Hart Letter, April 1884, Envelope Front

To: Miss Anna M. Ramsey

Richborough P.D.

Bucks County

Pennsylvania

C/O Mr. Ed Ramsey

Please forward

 

 

High Point

April 27th ‘84

 

Dear Cousin Anna,

 

Yours of April 4 received. Was so glad to hear from you. I had looked for a letter for some time from Aunty. But have treasured up my last one from her. Anna, I sympathize deeply with your in your affliction. Your loss is her gain. But it is so hard to part with those we love so dearly but aunty has only passed from this wicked world to a brighter and better one beyond. But oh the loneliness and sadness in the home without a mother or father. My heart aches for you, well I do remember the bitter pangs of suffering I passed through when I had to give up my dear mother. It seemed as though all the sunshine had gone out of the world. To this day I grieve for her. But time changes all things and we must be reconciled.

 

I was not surprised when we received the notice of Aunty’s death. From what you had written to me I was expecting it. But felt very sad indeed. I wanted to come east last fall to see you all once more but Jeff was sick so long and so bad that we could not leave him. I think from what you tell me about Aunty she must have been (in her sickness) very much like cos (?) Kate Hume (McNair). She did not suffer pain but had that distress feeling and sick at her stomach. She had a cancerous tumor.

 

Dear Anna, we are so lonely. We miss Jeff so much. He was so good and kind to all. I had often read of happy deaths but never witnessed such a one in my life. He was sick only five days. In the afternoon of the day he died, Rosie was sitting on his bed crying. He said to her “I would so much rather you would go to the piano and play and sing for me ‘Nearer my God to Thee’ then to sit here and cry.” She went to the piano and played and tried to sing with the help of some friends. Poor child. It seemed as if it would kill her almost.

 

He bid all goodbye and talked to each one separately and was perfectly willing to go. Said he did not dread death and was ready to die, only his worldly affairs were not just as he would have them. He thought he lingered longer toward the last then he ought to, so asked a friend to read and sing with the friends that time might pass faster. There was about 50 persons in to bid him farewell. He shook hands and had some good word for all. It hurt him very much to talk but when he found he could not live he talked the most of the time until about half an hour before his death.

 

He had a great many friends. There was between 1,000 and 1,500 persons at his funeral. He requested to have one of our old preachers to preach at his funeral. The sermon was very good. He was buried with Masonic honors. We sent a notice to Aunty. Did you get it? Anna, I would like you to write to me soon and tell me about Aunty’s death. All join one with much love to all friends. Accept a very large share for yourself.

 

From your cousin,

 

Harriet S. Hart

 

 

This poignant letter was written by Harriet Shepard Vanartsdalen Hart (22 February, 1830, Philadelphia, PA – 11 December, 1900, High Point, MO), wife of Thomas Jefferson Hart (9 February, 1826, Bucks Co., PA – 29 February, 1884, High Point, MO), who—according to his obituary—struggled for years with “an enfeebling lung disease,” his “exhausted nature at last yielded to an attack of acute pneumonia after five days’ illness,” leaving a Harriet a widow with eight surviving children of the at least 13 she had born.

 

Many years later, his then-middle-aged son Lewis filed an application to join the Sons of the American Revolution. It contains a substantial amount of genealogical evidence about the Hart family, naming Jeff Hart’s father as Lewis Folwell Hart, (17 March, 1792, Bucks County, PA – 1841, Belleview, Illinois). His mother was Sidney Gill (1796 – 1854). He was the grandson of Joseph Folwell Hart, born 7 December, 1758, and Ann Folwell (1758, Warminster, PA – 11 March, 1843, Southampton, PA), who was the daughter of Colonel William Thomas Folwell (1737 – 1813). That Joseph was the son of Warminster, Pennsylvania, native Joseph Hart (1 September, 1715 – 25 February 1788) and his wife Elizabeth Collet (14 May, 1744, Philadelphia, PA – 19 February, 1788, Warminster, PA). Joseph, Sr., took part in the Revolution as a “colonel, Second Battalion.” He commanded a regiment of Bucks County militia, serving in Amboy, New Jersey, during the latter part of the summer of 1776. Joseph, Sr., the application notes, was a great-grandson of Christopher and Mary Hart of Oxfordshire, England, who came to America with William Penn and settled in Warminster Township, Bucks County, where the family lived until 1855, when Jeff Hart moved his brach to Missouri. (It is almost a certainty that Christopher and Mary Hart knew my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, the Quaker Richard Hough—who drowned in the Delware River in July 1705 and was eulogized by William Penn.)

