies were ever recived by the company in consequence, or that he ever heard that the executive of Virginia had issued a proclamation forbidding the inhabitants of Kentucky to pay monies to said company for land sold by the company until their claims should be litigated before the Legislature of said state and who decided by making null and void their purchase from said Indians.
5. That he has not the books of the said company nor does he know in whose possession they are, not having seem them for upwards of twenty years.
Sworn to by Thomas Hart, Lexington, September 18, 1801.
CHARLES BROWN, JOHN DAVIDSON, WILLIAM ANDERSON, BENJAMIN ESTILL, JAMES BLESKY and the heirs of JAMES ESTILL, deceased, appear as defendants.
p.229, Abstract of will of NATHANIEL HART, dated June 27, 1782, names wife SARAH HART, sons SIMPSON HART and NATHANIEL HART, brothers DAVID HART and THOMAS HART. Children, KEZIAH THOMPSON, SUSANNAH HART, JOHN HART, CUMBERLAND HART, CHINA HART, and RICHARD HART.
p.237, Deposition of WILLIAM HART, aged 38 years (taken on September 17, 1811, in Fayette County: About 16 or 17 years ago he was and had been for several years before well acquainted with the family of Jesse Benton, whose heirs are the defendants. That the said Jesse Benton resided in North Carolina near Hillsborough and died in latter part of the year 1791 or the beginning of the year 1792. Said Benton’s children were all very small at time of his death, one at breast, and some years after his death the family removed to Tennessee where they now reside.
p.238, Deposition of JESSE OLDHAM, aged 72 years (taken at the improvement of NATHANIEL HART in Madison County, on March 3,
1802); He came to Kentucky from North Carolina in the year of 1775 at which time he passed by the blue licks and from thence near this improvement to Twitty’s fort and the trace which he traveled was then called and known by the name of Boone’s trace. That in the year 1775, he, together with Nathaniel Hart and others, planted a crop of corn at Boonesborough. That he came out of Kentucky agin in the spring of the year of 1779 at which time
he, together with Nathaniel Hart and others, raised a crop of corn at Boonesborough and in the same year raised a crop of corn at this improvement and also at deponent’s improvement which lies near this improvement and on this creek. That he has never heard or known of this improvement by any other name than Nathaniel Hart’s improvement. I was not here when the commissioners sat and never saw Nathaniel Hart’s certificate. We were not in
partnership, his corn was for himself and mine for myself. They were two separate and distinct claims. These improvements were about one mile apart. There was no improvement here when I first came to Kentucky in 1775.
[p.252. Deposition of JESSE OLDHAM (taken December 1, 1810). [Repeats first what was in preceding deposition.] States that Nathaniel Hart and I married sisters. Boone’s old trace was marked out in year 1775 and was the road leading from Boonesborough and upper part of Kentucky through the wilderness and it was then generally traveled.]
p.239, Deposition of THOMAS ALLEN (taken at Harrodsburg on July 28, 1803): Relates facts of a survey made by him and DANIEL BOONE sometime during year of 1783 or 1784 at the request of the widow of Nathaniel Hart.
p.241, Deposition of JOHN HARPER (taken at Montgomery County Court House on November 17, 1810): He set out from Boonesborough in the month of June 1779 to go to Virginia and encamped the first night at Hart’s fork of Silver creek in company with a number of others and Nathaniel Hart, deceased and Jesse Oldham set out at the same time for the settlements but were obliged to go out of the way for a horse that was bit by a snake and did not join the company until that evening. When said Hart and Oldham et out from Boonesborough they appointed to meet the company at the said Jesse Oldham’s improvement which lies above Nathaniel Hart’s improvement about a mile and on east side of Hart s fork. There was a field of corn growing at Jesse Oldham’s improvement which the company worked over and cleaned out the weeds. The next morning they went on to Nathaniel Hart’s improvement where there was a considerable field of corn growing which they also worked over and laid by, and then the company proceeded on to Virginia.
p 243, Deposition of JOHN KIMBROUGH (taken at the office of THOMAS H. BENTON, in Franklin, Tennessee, on the last Saturday in
November 1811): About the year of 1790 and for several years before and after that time, he lived in the State of North Carolina and was well acquainted with the family of Colonel Jesse Benton, who died about that year near Hillsborough in said State, deponent being nephew of wife of said Jesse Benton, and he remembers that after the death of said Benton, a daughter of Jesse Benton named SUSANNAH BENTON was born…
p.245, Deposition of THOMAS J. OVERTON (taken in Fayette County on September 23, 1811 ): Repeats testimony regarding Benton’s children and states “all very small at time of his death.”
p.245, Deposition of JESSE HODGES (taken at the house of JAMES DINWIDDIE, in Madison County, November 30, 1800): He saw in 1779 the tree standing on Boone’s trail marked with letters of Nathaniel Hart’s name…and some chopping on the trees about it…and heard it called Hart’s improvement. It was generally known by hunters accustomed to hunt these woods and parts. I passed by his improvement the first time in the summer of 1779 and my recollection is that Jesse Oldham removed his family to this state in the year of 1787.
p.247, Deposition of JESSE CARTWRIGHT (taken at the house of JAMES DINWIDDIE, Madison County, November 30, 1800): I came to Boonesborough in November 1780 and resided here until 1782. Shortly after I came here I became acquainted with Captain Nathaniel Hart who lived at the place called White Oak Spring. We had some trading and much talk about land trading during the course of the next year, in the meantime I had seen an improvement on the waters of Silver Creek which I was informed by several was Nathaniel Hart’s. He had a stud horse I think he called Spidella which he asked me 1,000 acres of preemption land. I understood from Hart he made his improvement in 1775. It was shewn me by JAMES ESTILL as we were riding through it. I lived a considerable time at Estill’s old station.
p.248, Deposition of JOSEPH KENNEDY (taken at the house of JAMES DINWIDDIE, in Madison County, on December 1, 1810): Was
well acquainted with Boone’s old trace that leads up to Hart’s fork of Silver creek on to Twitty’s fort in the year 1777, and about 1/2 of a mile on a southwest course from Twitty’s fort I saw an improvement which was on Boone’s trace and my brother JOHN KENNEDY and MICHAEL STONER being with me, they informed me that it was Nathaniel Hart’s.
