J. D. HART

HART

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 17:08:56

J. D. HART, the oldest pioneer settler of Nodaway township, was born near Syracuse, New York, February 5, 1827, the son of John Hart, a native of the same place. The latter was a son of Deacon Ezra Hart, of Connecticut, and of a well educated family. Ezra’s father and two of his
brothers were in the Revolutionary war, and were killed at Yorktown. John Hart married Belinda Brewer, who was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, a daughter of Jonas Brewer. They left the Empire State in 1832, and went to Newark, Ohio. Mr. Hart, being a good mechanic and expert mill-wright, took a contract for building a large distillery there. Afterward he went to
Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he built a mill, and in 1838 to Vandalia, Illinois, and after that to Hillsboro, Montgomery county, same State.

J. D., our subject, was with the family in 1844, in their removal to Washington county, Iowa. In 1849 he went overland to California, by ox team, being six months on the way and going by the Lawson route. He was on Feather river, and at Santa Clara and other points, prospecting, raining and farming. In the spring of 1853 he returned, purchased a good herd of cows, drove them to California and sold them at a good profit. Returning to Iowa again, in the spring of
1854, he engaged in buying horses for the Dubuque and Chicago markets. The same
year he entered Government land in Nodaway township, this county, at $1.25 an acre, and located upon it. The next spring he built a log house there and broke some of the land. His wife arrived the next fall, and since then this place has been their residence. They have now a good modern house. The farm comprises 120 acres and is thoroughly improved.

During the war Mr. Hart enlisted, August 13, 1862, under President Lincoln’s call for 300,000 men, in the Twenty-Ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and was transferred by promotion as Second Lieutenant of Company I of the Fifty-Fourth United States Colored Infantry; was in the battle of Helena, Arkansas, and other engagements, acquitting himself well as an officer. In his political views he is a Democrat. He has been Justice of the Peace, township trustee, etc. He is a member of Meyerhoff Post, No. 466, G. A. R., was a charter member and has been Chaplain of the same. He and his wife and two of the children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

He was married May 9, 1854, to Miss Lucy Walker, who was born at Flemingsburg, Kentucky, a daughter of William Walker, also a Kentuckian. Mr. Walker was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky. He was married to Elizabeth Yannatten, of Fleming county, Kentucky, the daughter of Ferdinand Vannatten. Mr. Hart and wife have six children, namely: William and George, mining at Hill City, Dakota; Kate, now the wife of Samuel Kernan, of Trego county, Kansas; Hettie, Clara, and Linna, a teacher. They lost one son by death—Jonas, who died while his father was in the army.