The Hart Families of Lee County, Iowa

RAY S. HART.

Ray S. Hart is a busy and energetic farmer who for the past sixteen years has resided on and cultivated a tract of eighty acres on section 7, Denmark township. He owns this property and it gives evidence in its neat and thrifty appearance of his watchful care and. wise supervision. He was born in Pleasant Ridge township, Lee county, August 30, 1841, and is a son of John H. and Phoebe (Thurston) Hart, who came to this county in 1838 and 1840 respectively. The father was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1799 and in the paternal line came of Irish ancestry and in the material line was of Scotch lineage. His father was a cabinetmaker and died in Rhode Island at the remarkable old age of ninety-four years. John H. Hart was one of a family of five sons and two daughters. One of his brothers, Edward Hart, was for two years a resident of Lee county, Iowa.

John H. Hart was reared and married in Rhode Island. He learned and followed the cabinetmaker's trade and was also an auctioneer. After his removal to the west he gave his attention largely to auctioneering and to farming, which he carried on in Lee county in 1871, when he removed to Bates county, Missouri. There his death occurred within the year. He was a Baptist in his religious faith, while his fraternal relations were with the Masons and the Odd Fellows, both of which organizations found in him a loyal and devoted representative. He married Phoebe Thurston, also a native of Rhode Island, and her death occurred in Lee county in 1852, her remains being interred in the West Point cemetery. One of her brothers, William Thurston, came to Fort Madison, Iowa, about 1838, thus casting in his lot with the earliest pioneers. He remained there to the time of his death. Unto John H. and Phoebe Hart were born seven children, of whom Ray S. was third in order of birth, and only one other is now living, Thomas H. Hart, a resident of Fort Madison. Having lost his first wife, the father married Emily Green and they had three children, two of whom survive, one being a resident of Illinois and the other of Osceola, Iowa.

Ray S. Hart was reared upon the old home farm in Pleasant Ridge township with the usual experiences of the farm lad, who as his age and strength increase aids more and more largely in the work of the fields and thus circumscribes the time which he can devote to the acquirement of an education. Practical training well qualified him for his later duties when he began farming on his own account. With the outbreak of the Civil war, however, he put aside all personal interests, enlisting in 1861, when twenty years of age, as a member of Company F, First Iowa Cavalry. His regiment was assigned to the Seventh Corps of the Western Army and Mr. Hart was on active duty for three years and three months, the last year being largely spent on detached duty in connection with the medical department. He was never wounded, although he suffered from malarial fever and his illness so reduced his weight that he tipped the scales at only ninety pounds when he returned home.

Not content with the educational opportunities that he had thus far received, Ray S. Hart afterward attended school in Denmark for a year and a half. He then went to Colorado, spending about a year in that state in the vicinity of Denver, where he engaged in freighting. Upon his return to Iowa he began farming in Denmark township and has since successfully followed that pursuit, being now the owner of a good tract of land of eighty acres on section 7, which he has brought to a high state of cultivation. His fields are carefully tilled along progressive and scientific lines, and success follows his efforts in the production of good crops.

Mr. Hart was married in this county, in 1878, to Miss Celia Stiles, who was born near Des Moines, in Warren county, Iowa, on the 20th of September, 1851;, a daughter of Horace and Rachel (Van Hyning) Stiles. The father, who was a native of New Hampshire, came to Lee county in 1838, a number of years before the admission of the state into the Union — and settled upon a farm in what was then a frontier region. After his marriage he removed to Warren county, Iowa, but in 1867 returned to Denmark, where the mother died in 1873, at the age of forty-four years. She was a Baptist in religious faith and lived an earnest Christian life. Mr. Stiles afterward removed to Nebraska, where he passed away in 1897, at the venerable age of eighty-one years. In their family were five children, of whom four are yet living: Mrs. Hart; Mrs.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEORGE A. HART.

George A. Hart, who follows the trade of blacksmith and wagonmaker. at Fort Madison, is a native son of Lee county, having been born in Pleasant Ridge township, March 26. 1843. He is the son of John H. and Phoebe (Thurston) Hart, who were married at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and removed to Lee county in 1839, where the father purchased land and engaged in farming until his retirement. At that time they again removed, going to Denmark, this county, and later to Butler, Missouri, and there John H. Hart died in 1870, at the age of fifty-six years. The demise of his wife preceded his, she having passed to the higher life in the year 185 1, at the age of forty.

Our subject is one of a family of eight brothers and sisters, as follows: Jane, wife of Robert Henry of Mount Ayr, Iowa; Thomas H.. of Fort Madison; Ray S., of Denmark. Lee county; George A.; John T., who died in a military hospital at St. Louis, in 1864; Ariadna, wife of T. F. Whitmark, of Lee county; Lorin. deceased; and Lewis, deceased. After the death of his first wife John H. Hart was again married, this time-to Emily Green, who died in 1891, leaving three children: Phoebe L. (Root), now deceased; Manley D.: and Jessie, wife of Frank Murphy, of Stronghurst, Illinois.

The Hart family originally emigrated to America from Ireland at an early date, and Mr. Hart traces his genealogy through the material line of Thurston as far back as 1640. when two brothers of the name settled in America, coming from England.

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In his political faith, George A. Hart is a stanch and Inynl member of the Republican party. Fraternally, he is connected with the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a charter member of Camp No. 460, Modern Woodmen of America, of Denmark. He owns his place of business and family residence at No. 1005 Second street. By a long career of industry, integrity and just and generous dealing Mr. Hart has made his own way successfully, and has earned for himself the respect of a large circle of friends.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

ROBERT H. HART.

Robert H. Flart, overseer of the poor farm of Lee county, Iowa, was born in 1865, near the City of Springfield, Sangamon county, Illinois, and when thirteen years of age came with his parents to Lee county, where he received his education in the common schools, and grew to manhood in the practice of industry and devotion to the task at hand. He is the son of Samuel and Penina J. (Neece) Hart, both natives of Sangamon county, and they made their home in Keokuk with the father, who was a school teacher, until his death, in 1885. The mother, who is still living, is now a resident of Hamilton, Illinois, and has been remarried, her second husband being C. W. Self. The family was composed of five children, of whom three are now living, the two besides our subject being Curtis M., of Summitville, Iowa, and Otis, of Hamilton, Illinois.

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On January 28, 1886, Mr. Hart was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Isabel Laurinson, who was born in Lee county, the daughter of William and Melissa ( Phillips) Laurinson, the former of whom, her father having died when she was five years of age, ami the mother having since twice remarried, first to H. H. Thompson, and subsequent to his death to J. \V. Wiley, with whom she now resides, in Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. Hart have been born two children, a son, Sherman E., and a daughter. Hazel H.

Mr. Hart is a very prominent member of the Democratic party in Lee county, and a loyal supporter of its chosen leaders and zealous worker in its ranks, having served as delegate to county and state conventions for the past ten years, and having, while a resident of Montrose township), acted for three years as chairman of the township committee, performing in this capacity much valuable work for his party. Fraternally he has extensive connections, being a Master Mason of Lodge, No. 136, of Montrose, a member of Keokuk Lodge, No. 13, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Camp, No. 4594, Modern Woodmen of America, of Summitville, of which he is Cam]) Banker: and of the Keokuk Lodge of the Knights and Ladies of Security.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.