p.249, Deposition of STEPHEN HANCOCK, aged 58 years (taken on April 3, 1802 at Hart’s improvement on Silver creek in Madison County): I came to Kentucky in January of the year of 1776 and traveled along the trace then called Boone’s trace. Blue Licks to Twitty s and thence to Boonesborough. Then I saw an improvement on the trace, several trees belted. Nathaniel Hart’s field in which he raised corn in 1779. Silver Creek, Hart’s fork and SQUIRE BOONE’s Stockfield tract were called and known by those names in the year 1779. Nathaniel Hart raised a crop of corn at
Boonesborough in the year of 1776 and kept hands there for several years afterwards. Deponent understood from information that as people were traveling out to this country, they got pumpkins from Hart’s field upon Boone’s trace and carried them to the waters of Otter creek where they cooked them and from the seed being scattered around there, they came up and that branch was afterwards called Pumpkin Run.
p.251, Deposition of Colonel JOHN SNODDY taken at DINWIDDIE’s house in Madison County, on April 3, 1802): In the year of 1775 I came to Kentucky in company with DANIEL BOONE and as we traveled along Boone’s trace I saw an improvement on said race near to a small pond. about half a mile south of Twitty’s fort, which Daniel Boone informed me was Nathaniel Hart’s. Then there was several trees belted and some cut down. It appeared to me to be an improvement and not a camping place.
p.253. Deposition of THOMAS WARREN (taken at Hart’s fork of Silver Creek, on September 14, 1811): I first knew of this improvement in 1760 and it was called Hart’s upper improvement at that time. It had appearance it had been cultivated in corn the year before. It was generally known by name of Hart’s field 1780 by hunters from Estill’s station. I first settled at Estill’s station in February of 1780 and lived at that station between eight and nine years. The trace from Estill’s to Adam’s station passes through the edge of Hart’s improvement. [Note: in deposition taken in same case on March 19, 1808, same witness says:] It was between the 11th and 15th of February 1780 when I came to the old station and by direction of JAMES ESTILL. I was the first one to settle at Estill’s station and James Estill settled in a few days after with part of his family. He and myself raised corn in 1780 at that place. There were seven or eight families at this station in the year 1780. I first became acquainted with little fort in the last of February 1780. It was about 100 yards off trace called Boone’s trace. I have no knowledge of Twitty’s fort, more than I have saw it often. Some called it Twitty’s fort and some Little Fort.
p.254. Deposition of DAVID LYNCH (taken September 14, 1811 in Madison County): I have known Nathaniel Hart’s improvement since the spring of the year of 1780 and it was then called Hart’s improvement. There was some appearance of corn stalks on it when I first saw it. It was generally known by the name of Hart’s improvement by the hunters from Estill’s station and well known to settlers at Adam’s station and Boonesborough.
p.255 Deposition of PETER HACKETT (taken near the house of JAMES DINWIDDIE in Madison County, on July 21, 1812): I settled at Estill’s station about the last of February or first of March in the year of 1780. I believe I became acquainted with the settlement we are now on in the last of spring of the same year. There were seven families at Estill’s station in 1780. When I first saw this improvement there was an appearance of corn being raised. The only trace from Estill’s to Adam’s station and from that to Logan’s station was the one passing through the edge of this improvement. It was the only trace used by people from Adam’s station to Estill’s station and was well known to the people of that station in 1780, as they hunted for their stock and for game along same. TWITTY was wounded and died at the little fort and was buried there. The fort was built while he lay there wounded.
p.259, Deposition of Captain WILLIAM BUSH (taken at an Elm tree on Hart’s fork of Silver creek on March 23, 1803): In the spring of the year 1775 with Captain NATHANIEL HART, JONATHAN JENNINGS, came to Boonesborough. I heard them say they had better take their choice of land as they came along, they were asked where, and, they told us that Captain Hart had made his choice at the camp at the mouth of the branch that leads up toward’s Twitty’s fort and that Jennings choice of land was between him and said fort on that trace. In summer of 1782 I was applied to by BENJAMIN CRAIG to shew Hart’s improvement, and I came to Captain Hart’s improvement and with THOMAS ALLEN, surveyor, we came to this Elm tree, the beginning corner of Jenning’s and proceeded to survey and they expected to hold not over one mile square under the proprietors RICHARD HENDERSON and Company. I first saw Twitty’s fort the day after Twit-by was killed.
p.259, Deposition of SQUIRE BOONE (taken at his own house in Shelby County, on May 18, 1804): He is principaled against going into the town of Shelbyville upon any business whatsoever but is willing to depose to any facts within his knowledge relative to said suit at his own house. Deponent is well acquainted with the beginning called for in GEORGE MERIWETHER’s entry of 1,000 acres in Madison County, which deponent sold to said George Meriwether, and known as the Stockfield tract. He had survey made in the year 1776 of 1,000 acres and began at said honey locust which is south east corner of said preemption as surveyed under the State of Virginia. Deponent was present when this survey was made and showed lines to the surveyor.
p 261, Deposition of SQUIRE BOONE (taken at Sassafras tree, corner of survey made by DANIEL BOONE, as assignee of JOSEPH HUGHES, on Silver Creek, October 2, 1802): In the month of April 1776 he was employed by Joseph Hughes to assist in laying of piece of land for said Hughes which he had purchased of colonel RICHARD HENDERSON and Company in a State then called Transylvania, and, on the waters of Silver Creek, where he attended as a marker and sometimes carried the chain to go around said land, and this is the beginning tree. [Taking of the deposition was then removed to Boone’s old trace on Silver Creek leading by CHARLES BROWN’s towards TWITTY’s fort on TAYLOR’s fork]: That this is the trace he marked on his way from the old settlement to Boonesborough and was called Boone’s trace marked for Colonel Richard Henderson.
p.261, Deposition of BENJAMIN VANCLEVE (taken in Madison County on March 28, 1803): Sometime in the month of April of 1776
deponent came to this corner where we have met and made this corner for JOSEPH HUGHES’ beginning corner. This corner was marked by JOHN KENNEDY for the beginning corner of Hughes. Question by JAMES DINWIDDIE: Was it usual to pay to Henderson and company the money for entering of lands before it was entered? Answer: I can only answer for myself. I paid I think the best of my recollection $2.00. [Taking of the deposition was then removed to an oak tree, northeast corner of the Stockfield tract, surveyed by J. Kennedy for Squire Boone under Henderson and Company]: This is the South East corner of a survey made by J. Kennedy in April 1776.
