After I started really working on my tree, my focus turned out to be Samuel Hart (1835-1918), my g-g-grandfather. He came to the US from England before 1862 and served in the Civil War (See bio at the end of this post).
It took me awhile to find him, but once I did I became interested in everything he had accomplished. He could not have been in the US very long when he got caught up in the Civil War. He was a part of the Minnesota A Co. 6th Regiment. I have not done enough research on this. I do have a copy of his discharge papers, which listed the battles his was in. I researched those a little on Wikipedia. I was attempting to get some clue as to where he met my g-g-grandmother Jennie Rosenthal. The story being was he met her sometime during the war.
I had decided I would apply for his war record later this year. Then while I was on vacation I heard a podcast from NPR. The title of the podcast was Little War on the Prairie. The link is to a transcript of the podcast. If you want the actual podcast, I think they want a dollar.
After hearing the podcast, I was a little disheartened. In a nutshell, it put a dark spot on Samuel's war record. The podcast seemed to focus on the negative things the "white man" did, while dismissing the deeds of the Indians. After going over Samuel's discharge papers, I was happy to see he had joined the military just days before the Indian uprising. The said uprising was pretty spontaneous, so it is safe to assume he did not join because of that.
I have done a little studying of history in my time simply because it interests me. A big mistake I have found is when history is looked with the current perspectives on life. You will get much better idea of what happened if you learn if from somebody who lived it. So I did a little researching on Google and was very happy to find some books written on the Sixth Regiment. In the book Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865, on page 308 I found this;
As I mentioned my g-g-grandfather was SAMUEL Hart. However a quick look up confirmed that there was no William Hart anywhere in the Sixth Regiment. So it was pretty safe to assume this was my ancestor.
After skimming over some of these books, I have a better feeling about Samuel. Yes, maybe the Indians did have reason to be upset. However they did attack and it was not a small band making trouble for the rest of the Indians. Hundreds or thousands of settles were on the run from them. The atrocities the Indians committed are well documented and reading about the battles between them and the 6th Regiment, I have no doubt that both sides felt they were fighting to protect themselves.
Werelate.org
You may have noticed the links for individuals above pointing you to Werelate.org. I have my family tree on a number of different websites, including Ancestry.com, Familysearch.org and Geni.com. These are all great and help me find others researching my family.
Werelate is actually Genealogy Wiki, meaning that I can add individuals singularly without connecting them into a tree and they do not have to be individuals in my family. Plus anyone reading this blog will be able to access the profiles I have created, check out the info I have added and update them for free!
With that said, I have started adding in some of the individuals from the upcoming book. From now on, I will list the individuals as I put them on the site.
Jacob Böhmer
Friedrich Balder
Friederica Julia Balder
Katharina Böhmer
Philippina Böhmer
Elisabetha Braun
Anna Maria Bayer
Otto Bayer
Friedrich Braun
Jakob Braun
Friedrich Balder
Friederica Julia Balder
Katharina Böhmer
Philippina Böhmer
Elisabetha Braun
Anna Maria Bayer
Otto Bayer
Friedrich Braun
Jakob Braun
Bio of Samuel Hart (1835-1918)
No definite record has been found for his immigration to the US.
The next record of Samuel that we have is his discharge from the Minnesota, Union Army during the Civil War (Supplied by Stephen Hart). According to the discharge, Samuel enrolled in August 1862 as a private in Co. "A" 6th., Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and was discharged in August 1865. The battles that he participated in are also listed there.
The family story [as told by Lillian (Hanley) Sutterlin] is that Samuel met Jennie Rosenthal while he was bivouacked at her father's farm during the war. After the war, he went back and married her.
Samuel is then found in the 1870 US Federal Census in Bellefontaine Ward 3, Logan, Ohio. He is married to Jennie and has his new child Henry Arthur Hart. Here he is also listed as a cigar maker, as are a number of other individuals on the record.
In 1880, the Hart family is living in NYC, New York. They are living on 18 East 30th Street.
The Harts may have traveled to Canada. Whether to live there or just to visit his two brothers is unknown. There is Civil War Pension request filed from Canada in 1887. The request is from a Samuel & Jennie Hart and correctly lists his Civil War unit.
In the 1900 census, the family is living in Boston, MA. Samuel is still listed as cigar maker. Henry Hart has started a family; his wife and daughter are living with Samuel. Dora has also been married, but seems to be separated or divorced. The family is living at 454 Silver Street.
By the 1910, most of the family is gone. It is only Samuel, Jennie and their youngest daughter Catherine living together. They live at 16 Woodcliff St., Boston MA. This is less than three miles from their 1900 address.
Samuel passes away in Sep 1918 from a post operation infection for heart disease. Jennie passes away less than three months later, also from heart problems. According to their death certificates, they are both buried at Roxbury Mutual Cemetery.
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