Try this website also for a John Hart bio: http://www.webcom.com/bba/ch/hart/john-hart.html "L.R. Lawson" wrote: > > For those interested in John Hart, the signer...here is a website: > www.stepping-stones.com/jhart.html > > I had heard that he was so hated for signing the Declaration of Independence > he had to flee for his life, leaving a sick wife and about 10 children. When > he later returned home, his wife had died and his children scattered. The > website above tells more about him. > =========================== > ---------- > > From: Rockne H. Johnson <[email protected]> > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [HART-L] John Hart, the Signer > > Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 8:19 PM > > > > H. is for Hart and I was raised with the family tradition that we were > > descended from John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence. I > > never asked for proof as I assumed that a tradition like that would never > > be forgotten. So it came as a shock to me in 1992, at age 62, when I > heard > > that Aunt Ceil had her doubts. > > > > Lucile Nevison Philippi , of Alliance, Ohio, my mother's next to youngest > > sister, produced a Nevison book in the late 1980's and a Hart book in the > > early 1990's. > > > > Aunt Norma, the youngest of the seven sisters, sponsored a Nevison Reunion > > near Alliance, Ohio, in September 1992. My wife and I attended and I > > learned the source of Aunt Ceil's doubt of the John Hart connection. She > > had bought a book, "John Hart; The Biography of a Signer of the > Declaration > > of Independance," The Pioneer Press, Newfane, Vermont, 1977, and the > > author,Cleon H. Hammond, noted that there were Pennsylvania Hart families > > which claimed descent but which were not so descended. Aunt Ceil figured > > that ours was probably one of them. > > > > The day after the Reunion, Glennis and I drove our rented car to > > Pennsylvania. Aunt Ceil has given us the address of her cousin Evelyn > Hart > > McClearn in Stoneboro. Neither Evelyn nor her daughter, who also dropped > > in, had heard of the John Hart tradition. (They had heard that we were > > descended from Sir Frances Drake, but that is another story.) > > > > With two strikes against the tradition, I took the John Hart biography > back > > to Honolulu and read it. I t contained many lists of descendants. It > told > > how everyone was named for someone in the family. I tablulated their > first > > names and compared them with the first names of our Harts, as contained in > > Aunt Ceil's Hart book. The intersection of the two sets of names was hard > > to find. Strike three! > > > > If that wasn't enough, James Hart, whom Aunt Ceil named as our earliest > > known ancestor, was of such an age that, if descended, he would have had > to > > be a grandson of the signer. The grandchildren appeared to be well known > > and there was no James among them. > > > > That was my introduction to genealogy. > > > > It was tough to take; I had thrived on this tradition. But abandoning > > cherished myths is part of growing up. > > > > In the years since I have identified my real direct ancestors, all 134 of > > them. I hope that my descendants will have more satisfaction in knowing > > the real ones than I did in knowing the pretended one. > > > > Rock > >