p.262, Deposition of EDWARD WILLIAMS (taken at house of NICHOLAS ANDERSON in Montgomery County, on May 14 1804): He set out from Boonesborough in the month of June 1779 to go to Virginia and encamped the first night on waters of Silver creek in company with a number of others and that NATHANIEL HART and JESSE OLDHAM set out at same time for the settlements but were obliged to go out of their way for a horse that was bit by a snake and did not join the company until that evening. That when the said Hart and Oldham set out from Boonesborough they appointed to meet the company at said Jesse Oldham’s improvement at the creek. That they all set out together the next morning and passed by Nathaniel Hart’s improvement, and said Hart informed deponent and company that it was his improvement and there was a considerable field of corn at the said improvement. Deponent was present at Boonesborough when Nathaniel Hart laid in his claim before the Commissioner’s for his settlement and preemption, and the said Hart informed this deponent that he had obtained his certificate for this improvement on Silver creek.
p.264, Deposition of SAMUEL ESTILL (taken on March 19, 1808 at house of ROBERT MILLER in Madison County): [Said deposition was taken for use in suit of BENJAMIN ESTILL and JOHN ESTILL v. BENJAMIN SCRIVENER and used by consent in this case.] Some time in the summer of the year 1779 I was with JAMES ESTILL, MICHAEL BEDINGER and others at the spring at Estill’s old station and he shewed me that. In the year of 1780 I saw some marks at JAMES ESTILL JR. spring which I thought probably might be another claim. I then told James Estill about the marks and he told me JOHN BOUGHMAN got to marking of it and he stopped him, and he told me he marked the spring at the old station first and went on to James Estill, Jr. spring and marked it the same day. I never heard James Estill claim that last mentioned spring until after we settled the old station. I think my brother James Estill, deceased, or some of those at the station tanned leather at this spring in the year of 1780. The old buffalo road or trace lead down Muddy creek, by the improvement at James Estill, Jr. spring, plain when I first saw it. I don’t know when my brother settled the old station. I was from this country and found his family living there on my return in May 1780. He first showed me this improvement in the summer of 1779. James Estill, Michael Bedinger, JOHN SOUTH JR., JOHN WEBBER and others were with me but don’t recollect the rest. It was known as the Locust thicket improvement. The trace that was called Boone’s trace was close by the fort. In 1780 the fort was called the Little fort by some and TWITTY’s fort by others. When I first saw the spring at the old fort, it was beat about by creatures using it, Buffaloes and other wild beasts. In the year of 1780 the spring at the fort went dry and the people at the fort had to get water at BOYLE’s spring. There was some heavy cane in places where the trace went along but the creatures broke it so that it was tolerable handy passing. The fort was a few logs put in the likeness of a square cabin. There was no roof on it when I saw it. It was not built in as good a way as cabins generally are. The trace traveled was the one that went along the dividing ridge between Muddy creek. Otter creek and Silver creek and was called GALLOWAY’s trace, which lead from Boonesborough to the Blue Lick on the head of Station Camp creek. I understood the fort was built for safety from the Indians by TWITTY. The place claimed by Estill for his improvement near the old station as I first saw it in 1780 was twenty or thirty acres open land around the spring which was surrounded by very strong cane brake. Could not be easily found, Captain James Estill began to tan his hides in the spring of the year. We pulled the hide off [Buffalo] and put it in the tan trough with some water and ashes (that was the lime we had then). When the hide was limed we then took them out and washed them in Little Muddy creek and took the hair off and perhaps let them ly all night in the creek to take the lime out and the next day put them back in the trough. That’s the way we did them.
p.273, Deposition of JOSEPH PROCTOR (taken at ROBERT MILLER’s house in Madison County, on April 5, 1808): James Estill first settled the old station on March 1, 1780, and he and his company raised corn there in 1780. About six or seven families resided there. James Estill immediately after settling at said place commenced surveying land to raise corn. First became acquainted with Little Fort in spring of 1780 but don’t recollect how long it was before I saw the place. Understand it was built some years before I came to Kentucky and that TWITTY was wounded and lay there. The company that was with him built the fort for his safety.
This excerpt was taken from “Our Kentucky Pioneer Ancestry”, by June Lee Mefford Kinkead, 1992. In it she quotes “The Hart Family”, from the Memoirs of George Blackburn Kinkead. This is under the heading “Thomas Hart”.
Ancestry of Nathaniel Hart (1734-1782)
William A. LaBach
311 Duke Road
Lexington, KY 40502
859-269-1868
Send email to preparer: wmlabach1@insightbb.com
Ultimate Family Tree, ver 2.9
LABACH Project Version 1108
September 20, 2000
Table of Contents
First Generation
1. Nathaniel1 Hart (Thomas2, Thomas3), son of Thomas Hart and Susanna Rice, was born in Hanover County, VA May 8, 1734. Nathaniel died July 22, 1782 in near Boonesborough, KY, at 48 years of age. His body was interred in family cemetery near Boonesborough.
He married Sarah Simpson in North Carolina, December 25, 1760. Sarah was born in Fairfax Co., VA February 24, 1743/4. Sarah was the daughter of Richard Simpson, Jr. and Mary Kincheloe. Sarah died March 1785 in Lincoln Co., KY, at 41 years of age. Her body was interred in family cemetery near Boonesborough. At 18 years of age Sarah became the mother of Keziah Hart in Caswell Co., NC, March 18, 1762. At 19 years of age Sarah became the mother of Susannah Hart in Caswell Co., NC, February 18, 1764. At 24 years of age Sarah became the mother of Simpson Hart in Caswell Co., NC, April 30, 1768. At 26 years of age Sarah became the mother of Nathaniel Hart, Jr. in Caswell Co., NC, September 30, 1770. At 27 years of age Sarah became the mother of John Hart in Caswell Co., NC, February 5, 1772. At 31 years of age Sarah became the mother of Mary Ann Hart April 7, 1775. At 32 years of age Sarah became the mother of Cumberland Hart July 17, 1776. At 35 years of age Sarah became the mother of Chinoe Hart in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), October 25, 1779. At 38 years of age Sarah became the mother of Thomas Richard Green Hart in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), June 29, 1782.
