I do not have any answers to the questions recently raised about the Hart family. There are a few points that would help in the research, such as when did Johann Valentine Hart come to America, and what do the church records in Mosbach say about the family. The answers to these questions might help resolve the identity of the Hart family in the Robinson River Valley family.
My first introduction to the Hart family was in hearing that Michael Thomas Hart (son of Johannes Thomas Hart and Anna Maria Blankenbuehler) married, as his second wife, Eva Susanna Margaret Hart, in the 1771 time frame. Michael and Eva are said to have had ten children, so that would mean that she was about twenty years of age when she married him. Michael was older, as he is said to have had fifteen children by his first wife (a total of twenty-five children). The Communion Lists mildly support the marriage of Michael and Eva Susanna Margaret, even though neither of them ever appears in the Lists.
In one of the Hart family marriages which was given, two names caught my attention. Benjamin Hart married Rebecca Gabbert, or Gebert, and her parents were Matthias Gabbert and Christina Kreemer (or Boger?). The Gabbert and Boger names are found in Schwaigern in the ancestry or alliances of the Germanna Willheit family.
Many members of the families of Michael Thomas are to be found in southwest Pennsylvania, when it was still thought to be a part of Virginia. A key word here is Red Stone Fort. Some of these people moved to Kentucky at an early date.
I believe a first fruitful effort might be to learn more about the family in Mosbach.
*****
(When we came back from the Eastern Tennessee Reunion, we had time to go to the post office but we could not get there because the Brandywine River had flooded out US Route 1.)
In Tennessee, the unusual endeavor of Eleanor and myself was to try and find the Old Dutch Meeting House Cemetery, where it is said that Rudolph Crecelius and a Harnsberger and a Good are buried. On the way down we had seen a sign which said the Meeting House was 1.25 miles off Highway 81. After asking three different people and using some logic, we did found the cemetery (a smallish one) but we did not find any stone in it which was familiar, due to the growth which hid the stones.
(16 Sep 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.