On Proving the Widely Accepted Death Dates for John Hart, Jr. Are Wrong (Son of the Signer of the Declaration of Independence)

While focusing on John Hart, Jr's life, I have discovered that there is some errant information.  The blog post before this one shares the details that we know.

John, Jr. was the son of John Hart who signed the Declaration of Independence and his wife Deborah Scudder.  A number of records varying death dates which, with a little research, I've found to be wrong.  Hopefully by sharing these records, we can correct the misinformation on the web and, maybe even discover when he really died.

The most common death date accepted is March 22, 1790 (taken from the Leach Manuscript).  For a number of years, this was the date I used as well in my own family tree.  With newspaper records, I've been able to determine that the John Hart who died in 1790 Philadelphia is, indeed a different Mr. Hart.

From the family Bible, we know our John, Jr. was born in 1748.

 

There are multiple records of the John Hart who died on March 22, 1790 on Ancestry.  Here are two of them:

  

Of course, this last record shows the John Hart in question is eight years older than our John Hart. 

We can find a number of Quaker records with his wife Hannah and son Chamless including these:

  

 

 Sadly, by 1788 at the age of 30, Chamless has died.

 And, two years later, his father John has died.  Here is a bit about the will which lists this John Hart's family members:

 Very clearly, we can conclude that the 1790 death for our John, Jr. is the wrong death date.

Another date widely accepted is 28 May 1819 in Philadelphia.  That this is the wrong John Hart as well is more easily proven:

More to follow on other proven wrong death dates.