Nancy Ann (Morgan) Hart (1735 - abt. 1828)

Born 17 Mar 1735 in Yadkin River Valley, North Carolina

Ancestors

Wife of Benjamin Hart — married 1760 in North Carolina

Descendants

Died about 1828 at about age 92 in Henderson County, Kentucky, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sandra Davidson [send private message]

Biography

Nancy Ann Morgan was born about 1735 in North Carolina in the Yadkin River valley. ^[1]

Mary married Benjamin Hart of that area. They had a total of six sons and two daughters. She was a cousin to Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan, who commanded victorious American forces at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina on January 17, 1781.

During the early 1770s, Nancy, Benjamin and their family left North Carolina and migrated into Georgia, settling in the extremely fertile Broad River valley of the northeast Piedmont area.

Nancy (Morgan) Hart performed Patriotic Service in Georgia in the American Revolution.

Nancy (Morgan) Hart is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A051652.

Nancy (Morgan) Hart is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-176363
Rank: Patriot/Spy

During the American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783), it is said that a group of five or six Tory soldiers came by the Hart house looking either for food or a Whig (Patriot) they were pursuing (accounts vary). The soldiers demanded that Hart cook them one of her turkeys, and she agreed to feed them. As they entered the cabin, they placed their guns by the door before sitting at her table to eat. As they were drinking and eating, she pushed their guns outside through a hole in the wall of the cabin ^[1]

After the soldiers had been drinking a sufficient time, she grabbed one of the remaining guns and ordered the men to stay still. One ignored her threat, so she shot and killed him. Another made a move toward the weapons, and she killed him as well. She held the remaining Tories captive until her husband and neighbors arrived. According to legend, her husband wanted to shoot the soldiers outright, but she demanded that they be hanged, which was accomplished from a nearby tree ^[2][3][4]

Mary Hart emerged as a staunch patriot, facilitating the American cause as a spy. She often disguised herself as a simpleminded man and wandered into Tory camps and British garrisons to gather information, which she subsequently passed along to patriot authorities. She was also an active participant in the conflict and, according to some accounts, was present at the Battle of Kettle Creek on February 14, 1779.^[5]

During the late 1780s, the Harts moved to Brunswick, Georgia. Benjamin Hart died shortly thereafter. Nancy Hart returned to the settlement on the Broad River, but found that a flood had washed away their former cabin. Eventually she settled with her son John Hart and his family along the Oconee River in Clarke County near Athens.

Around 1803, John Hart (1763 - 1821) took his mother and family to Henderson County, Kentucky, where they settled again near relatives. Hart spent the remaining years of her life there.

Mary Ann (Morgan) Hart passed away in 1840. She was buried in the Hart family cemetery a few miles outside of Henderson. The find a grave memorial that had this text was removed from that website.

Issues with Date of birth

There were conflicting sources and Find A Grave references to the actual date of birth for Mary Ann (Morgan) Hart.

• ^[6] Note that this FAG states Mary Hart was born 1747 (now changed to 1735). The other find a grave memorial was deleted.

The various references listed below in the source section seem to align with Mary (Morgan) Hart being born in 1735 including Wikipeda and the Georgia Encyclopedia.

Contact was made with Tom Reynolds a descendant of Nancy Morgan Hart and Dorothy Barry former profile manager, as indicated below:

From: Tom Reynolds Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2017 7:25 AM Nancy Morgan-Hart and Benjamin Hart are my GGGG grandparents on my mother’s Hart side of my family. Benjamin and Nancy are both certified by the DAR and SAR as documented patriots.

I have spent a lot of time and money documenting my Rev War ancestors. I have 7 of 15 fully documented and certified, with others in work. My children, grandchildren and great granddaughter are all certified descendants. As you noted, the correct Find a Grave memorial number is: 16616031. A request is being submitted to remove the incorrect FAG Memorial.

