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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of Edward HART 

[Surnames: HART, ROBBINS, STREET] 

HART, EDWARD 

    
Few remain amid earthly scenes of the early hardy group of venturesome men and women who were present at the beginning of organized society in the States of the Middle West. Those who confronted the hardships and privations of the pioneer period of Illinois, and whose lives have been bounteously lengthened out into the third generation succeeding their birth, are conspicuous through their fast-diminishing numbers. They are justly regarded with affectionate veneration in the communities where their lots are cast. In this number, one of the worthiest, although far from being the oldest, is the subject of this sketch, Edward HART, a retired farmer, who has made his home in Farmington since 1894. 
    
Mr. Hart is a native of Connecticut, where he was born on Feb. 29, 1828, a son of Henry and Ann (STREET) Hart, also natives of that state. Henry Hart was a resident of Goshen, CT, where he was engaged in the manufacture of clocks, an industry for which the Nutmeg State was famous in early times. he made the then long journey to Illinois in 1835 and located in the vicinity of Farmington, where he purchased a tax title to 320 acres, situated in Sect. 20, Twp. 8 North, Range 3, East. having partially cleared this tract, he put up the necessary buildings thereon and applied himself to the work of tilling the soil. 
    
He settled on this half-section before the Illinois State Road was surveyed, and continued to conduct farming operations until the time of his death. 
    
Edward Hart assisted his father on the farm until the age of fifteen years, utilizing the advantages afforded by the log schoolhouse of the district, in which he obtained what mental training was possible for a farmer's boy at that day. 
    
He began learning the trade of a carpenter, which he successfully followed for a number of years. At the time of the "gold fever" in 1849, he went to California and there engaged in gold-mining, operating a placer mine of his own for about six months, and returning to Farmington in the spring of 1851. He was a witness to the construction of the first two miles of railroad built on the Isthmus of Panama. 
    
Soon after his return home he bought a farm in Fairview Twp., of which he still remains the owner. He devoted his attention to the farm until 1894 when he retired from active labors, purchasing a residence and other property in Farmington, where he has since lived. 
    
More than 70 years have passed since Mr. Hart was brought to Fulton Co. From 1844 to 1847 he was engaged in carrying the U. S. Mail on horseback from Farmington to Fairview. 
    
On May 6, 1857, Mr. Hart married Lucy ROBBINS, who was born in CT. Her father, Henry Robbins was one of the early settlers of Peoria Co. Her residence in that section of the State has extended over nearly three-score and ten years, mainly passed in Fulton Co. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hart have had four children, two daughters and two sons. 
    
Mr. Hart is a Republican.