At 27 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Keziah Hart in Caswell Co., NC, March 18, 1762. At 29 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Susannah Hart in Caswell Co., NC, February 18, 1764. At 33 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Simpson Hart in Caswell Co., NC, April 30, 1768. At 36 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Nathaniel Hart, Jr. in Caswell Co., NC, September 30, 1770. At 37 years of age Nathaniel became the father of John Hart in Caswell Co., NC, February 5, 1772. At 40 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Mary Ann Hart April 7, 1775. At 42 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Cumberland Hart July 17, 1776. At 45 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Chinoe Hart in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), October 25, 1779. At 48 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Thomas Richard Green Hart in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), June 29, 1782. Nathaniel Hart was a member of the Transylvania Company and was one of the purchasers of some 20 million acres of land in Kentucky and Tennessee from the Indians in 1775. He was one of the original settlers at Boonesborough in 1775 and helped construct the fort there. His biography from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography edited by William S. Powell, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1988, follows: Hart, Nathaniel (1734-82), pioneer, Revolutionary officer, and proprietor in and chief negotiator for the Transylvania Company of Kentucky, was born in Hanover County, Va., the son of Thomas and Susannah Rice Hart. His grandfather, Thomas Hart, a merchant, emigrated from London, England, to Hanover County about 1690 and left an only son, Thomas (1632-1755), father of Nathanlel. His mother was an aunt of Daniel Rice, the renowned Presbyterian minister who, before moving to Kentucky in 1781, is said to have taken part in the establishment of one or more early Presbyterian churches in Orange County (now Caswell County), N.C., among which Hyco (now Red House) is one of the oldest in central North Carolina. Shortly after Thomas Hart’s death, his widow and children moved to Orange County and settled on Country Line Creek, where three of her sons–Thomas, Nathaniel, and David–in the late 1750s and early 1760s obtained land grants in the area that was cut off from Orange in 1777 to form Caswell County. Nathaniel Hart’s estate, known as Red House, located at Nat’s Fork on Country Line Creek, was of considerable proportions. Referred to as “Captain Hart,” he was not only a polished member of society but also an “accomplished and complete gentleman.” As one of the proprietors of the Transylvania Company, he was a leading spirit in opening the Kentucky territory and in establishing the town of Boonesborough. At the Battle of Alamance, Hart led a company of infantrymen in Governor Tryon’s army; after the battle, he was highly complimented by the governor and his officers for the gallant and spirited behavior of the detachment under his command. Following the efforts of Daniel Boone and his brother, Squire Boone, to settle Kentucky, Richard Henderson of Granville County in association with Nathaniel Hart, Thomas Hart, John Williams, William Johnson, and John Lutterell, on 27 Aug. 1774 organized the Louisa Company for the purpose of purchasing from the Cherokee Nation a large territory lying on the west side of the mountains on the Mississippi River. In the autumn of 1774, Nathaniel Hart, the chief negotiator, along with Richard Henderson, president of the company, visited the territory and met with the chiefs of the various tribes in the Cherokee country to discuss their interest in buying the land west of the Cumberland Mountains. Nathaniel Hart, Jr., wrote that his father returned to his home with six or eight of the principal men of the Cherokee Nation, who remained with him until the latter part of the year and assisted in the selection of a large supply of goods to be used in exchange for the land. By 1775 the enterprise had outgrown the Articles of Agreement of the Louisa Company. After a reorganization, a new company, called the Transylvania Company, was formed and Daniel Boone was hired to explore the territory. Soon Nathaniel Hart and Richard Henderson brought vast quantities of goods from Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) to Sycamore on the Watauga River near what is now Elizabethton, Tenn. The Watauga meeting, arranged by Hart, lasted twenty days and was attended by 500 to 1,000 Cherokee Indians along with their chiefs. The Transylvania Company was represented by Hart and his brother Thomas, Henderson, and John Williams. Negotiations broke down and the Indians left, but it is said that Nathaniel Hart overtook them the next day, persuaded them to return, and an agreement was reached. On 17 Mar. 1775, the conveyance or treaty was signed, by which the Transylvania Company acquired all of the territory from the Kentucky to the Cumberland rivers. Title to the land was taken in the name of Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, and the other seven proprietors of the company as tenants in common. This purchase was said to have been the largest private land deal ever undertaken in North America. Nathaniel Hart and his associates invested much of their time and private fortunes in the venture; they succeeded in obtaining for the colonies peaceful possession of the land from the Indians, thus permitting the opening of the Kentucky territory for colonization. Nevertheless, they received very little for their efforts. Because of a proclamation by the royal governors of Virginia and North Carolina that prohibited treaties or purchases of land from Indians by individuals, the Crown refused to recognize the transaction and declared it null and void. The same proclamation, in substance, was reenacted by the Virginia assembly after the colonies gained independence from Great Britain. As a consequence, the Transylvania Company retained only that small area of the land lying on the Green River in Kentucky and that portion lying on the North Carolina side of the Virginia line, and its plan to establish an original fourteenth colony in America resulted in failure. In 1760 Hart married Sarah Simpson, daughter of Captain Richard Simpson, a large plantation owner who was one of the earliest settlers in what is now Caswell County. Their daughter, Susanna, in 1783 married General Isaac Shelby, planner of the Battle of Cowpens and hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain, who became the first governor of the state of Kentucky and for whom the towns of Shelby, N.C., Shelbyville, Tenn., and Shelby County, Ky., were named. Nathaniel and Sarah Hart’s grandson, Thomas Hart Shelby of Traveler’s Rest, Ky., was said to have been the first importer of thoroughbred livestock, including racehorses, into the state of Kentucky. Hart was appointed a justice of the peace by the royal governor. He served as captain of militia before the outbreak of the Revolution and as captain in the army during the American Revolution. He was killed by Indians near Logan’s Station in Lincoln, Ky., where he left his will. In 1783 his widow and their son Nathaniel, Jr., went to Logan’s Station to prove the will.
