The Saga of Two Isaac Harts


One of the pleasures of family history research is to unravel puzzling relationships and find lost 
ancestors. One of the disappointments is to find mistakes and disconnect old friends who were not 
relatives after all. It appears that I, as several other Hart researchers, have gained a new relative, 
but lost an old friend. The gain and lost is Isaac Hart, or rather two of them. Many of us thought 
that Isaac Hart, son of Samuel Hart (1746-1787) and Esther Lowe (1754-1843), married Sarah 
Buffington, and died in 1844 in Warren County, Georgia. The preponderance of evidence says 
that this Isaac Hart died about 1815 in Ohio. Still to be found are the parents of Isaac Hart who 
died in Georgia.  

Dora Hart Reece (1905-2001) writes in her book Norton W. Hart Family Tree  that Isaac Hart, 
son of Samuel and Esther Lowe, died in Warren County, Georgia, in 1844. This Isaac was her 
2nd great-grandfather. Dora lived in Warrenton, Georgia, about twenty miles from where Samuel 
Hart's farm was on Harts Creek. Her book is well documented and has been reproduced with 
additions by Dorothy Britt Garrison of Irving, Texas . It contains information on Samuel and 
Esther Lowe's ancestors and much on the descendants of her Isaac. However it offers no proof 
that the parents of her Isaac were Samuel and Esther.

I have never questioned the validity of Mrs. Reece's assumption on her Isaac. However, recent 
correspondence with Michael Stubbs has established that there are two Isaac Harts and his Isaac 
was the son of Samuel and Esther, and he died about 1815 in Ohio. Mr. Stubbs has given much 
evidence that firmly connects the Ohio Isaac to Samuel and Esther.  

There is agreement on the Samuel Hart family. He was not a Quaker, but was one of the early 
settlers joining them at Wrightsborough, Georgia. He, James (his father), and brothers Thomas 
and Peter Hart were given Wrightsborough land grants in 1769 and 1770. They came from the 
Eno River area of Orange County, North Carolina, along with Quaker leader Joseph Maddock. 
Other early settlers include John Stubbs, Isaac Lowe, and Joel Cloud.  Only Samuel remained in 
Georgia and his father and brothers returned to North Carolina. 

Samuel Hart married Esther Lowe about 1771 and they had children Isaac, James, William, 
Rebecca, Thomas, Grace, and Finney. James and Grace died in 1786, and father Samuel died in 
1787. In 1788 the Wrightsborough Monthly Meeting received Esther into membership with her 
small children Isaac, William, Rebecca, Thomas, and Fenny [sic]. 

Samuel Hart left no will but there are probate and estate inventory documents. These do not name 
children, but other names are of interest. Esther Hart and her neighbor Joel Cloud were 
administrators. John Stubbs, Noble Butler, Abraham Johnston, and Francis Jones "appraised the 
goods and chattels of Samuel Hart deceased." 

In December 1789 widow Esther Lowe Hart married Amos Green. Attending were thirty-one 
guests. Included were Esther' son Isaac Hart; also there were Richard Buffington, Joel Cloud, 
Samuel, Esther, Mary, and Hannah Stubbs, Isaac Sr., Isaac, and Ann Lowe, Samuel Maddock, 
and Alice Mendenhall. 
 
On April 16, 1792, Ann Lowe and Esther Green attended the Women's Quarterly Meeting, Bush 
River, South Carolina, as Wrightsborough representatives. 

In Warren County a license was issued on May 10 and returned on July 5 for the marriage of 
Isaac Hart and Sarah Buffington.  My copy does not show the year on the page, but others say it 
is 1796. The right edge of the page is cut off, but the names William and Agail(?) appear without 
their last names. Names in this column appear to list witnesses.

I have not examined the land deeds around Wrightsborough, Georgia. The one trip I made there 
was limited to one day. I do have copies of 1786 to 1805 Tax Lists. They are incomplete as I only 
copied what I thought were pertinent at that time. They show Samuel Hart, Esther Hart, Amos 
Green, and Esther Green, and Isaac Hart, with adjoining land owners; Hart, Stubbs, Jones. Nearby 
were Eli Dixon, Joel Cloud, and William Hart. In 1805 Hester [sic] owned 250 3rd class land in 
Warren County and 250 acres 2nd class land in Columbia County, both on Hart Creek. The return 
was for Hester Green, by Isaac Hart agent.  This land was originally granted to James Hart, then 
went to Samuel Hart.

