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1 [Isaac],  2 [Captain Samuel]

Jonathan Hart and Mercy

 


Loyalist home in Upper Canada, c. 1791.

ID #20682
Credit: E.S. Shrapnel / National Archives of Canada / C-23633

A number of drawings of Canadian history and life, including the one above, are available for viewing and/or purchase at:  www.canadianheritage.org/galleries/

Jonathan Hart, the rebel of the family.  

 

Jonathan, the fourth son of Captain Samuel and Sarah Endicott Hart, was born on November 2, 1710, in Lynn, Massachusetts.  Jonathan married Mercy Hawkes on March 2, 1735.  The couple raised at least eight children.  Jonathan died in 1790 and Mercy died in September of 1799.

 

In a will proved on February 11, 1731, Thomas Hart, Jonathan's uncle, left all of his lands in Lynn (later Lynnfield), Massachusetts to him in trust until he became twenty-one years of age.  After their marriage, Jonathan and Mercy lived on this property and raised their family there.  About 1763, they and four of their sons joined a group of Essex County, Massachusetts residents heading for Nova Scotia.  Most of this party, including the Hartts, settled along the St. John River, in or near Maugerville, Sunbury County, Nova Scotia, later New Brunswick.  (Click here to view a large hand-drawn map of the Maugerville area.)

Over the next decade as tension grew between the American Colonies and Great Britain, the loyalty of these emigrants from Massachusetts was clearly with that of the colonists.  Jonathan Hartt became one of the agitators who sought to bring Nova Scotia into the Revolutionary War on the side of the colonists. He helped organize meetings and made speeches. One of those speeches landed him in court on June 20, 1775, charged with swearing and seditious remarks against the king.  The court record attributes these words to Jonathan: "The king is a damned snotty whelp and if I were near him I would stab him for he is nothing but a R.... B......"

The swearing charge drew a fine of two shillings and, though he was cited by the court for treasonable words against the king, the penalty for this offence was held in abeyance. The court's final action on this charge is yet to be found.

Like father, like son, Thomas Hartt, son of Jonathan, was involved in the organization of a meeting in Maugerville on May 14, 1776, that adopted this resolution:

"Resolved that it is our mind and desire to submit ourselves to the government of Massachusetts Bay and that we are ready with our lives and fortunes to share with them the event of the present struggle for liberty, however God in his prudence may order it."

 

Note:  It appears that Jonathan and his cousin, Thomas (Adam's son), added a "T" to their last name at about the same time.  Jonathan's branch of the family adopted that name and it is still in use several generations later.  Not everyone in Thomas's branch of the family adopted the new spelling of the last name.

Children born to Jonathan Hartt and Mercy Hawkes Hartt:

Thomas A. Hartt Born January 17, 1736 Farmington, Connecticut Married Sarah Hawkes, 1769, in Lynnfield, Mass.
Died June 1813 "Oromocto," St. Andrews, NB
Abigail Hartt Born 1743 Danvers, Massachusetts Married Amos Smith on August 20, 1764; at least four children.  See notes below.
Died April 28, 1828 Lynnfield, Massachusetts
Samuel Henry Alline Hartt Born 1745 Sheffield, Burton, Kingsclear, NB Married (1) Mary Estabrooks (1753-1792) 
(2) Clarissa Hammond on Oct 28, 1793
Died 1814 New Brunswick
John Hartt Born 1748   Married Anne Lovell in 1782
Died Nov. 3,1800  
Molly "Mary" Mercy Hartt Born November 1750 Rowley, Massachusetts Married John Estey on November 16, 1769, in Sheffield, Sunbury County, New Brunswick.
Died January 29, 1825 Kingsclear County, New Brunswick
Jonathan Hartt Jr. Born     Died of a fever; probably as a colonial soldier
Died June 10, 1756 Lake George, New York
Aaron Hartt Born     Married Elizabeth "Betsy" Alexander. See notes below.
Died January 1795 Cornish, Maine
Sarah Hartt Born     Married at Danvers, Mass., Mar. 28, 1771, Walter Smith of Danvers.  One child.  See notes below.
Died    

Notes: 

Sarah Hartt married Walter Smith.  They had one child:  Esther Smith, m. her cousin, Jonathan Smith, Mar. 6, 1799, third child of Abigail Hartt and Amos Smith (see below).

Abigail Hartt and Amos Smith had four children: (1) Abigail "Nabby" Smith, b. Apr. 9, 1766 in Danvers. Mass.; m. Nov. 18, 1787, Ebenezer Parsons of Lynnfield (d. April 17, 1843, a soldier of the revolution), where they resided; Abigail "Nabby" died May 16, 1849.  They had a son, Ebenezer Parsons Jr., b. Aug. 17, 1794, d. 1853, who m. May Hart, b. Dec. 18, 1792, d. 1864, daughter of Ebenezer and Polly (Smith) Hart.  She was his cousin. The family is buried in the West Burying Ground, Lynnfield, Mass.  Two young children, David Parsons at 2 years and 5 months, and Charlotte Parsons at 10 months died in 1836. (2) Polly Parsons, b. in 1766; in Danvers, Mass.; m. Oct. 25, 1792, Ebenezer Hart; b. in Lynnfield, Nov. 15, 1762, third son of John Jr. and Lydia (Curtis) Hart.  They were second cousins.  She died Oct. 3, 1843. They had ten children. (3) Jonathan Parsons, b. Sept.1, 1768, in Lynnfield, m. Mar. 6, 1799, his cousin, Esther Smith, daughter of Walter and Sarah (Hart) Smith of Danvers.  She d. June 3, 1856, age 82 years.  He d. June 17, 1852 .  They had one child: Jonathan Hart, b. May 15, 1801; m. Mar. 29, 1827, his cousin, Cassandana Hart, daughter of Ebenezer and Polly (Smith) Hart.  He d.Apr. 5, 1881.  (4) Walter, b. 1773; m. Mar. 7, 1799, Lucy Blanchard.  She d. Jan. 13, 1807, age 28 years.  Mr. Smith d. Mar. 31, 1835.  They had one daughter, Lucy, d. Mar. 28, 1804, age 10 months.

Aaron Hartt probably returned to Newmarket, N.H., and was a soldier in the War of Revolution; he is on pay-roll, Aug. 31, 1779, Col. Moor's regiment.  He received 40 pounds payment for going to the defense of Rhode Island, as shown by New Hampshire State Papers, book 16, page 765.  He next appears in the town of Cornish, York County, Maine.  "At a court held at Waterborough, York County, Maine, Aug.24, 1795, administration of estate of Aaron Hart, late of Cornish, Me., mariner and cooper, who died Jan. 1795, was granted to Betsy, or Elizabeth Hartt, of Cornish Me., widow of Aaron Hartt, and before 1796 she married Isaac Gray of Cornish, Me." Probate court record at Alfred, Maine, book 17, page 88  

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