My Genealogy Hound

W. H. Hart is one of the well known farmers of New Hope township, his attention being occupied with the improvement of a tract of land of two hundred and forty acres on section 5. He has lived in Iowa for more than a half century, having become a resident of Wapello county in 1850. His birth occurred in Warren county, Indiana, on the 2d of September, 1850. His father, William Hart, was a native of Illinois and was there reared and married, the lady of his choice being Miss Rebecca Lowas, a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Hart followed general agricultural pursuits in Illinois and in 1850 removed westward to Iowa, settling in Wapello county, where he entered land from the government. He made some improvements upon the property but becoming afflicted with cancer he went to St. Louis for his health and there died about 1853. His wife survived him and later married again, becoming the wife of Henry Skinner, by whom she had several children. In 1863 they became residents of Union county and their family was reared in New Hope township.

W. H. Hart was about thirteen years of age at the time of his mother’s removal to this county and upon the home farm in New Hope township his boyhood and youth were passed. He pursued a common-school education and engaged in farming for several years upon rented land. He afterward bought a place and made further preparations for having a home of his own by his marriage in Afton, Union county, on the 7th of August, 1875, to Mary Lewis, a native of Pike county. Illinois, and a daughter of John Lewis, who removed to Iowa in 1855, settling in Madison county, where he reared his family. By a former marriage Mrs. Hart has one son, Professor R. F. Williamson, who was born and reared in Union county and is now president of the Capital City Commercial College.

Following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hart settled upon his farm in New Hope township, cultivating that place for a number of years. In 1897, however, he traded his original place for a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which he now resides. He had previously purchased an eighty acre farm adjoining the one of one hundred and sixty acres and he now owns and cultivates two hundred and forty acres on sections 5 and 8, New Hope township. Since establishing his home here he has greatly improved the property, equipping it with all modern accessories and conveniences. He has erected a good substantial residence, barns and outbuildings, has set out an orchard and a grove of forest trees, and has otherwise enhanced the appearance of the place by the introduction of all the accessories and conveniences of the model farm of the twentieth century. An important branch of his business is his stock raising and feeding interests. He keeps good horses and cattle upon his place and also makes a business of raising and fattening hogs for the market. He is widely known both as a general farmer and stock-feeder and both branches of his business are proving gratifying sources of income.

Mr. and Mrs. Hart have five sons and a daughter: David M. and John C., who were well educated and formerly engaged in teaching but are now following farming in North Dakota, having homesteads in that state; Belle, who is a stenographer in Boise, Idaho; Lewis, who is engaged with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company on the Yellowstone division; Ralph M., who is a student in the Lorimor high school; and Henry O., who is attending the home school. All of the children have been provided with good educational privileges and the elder members of the family have been successful teachers. Mr. and Mrs. Hart also lost three children in infancy: Herman, who died at the age of four years; William Clare, who also died at the age of four years; and one who died unnamed.

Mr. and Mrs. Hart are faithful and earnest members of the Christian church at Lorimor, and he gives his political allegiance to the prohibition party, being a stanch advocate of the temperance cause. His influence is ever found on the side of right, justice and improvement, and he is a man whom to know is to respect and honor. For years he was identified with the early development of the county, from the days when he drove an ox-team and broke prairie, thus reclaiming several hundred acres of wild land. He has borne an important part in the further development and improvement of this section of the state and is known and respected as one who in business circles and in every other relation of life is found true to honorable, manly principles.