 

Harriet was the daughter of John Vanartsdalen (b. abt. 1800 – aft. 1870) and his wife Maria S. Davis (1807, PA – 7 November, 1854, Philadelphia, PA). Harriet’s family was descended from early Dutch settlers Simon Jansz Van Arsdalen and his wife Jannetje Romeyn.

 

Jeff Hart married Harriet Vanartsdalen on 16 March, 1848. On the 1850 census of Philadelphia, the young couple and their second-born son John Byron (b. 1849, PA – 1886) (the first, also named John Byron, died either at birth or in early infancy), were living with—or possibly visiting—Harriet’s mother Maria, the woman of whom her daughter wrote: “Well I do remember the pangs of suffering I passed through when I had to give up my own dear mother. It seemed as though all the sunshine had gone out of the world.” Also in the household was Harriet’s younger brother, John (b. 1835). Jeff Hart’s occupation at that time was as a carpenter.

Harriet lost her beloved mother in November 1854. Maria was laid to rest in the Odd Fellows Burial Ground, a historic cemetery at 24th and Diamond Streets that was established in 1849. The cemetery property was acquired by the Philadelphia Housing Authority in 1950 for construction of a housing project. The bodies that had been interred there, including Maria’s, were relocated to two other Odd Fellows cemeteries: Mount Peace and Lawnview.

By 1860, the family had been in Missouri for about five years. They dwelt in “Township 43, Range 15” of Moniteau County. Today, that place is called High Point. It is less a town than a crossroads placed amidst a deeply agrarian landscape. At High Point, the census reveals that Jeff Hart had made the leap from carpenter to merchant, and Harriet managed four children who ranged in age from 11 to six months: Byron; Frank H. (1858 - 1905) Laura Louisa (b. 1859); and Lillie Josephine (1856 – 1863).

 

Jeff Hart served in the U.S. Civil War in Company B of the 48th Missouri Infantry as a captain. His registration record of the summer of 1863 enumerates him as a 37-year-old merchant with three months of previous experience serving in a militia. He did not see battle. According to the regimental history, “Service: Duty at Rolla. Mo., until December 9, 1864. Defense of Rolla against Price. Moved to Nashville, Tenn., December 9-19. Assigned to post duty at Columbia, Tenn., and garrison blockhouses on Tennessee & Alabama Railroad from Franklin to Talioka until February, 1865. Moved to Chicago, Ill., February 18-22. Guard duty at Camp Douglas and escort Confederate prisoners to City Point, Va., for exchange until June 16. Ordered to Benton Barracks, Mo., June 16. Mustered out June 22, 1865. Regiment lost during service by disease 120.”

 

After the war, on 27 March, 1867, Jeff Hart was appointed postmaster for High Point—it was a position that made practical sense, as he operated what was on one of few storefronts. In fact, looking at High point on Google Street View, it becomes clear that the U.S. Post office may yet be operating out of Jeff Hart’s former store, just as it has been since before the Civil War. Hart held the post master position until his death.