The DAR information on Nancy Ann Morgan-Hart is: Hart, Nancy Ann Morgan DAR Ancestor #: A051652 Service: Patriotic Service, Georgia Birth: 3-17-1747 North Carolina Death: 1840 Henderson County, Kentucky, Service Source: White, Historical Collections of Georgia, PP 441-447. Service Description: 1) "Captured Loyalists Further: http://www.archive.org/stream/historicalcolle00duttgoog#page/n6/mode/ Historical collections of Georgia, George White.' Tom Reynolds

• Update: Based on this correspondence and communication with the profile manager, I am updating the date of birth and death to reflect Tom's wishes, and Find A Grave Memorial ^[6] Dorothy Barry, former profile manager

Other Research Notes

• The earliest newspaper write ups on Nancy Hart took place in 1825.

• Mary (Morgan) Hart is said to have been "related to both Daniel Boone and General Daniel Morgan", although with no real evidence in either case. ^[1]

• During the Revolutionary War Nancy Hart was a patriot and spy. Nancy became known for her effort to rid the area of English soldiers and British sympathizers. Nancy was know for her covert activities as a patriot spy. ^[7]

• She was well able to handle a rifle in the fierce and bloody internecine fighting that beset Georgia during the American Revolution.^[8]

• According to Revolutionary lore, Nancy Hart famously outwitted a group of Tories who had invaded her home. She served them wine and, once they were drunk, filched their weapons, which she used to shoot two of the men and hold the rest captive until help arrived ^[1]

• Hart County, Georgia is named for Nancy Ann Morgan Hart. New Georgia Encyclopedia [1]

• A couple of different sources state that she died at age 93 and that she was buried during a total eclipse of the sun. If she were born in 1735 then 1828 would be the year of her death if it is correct she died at age 93. Also, in 1828 there was an eclipse of the sun, but, not a total eclipse. The only total eclipse that hit the Southern states was in 1834, but, it does not appear that it would have been seen as a total eclipse from Henderson Co., Kentucky.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Hart
2. ↑ "Skeletons of Six Tories Hanged Near Elberton, Found," The Atlanta Constitution, 23 December 1912, p. 3.
3. ↑ "Skeletons of Tories Killed by Nancy Hart Unearthed Tuesday", Lavonia Times and Gauge, 3 January 1913.
4. ↑ George R. Gilmer, Sketches of Some of the First Settlers of Upper Georgia, of the Cherokees, and the Author (New York: D. Appleton, 1855; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1965).
5. ↑ http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/nancy-hart-ca-1735-1830
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 08 February 2021), memorial page for Nancy Ann Morgan Hart (1735–1830), Find A Grave: Memorial #16616031, citing Book Cemetery, Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by Thomas Reynolds (contributor 47323106) .
7. ↑ New Georgia Encyclopedia URL: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/
8. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256114/Nancy-Hart

See Also

• Ray Chandler, "The Legend of Nancy Hart," North Georgia Journal (summer 1999), 22-26.
• Kenneth Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763-1789 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, [1958]).
• E. Merton Coulter, "Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution: The Story of the Growth of a Tradition," Georgia Historical Quarterly 39 (June 1955): 118-51.
• John Thomas Scott, "Nancy Hart: 'Too Good Not to Tell Again,'" in Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, vol. 1., ed. Ann Short Chirhart and Betty Wood (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009).
• Sons of the American Revolution Patriot #P-140558
• SAR Patriot Index Edition III (CD: PP2210, Progeny Publ., 2002) plus data to 2004. White, Historical Collections of Georgia, PP 441-447.
• GEORGIA'S LANDMARKS, MEMORIALS, AND LEGENDS, Knight, Lucian Lamar.
• ROSTER OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS IN GEORGIA, McCall.
• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed March 17, 2015), "Record of Nancy Hart", Ancestor # A051652.
• The Women of '76 by Sally Smith Booth, Hastings House publishers, New York, 1973. E276 B66. pages 202-3

Acknowledgements

• This person was created through the import of LaBach Family TreeApril28_2011.ged on 05 May 2011.

• Thank you to Dr. Bill A. LaBach for originally creating WikiTree profile Morgan-1233. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Nancy and others.

• Thank you to Sandra Davidson for creating Merged WikiTree profile Morgan-18495 . Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Sandra and others.