SEE: John R. Alden, John Stuart and the Southern Colonial Frontier (1966); Walter Clark, ed., State Records of North Carolina, vols. 16, 19, 22, 24 (1899-1905); Lewis Collins, Historical Sketches of Kentucky (1850); Dartmouth Papers, 5, 127, 1353 (North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh); Lyman C. Draper Papers (Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison); Genealogical Narrative, “The Hart Family in the United States” (North Carolina State Library, Raleigh); Archibald Henderson, The Transylvania Company and the Founding of Henderson, Kentucky (1929); Land grants of Caswell and Orange counties (Office of the Secretary of State, Raleigh); William S. Lester, The Transylvania Colony (1935); George N. MacKenzie, Colonial Families of the United States, vol. 2 (1966); W. E Palmer, ed., Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. 1 (1875); William L. Saunders, ed., Colonial Records of North Carolina, vols. 6, 8-10 (1888-90); Tyler’s Quarterly 31 (1949), 32 (1950); Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 7 (1899-1900); Frederick A. Virkus, The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy, vol. 5 (1933). VANCE E. SWIFT
A web site about the Hart family may be found at http://www.airtanker.com/mcnally/hart/index.html.
Nathaniel Hart and Sarah Simpson had the following children:
2 i. Keziah Hart was born in Caswell Co., NC March 18, 1762. Keziah died February 13, 1837 at 74 years of age. She married Laurence Thompson in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), ca 1780. Laurence was born December 28, 1753. Laurence died April 21, 1835 at 81 years of age. At 27 years of age Laurence became the father of Richard Laurence Thompson March 17, 1781. At 28 years of age Laurence became the father of Sarah Finney Thompson December 15, 1782. At 31 years of age Laurence became the father of Nathaniel Hart Thompson March 13, 1785. At 33 years of age Laurence became the father of Chinoe Benton Thompson January 21, 1787. At 35 years of age Laurence became the father of Thomas Azariah Thompson March 22, 1789. At 37 years of age Laurence became the father of Mary “Polly” Simpson Thompson in Madison Co., KY, August 17, 1791. At 42 years of age Laurence became the father of Margaret W. Thompson Madison Co., KY, March 8, 1796. At 44 years of age Laurence became the father of Susan Shelby Thompson Madison Co., KY, April 23, 1798. At 46 years of age Laurence became the father of Alfred M. Thompson July 22, 1800. At 50 years of age Laurence became the father of Allen J. Thompson 1804.
At 18 years of age Keziah became the mother of Richard Laurence Thompson March 17, 1781. At 20 years of age Keziah became the mother of Sarah Finney Thompson December 15, 1782. At 22 years of age Keziah became the mother of Nathaniel Hart Thompson March 13, 1785. At 24 years of age Keziah became the mother of Chinoe Benton Thompson January 21, 1787. At 27 years of age Keziah became the mother of Thomas Azariah Thompson March 22, 1789. At 29 years of age Keziah became the mother of Mary “Polly” Simpson Thompson in Madison Co., KY, August 17, 1791. At 33 years of age Keziah became the mother of Margaret W. Thompson Madison Co., KY, March 8, 1796. At 36 years of age Keziah became the mother of Susan Shelby Thompson Madison Co., KY, April 23, 1798. At 38 years of age Keziah became the mother of Alfred M. Thompson July 22, 1800. At 42 years of age Keziah became the mother of Allen J. Thompson 1804.
3 ii. Susannah Hart was born in Caswell Co., NC February 18, 1764. Susannah died June 14, 1833 in Lincoln Co., KY, at 69 years of age. Her body was interred in family cemetery at Travellers Rest, Lincoln Co., KY. She married Isaac Shelby in Boonesborough, VA (now KY), April 19, 1783. Isaac was born in near Hagerstown, MD December 11, 1750. Isaac was the son of Evan Shelby, Jr. and Letitia Cox. Isaac died July 18, 1826 in Lincoln Co., KY, at 75 years of age. His body was interred in family cemetery at Travellers Rest, Lincoln Co., KY. At 33 years of age Isaac became the father of James Shelby February 13, 1784. At 34 years of age Isaac became the father of Sarah Hart Shelby October 8, 1785. At 36 years of age Isaac became the father of Evan Shelby July 27, 1787. At 38 years of age Isaac became the father of Thomas Hart Shelby in “Travellers Rest”, Lincoln Co., KY, May 27, 1789. At 40 years of age Isaac became the father of Susannah Hart Shelby March 20, 1791. At 42 years of age Isaac became the father of Nancy Shelby December 23, 1792. At 44 years of age Isaac became the father of Isaac Shelby, Jr. 1795. At 46 years of age Isaac became the father of John Shelby March 3, 1797. At 48 years of age Isaac became the father of Letitia Shelby January 11, 1799. At 50 years of age Isaac became the father of Katherine Shelby March 14, 1801. At 53 years of age Isaac became the father of Alfred Shelby in “Travellers Rest”, Woodford Co., KY, January 25, 1804.
At 19 years of age Susannah became the mother of James Shelby February 13, 1784. At 21 years of age Susannah became the mother of Sarah Hart Shelby October 8, 1785. At 23 years of age Susannah became the mother of Evan Shelby July 27, 1787. At 25 years of age Susannah became the mother of Thomas Hart Shelby in “Travellers Rest”, Lincoln Co., KY, May 27, 1789. At 27 years of age Susannah became the mother of Susannah Hart Shelby March 20, 1791. At 28 years of age Susannah became the mother of Nancy Shelby December 23, 1792. At 31 years of age Susannah became the mother of Isaac Shelby, Jr. 1795. At 33 years of age Susannah became the mother of John Shelby March 3, 1797. At 34 years of age Susannah became the mother of Letitia Shelby January 11, 1799. At 37 years of age Susannah became the mother of Katherine Shelby March 14, 1801. At 39 years of age Susannah became the mother of Alfred Shelby in “Travellers Rest”, Woodford Co., KY, January 25, 1804. Susannah Hart met Isaac Shelby at Fort Boonesborough and they married there April 19, 1783. The couple lived at Travellers Rest in Lincoln County where they raised eleven children. She is buried at the family cemetery at Travellers Rest beside her husband. She is listed in the Kentucky Encyclopedia.
4 iii. Simpson Hart was born in Caswell Co., NC April 30, 1768. Simpson died 1788 in Sumner Co., TN, at 20 years of age. Simpson Hart died unmarried.