 

The 1870 census of Moniteau County, Missouri, lists Jeff Hart as a dry goods merchant. The children living at home at that time were sons Byron, Frank; Laura; Lewis Folwell (1862 - 1929); Emma Rosealie (b. 1866)—the “Rosie” who is mentioned in the letter; and Alberta S. (b. 1869). All the children, with the exception of the first, were born in Missouri. Also living with the family was a nonrelated servant, dry goods clerk, and laborer, as well as a man, age 70, who is simply called “Van Archdalen,”—a farmer born in Pennsylvania. This was almost certainly Harriet’s father, John.

 

The 1880 census of the same place shows Jeff Hart then had no occupation, as he was presumably struggling with his chronic lung disease, which could have been Tuberculosis, lung cancer, severe asthma, or any number of other issues affecting the airways that could lead to fatal pneumonia. The children living at home at that time were Laura; Lewis; Rosie; Alberta; Elmer E. (1870 - 1930); and Carlos Brumhawk (b. 1875). The eldest son, Lewis, was the only member of the family with work—he was listed a clerk in a store.

 

(Other Hart children who died young were the first John Byron (1849-1849); Annie Louisa (1850-1852); two babies named Howell Dorman—the first lived from 1852 to 1853, the second from 1853 - 1854; Maria Louisa (1854 – 1854); U. S. Grant (1863 – 1864); and Lillie Bell (1865 - 1865).)

 

You can read Jeff Hart’s obituary here: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8606535144/in/photostream. It supplies many of the details of his life, character, and religion. Both he and Harriet are buried at High Point Cemetery, Moniteau County, Missouri.

 

Within a fortnight of her husband’s death and about five weeks before writing this letter, on 13 March, 1884, Harriet became the post mistress for High Point and appears to have retained the role until October 1891, when a replacement was named. That man, Robert Reynolds, may also have taken over the Harts’ mercantile business at the same time.

 

Because the 1890 census burned, we cannot glimpse of Harriet’s life at the beginning of that decade. Harriet did not die until 11 December, 1900, and so she ought to appear on the census of that year, but sadly, I cannot find her.

 

The recipient of the letter Harriet wrote in April 1884 was Anna Mary Ramsey (b. 21 October, 1847, Bucks Co., PA), the daughter of farmer Robert Ramsey (b. 1814, PA) and his wife Elizabeth Vanartsdalen (b. 1817, PA)—the “Aunty” of whom this letter speaks. Elizabeth was, it appears, the great-aunt of Harriet Vanartsdalen Hart—her paternal grandfather’s sister.

 

The Ramsey family was large, with eight children who all made it to adulthood. The 1850 census saw the family living in Northampton, Bucks County, where Robert Ramsey was a farmer. The children listed on the 1850 census were Jeanette V. (b. 1842); Amelia G. (b. 1844); Henry K. (1845 - 1910); Anna; and John V. (12 January, 1850 – 5 May, 1890). The 1860 census includes all of these children, as well as William Augustus (b. 1852) and Edward (b. 1855), the latter of whom this letter was sent in the Care Of.

 

Anna’s brother Henry may have fought in the Civil War. A Henry Ramsey enlisted as private on 17 February, 1865, in Company I, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry and was mustered out on 28 June, 1865 in Washington, D.C. However, there are multiple Pennsylvania Henry Ramseys who enlisted during the war. Some can be ruled out as Henry K., but none who remain supply the recorded evidence to make a certain identification.

 

Strangely, ten years later in 1870, the Robert and Elizabeth appear alone on the 1870 census of Northampton. All of their offspring had flown. Their sons Henry and Edward are enumerated in Abingdon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, working as laborers on the farm of material kin Amos and Lottie Vanartsdalen. The rest of the children were nearby, still in Northampton. Son John was working as a laborer on the farm of Jesse and Hannah Twining. Eldest daughter Jeanette was living with another Vanartsdalen relation, 64-year-old Jane. Jeanette may have been with Jane Vanartsdalen as early as May 1864, when both their names were entered as members of the Dutch Reformed Church of North and Southampton. Amelia was living on the farm of Marshall and Sarah Cummings, working as a seamstress. Anna was with farmer Charles Torbert and his 21-year-old daughter Emma, keeping house. William went to Philadelphia, where he married a much older woman named Jeannette V. (b. 10 October, 1840) and bore him two sons, Horace Augustus (b. 29 September, 1872,) and Byron Vanartsdalen (b. 20 August 1874). She died 13 January, 1876, in Philadelphia, and was buried on 17 January, 1886, in North Ceder Hill Cemetery. Her two little boys were baptized together at the Dutch Reformed Church on 13 May, 1876, exactly four months after their mother’s death.

