Bucks County PA Archives Biographies.....Hart, Joseph
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joe Patterson, Patricia Bastik & Susan Walters Dec 2009

Source: History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; edited by 
J.H. Battle; A. Warner & Co.; 1887
Warminster Township


   JOSEPH HART retired, P.O. Davisville, is a descendant of 
one of the oldest families in the township. The first of 
the family to come to this country was John Hart, who was 
born in Whitney, Oxfordshire, England, in 1651, and came to 
this country with William Penn, from whom he purchased one 
thousand acres of land, which was partly located in Byberry 
township and partly in this township, both then being in 
Philadelphia county. He was a member of the first general 
assembly of the colony. He married Susannah Rush. He 
subsequently removed to Warminster, where he died in 1714. 
His grandson, Joseph, born September 1, 1715, was the 
great-grandfather of our subject. He was a resident of 
Warminster township, where he owned a farm of about three 
hundred and fifty acres. The stone house in which he lived 
is now occupied by Comly Walker. October 9, 1740, he 
married Elizabeth Collet. He entered into public life in 
1749. For several years he had been a leading member of the 
Southampton Baptist church, frequently writing the annual 
letter. In 1846 he was ordained deacon. In 1749 Governor 
Hamilton commissioned him sheriff of Bucks county. In 1747 
he was appointed justice of the peace, and in 1764 was 
commissioned justice of the quarter sessions and common 
pleas. He was one of the founders of the Union library of 
Hatboro. Mr. Hart was probably the foremost man in Bucks 
county in moulding public opinion and sustaining his country 
during the revolutionary contest. He was appointed chairman 
of the committee of safety, and in 1776 he took command of a 
regiment of Bucks county militia serving in New Jersey. 
July 26th of that year he was elected colonel of the second 
battalion. Colonel Hart was elected a member of the supreme 
executive council of Pennsylvania for Bucks county, and he 
was also register of Bucks county. The battle of the 
Crooked Billet in 1778 was partly fought on his plantation. 
He died at his residence in Warminster, February 25, 1788. 
His wife died February 19, 1788. Colonel Joseph Hart had a 
son, John, who had quite a taste for poetry. Joseph, sixth 
son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hart, married Ann Folwell, 
Christmas, 1783. His wife survived him thirty years. He 
was a member of the senate of Pennsylvania as early as 1804. 
 It was through his efforts that the county-seat was removed 
from Newtown to Doylestown. His son, John, father of our 
subject, was born in Warminster, April 9, 1787, and married 
Mary Horner, March 10, 1810. They had eight children: 
Joseph, William, Ann Eliza, James (entered the army in the 
1st New Jersey cavalry, rising to the rank of major, and 
serving with great distinction. He was killed March 31, 
1865, near Dinwiddie Court House, Va., while leading his 
men. His commanding officer says: ÒHart led his men as he 
always did, with signal courage, great skill, and telling 
effectÓ), George, Benjamin F., and Thompson Darrah, 
deceased, and Mary Darrah, deceased. Joseph was born 
January 21, 1811. He was early in life crippled by palsy, 
and was educated for a teacher, being three years in 
Jefferson college, at Canonsburg, Pa. On his return he was 
engaged in teaching for over thirty years. March 18, 1847, 
he was married to Jane, daughter of William and Ellen Van 
Sant. She died in 1882. Their children are:  George W., 
Mary Ellen (died in infancy), Charles Howard, and Ella 
Sickel. George W. was born October 25, 1843, and died 
September 14, 1879, his death being caused by a kick from a 
horse. Charles Howard died November 7, 1881. He was a 
young man of remarkable intellect, being a close reader and 
a deep thinker. He was a regular correspondent of several 
leading newspapers. Like his father he was a teacher, and 
at the time of his death, which resulted from typhoid fever, 
was teaching the Fox Chase school, Philadelphia county. 
Ella Sickel was also engaged in teaching, serving seven 
years in Horsham township, Montgomery county. On giving up 
teaching Mr. Hart bought a small farm in this township, 
which he cultivates. Notwithstanding his early 
afflictions, he has preserved a good degree of health, and 
is with his daughter very comfortably situated, the latter 
devoting her time to her father.