In the spring of 1805 Samuel Maddock , along with other Maddock, Stubbs, Mendenhall and 
other Quaker families moved from the Wrightsborough, Georgia, area to Gratis Township, Preble 
County, Ohio.  Moving with them or shortly thereafter, were Esther Green, and her children 
Isaac, Thomas, Phineas [Finney] Hart, and Jesse, Hannah, and Amos. The Quaker community of 
Wrightsborough disappeared due to mass migrations to Ohio in 1805 and 1806, brought on part 
by the pressures of slavery upon the anti-slavery Quakers.  The Wrightsborough Monthly 
Meeting faded out of existence and became part of the Bush River Monthly Meeting.  
Certificates from the latter were signed on July 29, 1809 to the Miami Monthly Meeting for 
Richard Thompson, Thomas Hart, Elijah Mendenhall and his wife Martha and daughter Ann, 
Isaac Thompson, Phineas [Finney] Hart, Mary Stubbs, Esther Green and children Jesse, Hannah , 
and Amos.  
On May 6, 1809, the Miami Monthly Meeting received by request Isaac Hart, wife Sarah, and 
children Esther, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Margaret. On December 27, 1809, Thomas and Phineas 
were received on certificate from New Garden, North Carolina Monthly Meeting.  
It is believed that the Harts and Greens came to Ohio in 1805 or 1806, and did not request 
certificates until later. Elijah Mendenhall, who was given a certificate in 1809 with Harts and 
Greens settled in Gratis Township on the southeast quarter of section thirty-four in 1806. 
Butler County, Ohio, records indicate that Isaac Hart died about 1815. Sarah Hart and Thomas 
Hart were recipients of the application for administration of Isaac Hart's estate.  Butler County is 
immediately south of Preble County and borders on Gratis Township.
In 1815 Finney Hart and his wife Jane sold to Thomas Hart the southwest quarter of section 30, 
Gratis Township.  In 1817 Esther Green sold 80 acres in the southeast quarter of section 30 to 
Amos Green.  In 1818 Esther Green sold one-fourth part of 40 acres in the southeast quarter of 
section 30 to Jesse Green. 
The 1820 Census for Gratis Township includes Thos Hart, Jesse Green, Amos Green, and Joseph 
Stubbs. Sarah Hart is listed in adjoining Wayne Township, Butler County. Finney Hart is living 
ten miles northwest in Dixon Township. His sister Rebecca married Eli Dixon, for whom the 
township was named, and moved from Dixon Township to Smith Township, Greene County, 
Indiana, in 1818.  
In 1829 John Stubbs, Margaret his wife, and Jesse Kenworthy filed a petition to partition against 
Hart heirs for land in the southeast quarter of  section four of Wayne Township, Butler County, 
and the northeast quarter of section thirty of Gratis Township, Preble County. These townships 
are adjoining. The petition names Isaac Hart deceased, late of Butler Township, died intestate 
some years ago, widow Sarah, and four children. The children named are Margaret E. Hart, 
Hester, oldest daughter, wife of Jonathan Talbert, Rebecca wife of Nathan Gifford, Sarah Hart a 
minor.  
Elk Monthly Meeting records give the birth dates of the children of Isaac Hart and his wife Sarah: 
Esther, February 28, 1797; Hannah, October 26, 1798; Rebecca, January 8, 1801; Elizabeth, 
March 18, 1805; Margaret, June 5, 1807; Samuel, August 19, 1811; and Sarah May 18, 1813. 
The 1830 Census shows Sarah Hart, Thomas Hart, and Jesse and Amos Green in Gratis Township 
and Finnous (Phineas) Hart in Dixon Township.  The census lists with Jesse was a female over 
seventy but under eighty years old. This is his mother who was 76 years old in 1830.
Esther Lowe Hart Green moved from Gratis Township to 1834 with her son Jesse and family to 
Wayne Township, Cass County, Michigan.  Esther died in 1843 and is buried at Young's Prairie 
Cemetery, in Cass County.
Margaret E. Hart married John H. Stubbs, son of Thomas Stubbs. They had ten children Levi, 
Zimri, Aaron, Thomas, Isaac, Lydia, Ira, Esta [sic], Elizabeth, and Sarah.  Some of their given 
middle names are revealing. Names Isaac Hart Stubbs, Sarah Buffington Stubbs, and Hester 
Green Stubbs  indicate they were named for Margaret's parents and grandmother. If true, this 
also links the Isaac Hart who died about 1815 in Ohio, to Esther Lowe Hart Green.
A letter to "Respected Aunt" was written in 1829 by Isaac Lowe, nephew of Esther Lowe Hart 
Green, purportedly to her in Ohio.  It appeared odd that it discusses the family of William Hart, 
Esther's son, and other relatives in Georgia, but not her son Isaac. But if the Warren County Isaac 
Hart was not her son, the omission is logical.  
 
I have been unable to find any direct evidence that links the Isaac Hart who died in 1844 in 
Warren County, Georgia, to Samuel Hart. There is a preponderance of evidence that says Isaac 
Hart, the son of Samuel and Ester, moved to Ohio about the same time as his mother, two 
brothers, sister, and Quaker neighbors, and died there about 1815. 
 
A review of Isaac Hart land transactions in old Wilkes County, Georgia, may shed more light on 
the Isaac Hart saga. One needs to start with the Isaac Hart property on Harts Creek and go 
forward until it is sold. And one needs to go to the property in Isaac Hart's 1844 Warren County 
will and work backwards. 
 
But now there is a mystery to be solved for the many Hart researchers who are descendants of the 
Georgia Isaac Hart. Who were his ancestors? 

There is an unidentified James Hart listed in the 1790 Tax returns of old Wilkes County, Georgia. 
He owned 1223 acres of 2nd quality land in Captain Jordan's District. This district is in the center 
of present day Oglethrope County. It includes the town of Lexington and is about thirty miles 
northwest of where Samuel, Esther, and Isaac Hart had property on Harts Creek. Could this Hart 
have a son Isaac who stayed in Georgia?




I wish to give much thanks to the many Hart family history researchers who have given me 
inspiration and encouragement over the past few years. They have unselfishly shared their 
thoughts and data with me. Some of the larger contributors with Georgia and Ohio Hart 
information  have been Dorothy Britt Garrison, Jack Hiltbold, Dianne Sabido, and Michael 
Stubbs. And certainly much credit is due Dora Hart Reece, late of Warrenton, Georgia, for her 
decades of fine work on the history of the Harts of Wrightsbourgh.

"The more we learn, the less we know."

Dixon Smith
Novato, California
March 6, 2002