 

It does seem a strange state of affairs that although Robert and Elizabeth Ramsey were above the age of 50 and still engaged in farming, all of their children were to be found at the farms and houses of other people—relatives or no. One can only conclude that either the Ramseys were desperate for money and had sent their children out to earn it, or that the Ramsey children did not want to be with either one, or both, of their parents.

 

Anna’s father, Robert, died 5 May, 1878, and was buried in Union Cemetery, Richboro, Bucks County, “aged 64 years, 6 months, and 8 days,” according to his tombstone. Anna and William returned to live with 62-year old widow Elizabeth and were enumerated on the 1880 census as such. Also noted on the cenus were the two grandchildren, William’s sons eight-year-old Horace and five-year-old Byron. Anna’s brother John was living nearby, enumerated in the 1880 census as a laborer, had married a woman named Emma and had two children of his own: Mary (b. 1875) and Robert (b. 1877).

 

On 18 January, 1882, at the Dutch Reformed Church, widowed William married Adelaide B. Addis (1859 – 1896) and became the father of more children: Anna Maud (1886 – 1906), Harry A. (1887 – 1954), and Charles H. (1888 – 1964.) William died on 21 December, 1910, age 58, in Philadelphia, where he was possibly visiting his son Horace. He was buried on 23 December in Union Cemetery.

 

Byron Ramsey grew up to be a barber. His World War I registration form says he was of medium height, slender, and with brown eyes and dark hair. He married Emma E. Yerkes (b. 1882) and had three children: Elizabeth L. (b. 1906), Elaine H. (b. 1908), and Byron Lee (b. 1910). Marital discord resulting in separation, or perhaps something less fraught, happened in 1910 that caused Byron to be enumerated on the census without his family—instead he was with his then 52-year-old aunt, Anna, in Warmister. However, by 1920, he was back with his wife and children in Hatboro, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

 

On both the 1920 and 1930 censuses, Anna was enumerated with her bachelor nephew Horace in Philadelphia. Horace had the job of “timekeeper” (perhaps not literally in charge of clocks, but of employee time cards) at Wanamaker’s, the first department store in the city, and one of the first department stores in the United States. His World War I draft registration tells us that was of medium height, slender, and had blue eyes and brown hair. We also know from a later census that he had an 8th grade education. It can be extrapolated that the majority of the Vanartsdalen/Hart/Ramsey clan were similarly educated.

 

Anna Ramsey died on 7 December, 1933, and was buried on 12 December in Union Cemetery between her mother, “Aunty” Elizabeth and her brother Henry. It had been nearly 50 years since she had received the solemn letter I now own from a cousin then dead for more than three decades. Anna’s nephew Horace was alive as of 1940, living in Newtown, Bucks County, with his half-brother Charles. Byron died in 1949 and is buried at St. Johns Episcopal Churchyard, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.

 

 

Envelope Front: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8606590430/in/photostr...

Envelope Back: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8605484979/in/photostr...

Page One: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8605484017/in/photostr...

Pages 2-3: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8605448141/in/photostr...

Page 4: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8605432745/in/photostr...

Thomas Jefferson Hart Obituary:

www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8606535144/in/photostr...

Graves of the Ramsey family: www.flickr.com/photos/60861613@N00/8607878546/in/photostr...

 

 

Done