THE HART FAMILY: PENNSYLVANIA TO VIRGINIA TO SOUTH CAROLINA AND KENTUCKY

Since it is believed that "my" William Terry of Botetourt Co., Va was related to the Jasper Terry of Bucks Co., PA who married Mary Hart, daughter of Thomas and Esther Miles Hart, knowing something about the Hart, and their movements, is important. 

When I first learned of the strong DNA link between my William and this line of Terry-Hart, I was intrigued. Apparently, the Hart clan, or parts of it, migrated out of Bucks Co. PA into Virginia and then that Jasper and Mary Hart left with them or followed soon after. 

Since Jasper and Mary appear to disappear from Botetourt County after a time, along with many of the Hart group who were prominent in early records with this William and Jasper Terry, I assumed death or another migration.

Two things I learned presented me with the idea that the Hart clan - being a mixture of adventurers, entrepreneurs and religious folk - might have moved on to promote any of those three topics and maybe a mix of all of them.  Then, I located the graves of Thomas and Esther Miles Hart in South Carolina. Many of the names made notable in early Augusta and Botetourt Co., Virginia records now were showing up in records and graves in the area of Union Co., South Carolina. The strong Quaker faith was being replaced by an equally strong Baptist faith.  

Also, it was noted that at about the same time as many of "my" Terry from Botetourt and Montgomery County areas of Virginia were moving into Kentucky and Tennessee, so were some Hart families. 

Further, there was a grave of a Peter Hart, alleged son of Thomas Hart "The Elder" and some interesting DNA commentary and mention of a significant historical work on the Hart family. 

From FIND-A-GRAVE for Peter Hart (1743-1820) was learned the following:

"Added by Kelley D. Culley

Peter Hart

BIRTH 1743

Berkeley County, West Virginia, USA

DEATH 1820 (aged 76–77)

Alleghany County, North Carolina, USA

BURIAL

Peter Hart Family Cemetery

Alleghany County, North Carolina, USA 

Born ca. 1740 perhaps in Bucks or Chester County, PA or more likely in current Berkeley County, West Virginia on the Thomas Hart farm or estate named Elkwood.

Peter is likely a son or grandson of Thomas the Elder Hart and Ester Miles that were English Quakers and converted to Baptist.

Peter's brother was James Hart, father of James JR and Annie "Elizabeth" Hart Sizemore of Wilkes/Ashe County, North Carolina.

Several groups lay claim to being descendants of Thomas the Elder. Direct male Y-DNA results for these groups do not match, meaning they do not share the same common male ancestor and are therefore, are not related to each other. The main question becomes, who were Thomas The Elder Hart's children? Does his children include Josiah, Joseph and Aaron Hart, the last two being Patriots from South Carolina?

The James Hart family reportedly from Orange County, North Carolina with Quakers in 1768 Wrightsborough, Georgia are not related. While I can not document it at this time, it is my opinion James, Peter, Josiah and Samuel Hart found in Orange County, NC are likely descendants of or related to Thomas Hart and Susan Rice from London, England and Hanover County, Virginia. That group includes the Harts from Hanover County that founded the Transylvania Company that hired Daniel Boone, Captain Nathaniel Hart, Benjamin husband of Nancy Morgan, Henry Clay and Thomas Hart Benton.

The following story as I have it may or may not be correct.

The Thomas Hart family went from PA to Virginia about 1735 then to current Fairforest, Union County, South Carolina about 1754. In 1735 Thomas Hart of Warminster, Bucks County, PA. was given a bond signed by Jost Hite, for 1500 acres of land on the Elk Branch, in current Jefferson/Berkeley County, (West) Virginia. The king confirmed Lord Fairfax's title to local lands, calling into question surveys and land sales Hite had made. There were long going court cases involving Lord Thomas Fairfax and Jost Hite over Virginia lands. Records of Jost Hite in Augusta County, VA, From Chalkley's, Volume 2, " Vol. 2 - Paul vs. Hite--O. S. 310; N. S. 110--Bill, 81st January, 1794, by Margaret Paul of Pennsylvania. Many years ago Joist Hite sold to Thos. Hart land in now Berkeley County."