5 iv. Nathaniel Hart, Jr. was born in Caswell Co., NC September 30, 1770. Nathaniel died February 7, 1844 in “Spring Hill”, Woodford Co., KY, at 73 years of age. His body was interred in Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, KY. He married Susanna Preston in Montgomery Co., VA, August 26, 1797. Susanna was born in “Greenfield”, Botetourt Co., VA October 7, 1772. Susanna was the daughter of William Preston and Susanna Smith. Susanna died June 21, 1833 in “Spring Hill”, Woodford Co., KY, at 60 years of age. Her body was interred in Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, KY. At 25 years of age Susanna became the mother of Susanna Smith Preston Hart August, 1798. At 27 years of age Susanna became the mother of Sarah Simpson Hart June 8, 1800. At 29 years of age Susanna became the mother of Letitia Preston Hart March 15, 1802. At 31 years of age Susanna became the mother of Louisiana Breckinridge Hart in “Spring Hill”, Woodford Co., KY, December 3, 1803. At 32 years of age Susanna became the mother of Nathaniel Hart April 27, 1805. At 34 years of age Susanna became the mother of William Preston Hart July 25, 1807. At 36 years of age Susanna became the mother of Virginia H. Hart June 14, 1809. At 38 years of age Susanna became the mother of Susanna M. Hart July 9, 1811. At 41 years of age Susanna became the mother of Mary Howard Hart July 17, 1814.
At 27 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Susanna Smith Preston Hart August, 1798. At 29 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Sarah Simpson Hart June 8, 1800. At 31 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Letitia Preston Hart March 15, 1802. At 33 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Louisiana Breckinridge Hart in “Spring Hill”, Woodford Co., KY, December 3, 1803. At 34 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Nathaniel Hart April 27, 1805. At 36 years of age Nathaniel became the father of William Preston Hart July 25, 1807. At 38 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Virginia H. Hart June 14, 1809. At 40 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Susanna M. Hart July 9, 1811. At 43 years of age Nathaniel became the father of Mary Howard Hart July 17, 1814. A brief sketch of his life from The Prestons of Smithfield and Greenfield in Virginia by John Frederick Dorman (Filson Club, 1982) follows: Susanna Preston, fourth daughter of William and Susanna (Smith) Preston, was born 7 Oct. 1772, “Greenfield,” Botetourt Co., Va., and died 21 June 1833, “Spring Hill,” Woodford Co., Ky. She married 26 Aug. 1797, Montgomery Co., Va., Nathaniel Hart, son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Simpson) Hart, who was born 30 Sept. 1770, Caswell Co., N.C., and died 7 Feb. 1844, “Spring Hill,” Woodford Co., Ky. Nathaniel Hart in his youth took part in several expeditions against the Indians and was for six months in 1794 on Gen. Anthony Wayne’s campaign as aide de camp to Gen. Joshua Barbee. He participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. After their marriage they lived in Lexington, Ky., and for several years in Franklin Co., Ky., before moving to Woodford County in 1807. His home thereafter was “Spring Hill,” one mile from Versailles. After the fashion of gentlemen in England, he kept about one hundred deer in his woodlands, as well as several head of elk, and at one time he owned a few American bison. In the autumn and winter of 1812 he made two trips to Philadelphia as agent of the Bank of Kentucky to transport large amounts of money in gold to Kentucky to finance war measures.
6 v. John Hart was born in Caswell Co., NC February 5, 1772. He married Mary Irvine. Mary is the daughter of Christopher Irvine.
7 vi. Mary Ann Hart was born April 7, 1775. She married Richard Dallam.
8 vii. Cumberland Hart was born July 17, 1776. He married Fannie Hughes.
9 viii. Chinoe Hart was born in Boonesborough, VA (now KY) October 25, 1779. Chinoe died January 21, 1870 in Shelby Co., TN, at 90 years of age. She married John Smith in Lincoln Co., KY, October, 1797. John was born 1765. John was the son of Francis Smith and Ann Preston. John died June 16, 1851 in Memphis, TN, at 85 years of age. At 33 years of age John became the father of Lucretia Hart Smith 1798. At 52 years of age John became the father of Ann Eliza Smith January, 1818.
At 18 years of age Chinoe became the mother of Lucretia Hart Smith 1798. At 38 years of age Chinoe became the mother of Ann Eliza Smith January, 1818.
10 ix. Thomas Richard Green Hart was born in Boonesborough, VA (now KY) June 29, 1782. He married Rebecca Thompson. Rebecca is the daughter of John Thompson.
Second Generation
11. Thomas2 Hart (Thomas3) was born in England circa 1679. Thomas died circa 1755 Hanover Co., VA.
He married Susanna Rice in Virginia, ca 1729. Susanna was born in New Kent Co., VA 1707. Susanna was the daughter of Thomas Rice and Marcy. Susanna died 1785 in Orange Co., NC, at 78 years of age. At 23 years of age Susanna became the mother of Thomas Hart in Hanover County, VA, December 11, 1730. At 25 years of age Susanna became the mother of Benjamin Hart in Hanover Co., NC, October 1732. At 26 years of age Susanna became the mother of Nathaniel Hart in Hanover County, VA, May 8, 1734. Susanna became the mother of David Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1736. Susanna became the mother of John Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1738. At 33 years of age Susanna became the mother of Ann Hart Hanover Co., VA, 1740.
At 51 years of age Thomas became the father of Thomas Hart in Hanover County, VA, December 11, 1730. At 53 years of age Thomas became the father of Benjamin Hart in Hanover Co., NC, October 1732. At 54 years of age Thomas became the father of Nathaniel Hart in Hanover County, VA, May 8, 1734. Thomas became the father of David Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1736. Thomas became the father of John Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1738. At 61 years of age Thomas became the father of Ann Hart Hanover Co., VA, 1740.
Thomas Hart and Susanna Rice had the following children:
12 i. Thomas1 Hart was born in Hanover County, VA December 11, 1730. Thomas died June 23, 1808 in Lexington, KY, at 77 years of age. His body was interred in Old Episcopal Cemetery, Lexington, KY. He married Susanna Gray in North Carolina. Susanna was born 1749. Susanna was the daughter of John Gray. Susanna died 1832 in Lexington, KY, at 83 years of age. Her body was interred in Old Episcopal Cemetery, Lexington, KY. At 19 years of age Susanna became the mother of Eliza Hart September 9, 1768. At 23 years of age Susanna became the mother of Thomas Hart 1772. At 31 years of age Susanna became the mother of Lucretia Hart March 18, 1781. Susanna became the mother of Nathaniel Gray Smith Hart in Hagerstown, MD, ca 1784.
