The Curious Case of John Hart, Jr. Whose Father Signed The Declaration of Independence

I've been pondering writing about John, Jr. for some time now.  John, Jr. is the son of John Hart, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Deborah Scudder.  I find writing on my blog is a great way to organize my thoughts and great for when I wonder later how I came to the conclusion I did.  For that reason, you may find that I add to this post as I learn more about our ancestor.

I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and John Hart is my Patriot.  For that reason, I take great interest in this family line.

Unfortunately, many trees are popping up claiming to contain John, Jr. and many of those trees are just wrong. John Hart was a fairly common name.  In fact, a quick check of the 1790 census shows 17 John Harts as the heads of household just in Pennsylvania alone.  We know that John, Jr. lived in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, as well as Louisiana.  For that time, we only have the Pennsylvania records.   The records in New Jersey were destroyed.  You can only imagine how many more John, Jr's there were and what a common name this indeed was.

So, let's start here with the Signer's son.  What records do we actually have that are certainly without a doubt him?

Taken from Genealogical and Family History of Western New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation, Volume 2 published in 1912 on page 599:

I am descended through John Jr's daughter Mary and her husband Jacob Vandergrift.

We also know John, Jr's date of birth from his father's family Bible.  We know that he was born in October 1748.

Important to note, none of the Signer's children had a middle name.  If you encounter a tree with a middle name attached to John, Jr., you are not looking at the correct John, Jr.

Now, here is an abstract from John Jr's father-in-law's will.  John Knowles was the father of Catherine Knowles.  By the time of this will, we know that Catherine had already passed away.   I have a photocopy of the will and will share it here at some point. 

 You can see that John Knowles lists the names of his grandchildren which lines up with what we know of Catherine and John, Jr.'s family.

In John Hart's will, he names his granddaughter Mary.

 

We also can find a record of John Jr's marriage to Catherine at Christ Church in Philadelphia.

If you search the database of the Daughters of the American Revolution, you can find members through John Jr's lines.  Every line is through John Jr. and Catherine.  There was not been any cause to believe there was even another wife.  

The next record is believed to come from the book by Cleaon E. Hammond on the Signer's life.  In the chapter on the Signer's sons, he brings up John the Artist who was John, Jr's grandson:

 
A new line has sprung up recently with no records to back up any of the assertions.  This new line asserts that our John Hart, Jr. married an Eleanor Campbell Carrol (with numerous spellings) in 1763 Philadelphia. If true, our John, Jr. would have been 15 years old.  According to numerous articles (for this post I'll cite "Five Early Pennsylvania Censuses" by Susan Klepp:

Even by 1760's standards, fifteen was much too young.  

This same tree claims John Hart was a bigamist.  There has been no proof of bigamy and, again, this is a new claim.  Evidence exists as to the false nature of these claims.

In 1764, John and Eleanor Hart had their son John and baptized him in 1765.  According to this same tree, infant John lived until the May 7, 1853 in Philadelphia.  We have conclusive proof that John Jr and his wife Catherine had a son about 1779 names John who later went on to marry Mary Shreeve in 1802 Philadelphia.  If our John, Jr. already had a son named John who was alive and well, he would not have named a second son John.   According to that same tree, John and Eleanor had seven children between 1763 and 1782.  The same tree claims that John and Eleanor were living in Ohio with their son James in 1830.  However, there is substantial proof (accepted by the Daughters of the American Revolution and The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence that John, Jr. and his wife Catherine had five children between 1771 and 1781 of which his son John was one.  

Because we have already established that there were at least 17 John Harts in Pennsylvania alone during this time, it is clear that the John Hart wedded to Eleanor is a completely different John Hart entirely.  The allegation that he had two separate families in Philadelphia at the same time is just not realistic and there is nothing anywhere to even suggest our John, Jr. was a bigamist. 


I will be adding to this post. 

 

Edited September 2022.  The source of the Eleanor Carroll misinformation was shared with me   Because there was no evidence and it was a stretch to make other John Harts fit, the originator admits that her daughter was given the evidence in a dream.