Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/128

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102
HARSTON
HART

erature" (1872); and "The Life and Times of Virgil," now (1887) in course of preparation.


HARSTON, Charles Grenville, Canadian inventor, b. in Tain worth, Staffordshire, England, 10 Aug., 1844. He served in the Royal marines until 1876, when he retired with the rank of captain and came to Canada. He brought with him from England twenty-rive young men and an Episcopal clergyman, and with them founded a settlement in Muskoka district, which he named Ilfracombe. In 1884 he removed to Toronto and assumed the management of the Standard life assurance company of Ontario. He fought during the Riel rebellion, and led the charge at Batoche on 12 May, 1885. He has invented the "Harston" rifle, which some claim is superior to the Martini-Henry. He is active as a sportsman, and secretary of the Dominion kennel club.


HART, Abraham, publisher, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 15 Dec., 1810; d. in Long Branch, N. J., 22 July, 1885. He was of Dutch parentage. When a mere boy he was taken into the employ of the publishing firm of Carey, Lea and Carey. In 1829 the firm divided its business; a partnership was formed between Mr. Hart and Edward L. Carey, the junior member of the old firm, and the house of Carey and Hart became the best-known publishing house in the country. It was the first to collect the fugitive essays of Macaulay, Jeffrey, Mackintosh, Carlyle, and others and publish them in separate volumes. Mr. Carey died in 1845, and Mr. Hart continued the publishing business until 1854, when he retired with a handsome fortune. Mr. Hart was a member of the Jewish community, and took a chief part in its worthiest projects.


HART, Charles Henry, author, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 4 Feb., 1847. He received a classical and scientific education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar, 18 Nov., 1868. Since then, although in active practice, he has devoted much time to literature. He has paid special attention to historical investigation and art matters, until he has become recognized as an authority on the latter subject. He is a member of numerous historical and scientific associations, was elected corresponding secretary of the Numismatic and antiquarian society of Philadelphia, in 1865, and three years later became its historiographer. Much of his literary work has been done in connection with this society. Mr. Hart's separate publications include “Remarks on Tabasco, Mexico” (1865); “Historical Sketch of National Medals” (1866); “Memoir of William Hickling Prescott” (1868); “Bibliographia Lincolniana” with notes, and an introduction, which was subsequently reprinted as “Biographical Sketch of Abraham Lincoln” (Albany, 1870); “Turner, the Dream Painter” (1879); “Bibliographia Websteriana” (1883); and memoirs of William Willis (1870), George Ticknor (1871), Samuel S. Haldeman (1881), Lewis H. Morgan (1883), Lucius Q. C. Elmer (1884), and others. In May, 1870, he delivered a “Discourse on the Life and Services of Gulian C. Verplanck,” which was printed. He has in preparation a “Treatise on the Doctrine of Equitable Conversion,” based on the English work of Leigh and Dalzell (London, 1825).


HART, Emanuel Bernard, lawyer, b. in New York city in 1809. He was prepared' for Columbia college, but entered business in his fourteenth year. After taking an active part in politics as a Demo- crat and serving as alderman, he was elected to congress in 1850, and in 1856 was appointed sur- veyor of the port of New York by President Bu- chanan. In 1868 he was admitted to the bar, and became interested in railway practice. In 1880-'3 Mr. Hart was an excise commissioner, and since then he has devoted his time to law. He was at one time president of Mt. Sinai hospital.


HART, Joel T., sculptor, b. in Clark county, Ky., in 1810; d. in Florence, Italy, 1 March, 1877. He received a common-school education, and was apprenticed to a stone-cutter in Lexington, Ky., where he began to model busts in clay. In 1849 he went to Italy for study, and there, under the patronage of the Ladies' Clay association, modelled a statue of Henry Clay, which is now in Richmond, Va. His next work was a colossal bronze statue of Mr. Clay, which is now in New Orleans, and the marble statue of that statesman in the Louisville court-house. Thirty years of his life were spent in Florence, during which time he finished busts and statues of many distinguished men. His best com- positions are "Charity," "Woman Triumphant," and "Penserosa." He invented an apparatus for obtaining mechanically the outline of a head from life. It consisted of a metallic shell, which sur- rounded the head, with a space between, perforated for a large number of pins. Each pin was pushed inward till it touched the head, and there fastened. The shell was then filled with plaster, which was cut away till the points of the pins were reached, thus forming a rough mould.


HART, John, signer of the Declaration of In- dependence, b. in Hopewell township, N. J., in 1708 ; d. there in 1780. He was the son of Ed- ward Hart, who commanded the New Jersey blues, a corps of volun- teers that served in the French- Canadian wars. John was a farm- er, without mili- tary ambition, and took no ac- tive part in the French wars. He served for several terms in the pro- vincial legisla- ture, and was the promoter of laws for the improve- ment of roads, the founding of schools, and the administration of

justice. He was

known in the community as "Honest John Hart." In 1765, on the passage of the stamp-act, he was one of the first to recognize the tyrannical character of that measure, and assisted in the selection of delegates to the congress that was held in New York in October of that year. He served in the congress of 1774 and that of 1775. and in 1776 was elected with four others to fill the vacancies caused by the resignation of the New Jersey delegation, who were unwilling to assume the responsibility imposed by Lee's resolution of independence. John Hart, the signer of the Declaration, has frequently been confounded with John de Hart, who was one of the number that resigned. In 1777-8 he was chairman of the New Jersey council of safety, and when that state was invaded by the British his stock and farm were destroyed by the Hessians, his family forced to fly, and every effort made to capture the aged patriot. He hid in the forest, and suffered privation and distress, including the death of his wife, until the battles of Trenton and Princeton, in December, 1777, secured the evacuation of the