Now, what was fascinating to me about that last paragraph was the presence in early Virginia, in the area just to the north and west of the 1750's Augusta and Botetourt County regions, of a development area known as "Beverly Manor".  Among the early, ca 1730' and 1740's, settlers and land owners there included a John Hart, who was from Bucks Co., Pa and most probably the brother of Thomas "The Elder" Hart.

When William Terry and presumed cousin Jasper Terry first appear in the records of southwest Virginia it is in late 1744 and at an estate sale, just off a major early trail into the region out of points north (i.e., Pennsylvania and New Jersey).

Since the DNA of several sons of William Terry have a Haplogroup matching much of the Terry clan found in Bucks Co., Pa., and that of Jasper Terry who married Mary Hart, it is presumed that they did come from Pennsylvania, and that they may have come because of the linchpin presence of a Hart already in that general region.

If the Hart names from Pennsylvania and early Virginia's Augusta County are compared, they agree. Those Hart names include two men who served as guides and hunters in the area and others who worked on local road projects and surveying tasks with William and Jasper Terry.

About 1760, a separate group of Terry's migrate into the Augusta County area - with a different Haplogroup - but similar names. From 1760 to 1800 these two groups will co-exist and later be confused by researchers who utilize an Occam's Razor approach to familial connections. In the late 1780's post Revolution, a second group of Terry migrate into the same area from eastern Virginia, bringing another different Haplogroup.

Apparently, the same thing was occurring in the HART clan, with adopted sons, same name coincidences and the like confusing researchers as well.

Superstitions: A Tale of Origins

 My mother, Velma Dora Cochren Priest Terry, was, despite her faith, superstitious. Salt spilled was tossed over her shoulder, if her hand itched a certain way company was coming or money would pass into her hand, and on the list went. In her first marriage she had moved to an area rich with its own deep and sometimes unique customs.

I asked her one day why she had these sayings and actions. She told me this story and I share it as best I can just as she told it to me.

"When I was first married I was, as they say, "young and dumb".  My husband's family in the Ozarks of Barry Co., Missouri were seeped in a lot of dire warnings, signs, and superstitions. There were healers in the woods and women with potions. As I said, I was young and dumb but enough things seemed to happen to almost make me think there was something to it all.

Then, my baby girl, Doris Arlene got sick one winter.  A fever, a cold, and it just got worse. The house was cold, the winter harsh and she just kept getting worse. My mother-in-law and other women were visiting one day and a sound on the roof drew all our eyes upwards to the stained ceiling. 

It sounded as if someone had dropped a handful of rocks or pebbles and they were rolling off over and down the sloped roof.

"That's not good." Said one old woman in the rocking chair. She was staring up with a strange look on her face. The other murmured agreements.

"What?" I had to know because they were scaring me.

"Acorns on the roof like that, well, that means somebody in the house is gonna die."

Doris Arlene Priest
1934-1935 (8 mon.)

I glanced at where my baby was sitting, struggling to breathe, on the lap of her grandmother and had the most awful premonition come over me.

It was later, in the deep and cold of the night, my little girl took her last, heartrending, breath.

So, every since then, well, I don't know as I believe all those superstitions they did but - just in case."

 [As told to her daughter, Marilyn A. Terry Hudson]

As the photos help illustrate my mother was a very young mother, she had eloped when she was 15 saying she was 18. Her first child (shown in the photo booth image above when he was 4 with his mother) was born in 1931, her second daughter Leona was born and died in 1933 when her mother was 16, and when Doris died she was only 19.

Life gives to us many lessons, habits become buried and rooted deeply into and across generations. So, do you have any lingering superstitions gained from a previous generation? 

Ask an elder now, before the story is forever lost, of  how they first learned of that custom or began to act out that particle behavior. Sometimes, like the old saw about the roast and cutting off the end before it went into the pan, are mindless repetitions. For those who never heard that adage, each generation of women cooked their pot roast by first slicing off the end of the roast before putting it in the pan and placing it in the oven. Finally, a great-granddaughter goes to the source to ask why. The response was simple: her pan had been too small for the whole roast to fit into it so she cut off the end.

A young, naïve, and inexperienced young girl, plunged into a new world amid strangers with new customs and beliefs was greatly influenced by those fears, those customs, and those traditions.  I remember that every time the salt spills...

Yes, over the shoulder it goes - just in case.