At 37 years of age Thomas became the father of Eliza Hart September 9, 1768. At 41 years of age Thomas became the father of Thomas Hart 1772. At 50 years of age Thomas became the father of Lucretia Hart March 18, 1781. Thomas became the father of Nathaniel Gray Smith Hart in Hagerstown, MD, ca 1784. Thomas Hart was engaged in business and had an entrprenurial bent. He was a member of the Transylvania Company and was one of the purchasers of some 20 million acres of Kentucky and Tennessee from the Cherokee Indians in 1775. This purchase was later nullified by the legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina. Thomas moved to Lexington, Kentucky from Hagerstown, MD in 1794. He had moved to Hagerstown from North Carolina during the Revolutionary War for safety. His biography from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography edited by William S. Powell, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1988 follows: Hart, Thomas (ca. 1730-23 June 1808), merchant, public official, and militia officer, the son of Thomas and Susannah Rice Hart, was born in Hanover County, Va., on a plantation settled in 1690 by his English-born grandfather, also named Thomas. John, Benjamin, David, and Nathaniel were his brothers, and Ann his only sister. The family moved to Orange County, N.C., in 1755 after their father died. By 1779, Thomas had received a total of 2,282 acres of land in grants and erected his home, Hartford, near Hillsborough. In addition to farming, he built a gristmill on the nearby Eno River and conducted other business enterprises at the location that became known as Hart’s Mill. Later he became a partner with Nathaniei Rochester and James Brown in a mercantile establishment in Hillsborough. After establishing himself financially, Hart married Susannah Gray, the daughter of the wealthy and politically prominent Colonel John Gray. In 1775, the colonel died and left his entire estate to his son-in-law, including the large plantation Grayfields. With capital resources thus increased, Hart shrewdly expanded his business and by his industrious management accumulated a considerable fortune according to the Orange County tax books for 1779. In addition to his financial prosperity, Hart was successful politically. Shortly after settling in North Carolina, he became an intimate of James Watson, James Thackston, Thomas Burke, James Hogg, William Johnston, and Richard Henderson, and an acquaintance of Governor William Tryon and Edmund Fanning. This led to his appointment as a vestryman of St. Matthew’s Parish as well as county sheriff for a two-year term and another beginning in 1768. In the latter year he was also made a captain in the Orange County militia and commissary for the troops of Orange and Granville counties. Throughout his tenure of office, the sheriff was in constant controversy with the increasingly active Regulators. In 1765, the Assembly passed a bill introduced by Edmund Fanning to award Hart £1,000 for his losses as sheriff, and the previous legislature had included Hart in a group exempt from the payment of taxes. These acts infuriated the Regulators, who claimed the sheriff had no losses, but was being rewarded at public expense for using his influence in the election of Fanning to office. Hart also displeased the government by his failure to collect the unpopular poll tax, either because he disapproved of the law or did not understand it. In 1765, the Assembly ordered him to make the collection. Whether or not he did, he settled his financial account in the colony satisfactorily, which won for him a tribute from Orange County residents because he was the only sheriff ever to do so. When Governor Tryon decided in 1768 to have Herman Husband arraigned in court for his Regulator activities, Sheriff Hart served the warrant and took the accused into custody. In the same year, and again in 1771, Hart was ordered to raise five hundred troops for the defense of the colony. He was unable to enlist the requested manpower but on both occasions accumulated sufficient provisions to sustain the troops Tryon assembled at Hillsborough. The actions of the royal government increasingly incited the wrath of the Regulators, and the sheriff was one of a group of officials they severely whipped in 1770. In view of such treatment, Hart undoubtedly received considerable satisfaction in serving as quartermaster for Tryon when the governor dispersed the Regulators at the Battle of Alamance. During the relative calm that ensued after the War of the Regulation, Hart was able to concentrate on business enterprises. The role of an entrepreneur appealed to him, and in 1774 he became one of the partners in Richard Henderson’s Louisa Company to buy and develop lands in what became Tennessee and Kentucky. Hart journeyed to the Watauga section of Tennessee as one of the company’s representatives at a meeting arranged by Daniel Boone with the Cherokee Indians. John Sevier and Isaac Shelby, who attended as spectators, saw the Indians accept several loads of “trading goods” in return for their titular rights to a huge area of western land. After this transaction, the company was reorganized as the Transylvania Company with Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, William Johnston, James Hogg, John Luttrell, John Williams, David Hart, and Leonard Henly Bullock as shareholders. Trading with the Indians for western lands strictly violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763, but, as many Americans were engaging in land speculation despite the king’s fiat, the Transylvanians ignored it also. The potential profit in the venture was enormous, and the partners lost no time in enlisting settlers to buy or rent land in the territory. Thomas Hart visited the Watauga again in 1775 and his brother, Nathaniel, became a resident agent for the company in the west until he was killed by Indians in 1782. The outcome of the American Revolution relieved the Transylvania Company of any interference in its affairs from the British government but presented a new dilemma because the states of North Carolina and Virginia claimed Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively, as part of their territory. The partners determined to establish their claim to the western land if possible and years of litigation followed. The final decision rendered that the company’s purchase was illegal but a tract was awarded the partners to recompense them for the expenses incurred in the transaction. Hart traded part of his share for land in Kentucky and eventually settled on it. After the War of the Regulation, Hart continued to fill an important role in political affairs, serving as a juror; member of a commission to build a new jail in Hillsborough; member of the colonial Assembly from Orange County in 1773; and then representative in the First, Second, and Third Provincial congresses. When the Revolution began, he was appointed commissary for the Sixth North Carolina Regiment with the rank of colonel. In addition, he was elected a senator in the North Carolina General Assembly for the 1777 session where he became involved in the work of so many committees that he resigned his military commission in order to attend to them. Although Hart, with many others, could not condone the violent tactics of the Regulators, he felt no compunction in becoming an ardent patriot in the American Revolution when independence was formally declared. In doing so, he incurred the hatred of the loyal Tories who unleashed their persecutions when Lord Cornwallis approached Hillsborough with the British Army. Concerned for the safety of his wife and several daughters, Hart removed to Hagerstown, Md., accompanied by Nathaniel Rochester, one of his former business partners. Shortly after his departure the Battle of Hart’s Mill was fought on his property, which the British occupied. Hart and Rochester built a mill and a nail and rope factory, both of which prospered. The colonel gradually disposed of his North Carolina property and never returned to the state. He sold his homeplace, Hartford, to Jesse Benton, husband of his niece, Nancy, and father of Thomas Hart Benton. As the purchaser died before paying for the place, Hart became the mortgagee of the property through a friendly lawsuit and allowed the widow and her family to continue to live there. The mortage was never fully redeemed, which apparently caused no ill will as Hart left the Bentons an additional tract of land when he died. In 1794, Hart moved to Lexington, Ky., where he resided for the remainder of his life. He built up his rope and hemp business into a highly profitable commercial enterprise and engaged in various forms of trade and investment. Due to his affluence, pleasing personality, and shrewd mind, Hart soon became one of the most prominent men in Kentucky. His daughter, Ann (Nancy), married James Brown who had engaged in business with the colonel and Rochester back in Hillsborough, and who later became the U.S. minister to France. Another daughter, Lucretia, born after the Harts left North Carolina, married Henry Clay. A niece married Isaac Shelby, and the other members of the family made marital connections in influential circles. In Maryland, Hart was a communicant of All Saints’ Parish (later renamed St. John’s), of the Protestant Episcopal church. In Kentucky, he joined an Episcopal society which eventually became Christ Church in Lexington. He was buried in the Old Episcopal Graveyard in that city. No portrait of Hart has been found.
SEE: Walter Clark, ed., State Records of North Carolina, vols. 11, 16, 24 (1895, 1899, 1905); Lyman Copeland Draper Letters (Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort); William S. Lester, The Transylvania Colony (1935); Frank Nash, Hillsboro: Colonial and Revolutionary (1953); Records of Orange County (Offices, Register of Deeds and Clerk of Courts, County Courthouse, Hillsborough); William L. Saunders, ed., Colonial Records of North Carolina, vols. 7, 8 (1890); Durward T. Stokes, “Thomas Hart in North Carolina,” North Carolina Historical Review 41 (1964).
DURWARD T. STOKES
A web site about the Hart family may be found at http://www.airtanker.com/mcnally/hart/index.html.
13 ii. Benjamin Hart was born in Hanover Co., NC October 1732. Benjamin died January 2, 1802 in Brunswick, Glynn Co., GA, at 69 years of age. He married Nancy Ann Morgan in North Carolina, 1760. Nancy was born in Orange Co., NC March 17, 1747. Nancy was the daughter of Thomas Morgan and Rebecca Alexander. Nancy died 1835 in Henderson Co., KY, at 88 years of age.
+ 1 iii. Nathaniel Hart was born May 8, 1734.
14 iv. David Hart was born Hanover Co., VA ca 1736. He married Susanna Nunn in Orange Co., NC, ca 1763. Susanna was born Hanover Co., VA ca 1742.
15 v. John Hart was born Hanover Co., VA ca 1738.
16 vi. Ann Hart was born Hanover Co., VA 1740. She married James Gooch in Orange Co., NC, 1763. James was born Hanover Co., VA ca 1736.
17. Susanna2 Rice (Thomas3, Edward4) was born in New Kent Co., VA 1707. Susanna died 1785 in Orange Co., NC, at 78 years of age.
She married Thomas Hart in Virginia, ca 1729. Thomas was born in England circa 1679. Thomas was the son of Thomas Hart and Mary. Thomas died circa 1755 Hanover Co., VA. At 51 years of age Thomas became the father of Thomas Hart in Hanover County, VA, December 11, 1730. At 53 years of age Thomas became the father of Benjamin Hart in Hanover Co., NC, October 1732. At 54 years of age Thomas became the father of Nathaniel Hart in Hanover County, VA, May 8, 1734. Thomas became the father of David Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1736. Thomas became the father of John Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1738. At 61 years of age Thomas became the father of Ann Hart Hanover Co., VA, 1740. (See Thomas Hart for the children resulting from this marriage.)
At 23 years of age Susanna became the mother of Thomas Hart in Hanover County, VA, December 11, 1730. At 25 years of age Susanna became the mother of Benjamin Hart in Hanover Co., NC, October 1732. At 26 years of age Susanna became the mother of Nathaniel Hart in Hanover County, VA, May 8, 1734. Susanna became the mother of David Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1736. Susanna became the mother of John Hart Hanover Co., VA, ca 1738. At 33 years of age Susanna became the mother of Ann Hart Hanover Co., VA, 1740.
Third Generation
18. Thomas3 Hart was born in England. Thomas died Hanover Co., VA.
He married Mary in England, ca 1675. Mary was born England. Mary became the mother of Thomas Hart in England, circa 1679.
Thomas became the father of Thomas Hart in England, circa 1679. Thomas Hart immigrated to Hanover Co., Virginia from England about 1690 bringing with him his 11 year old son, Thomas.
Thomas Hart and Mary had the following child:
+ 11 i. Thomas2 Hart was born circa 1679.
She married Thomas Hart in England, ca 1675. Thomas was born in England. Thomas died Hanover Co., VA. Thomas became the father of Thomas Hart in England, circa 1679. (See Thomas Hart for the children resulting from this marriage.)
Mary became the mother of Thomas Hart in England, circa 1679.
20. Thomas3 Rice (Edward4) was born in Shirementon, Bristol, England 1656. Thomas died ca 1711 in at sea.
He married Marcy in New Kent Co., VA, 1679. Marcy was born in New Kent Co., VA 1664. Marcy died after 1722 Hanover Co., VA. At 16 years of age Marcy became the mother of David Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1680. At 18 years of age Marcy became the mother of William Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1682. At 20 years of age Marcy became the mother of Michael Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1684. At 21 years of age Marcy became the mother of James Rice in New Kent Co., VA, April 4, 1686. At 23 years of age Marcy became the mother of Thomas Rice in New Kent Co., VA, June 24, 1688. At 25 years of age Marcy became the mother of Edward Rice in New Kent Co., VA, April 17, 1690. At 30 years of age Marcy became the mother of Mary Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1694. At 34 years of age Marcy became the mother of John Rice in New Kent Co., VA, September 18, 1698. At 35 years of age Marcy became the mother of Francis Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1699. At 38 years of age Marcy became the mother of Henry Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1702. At 43 years of age Marcy became the mother of Susanna Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1707. At 45 years of age Marcy became the mother of Elizabeth Rice in New Kent Co., VA, 1709.
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