Also there was a HART family killed in the fort. We are descended from Reuben HART b. 1780 NC married to Nancy RIGDON. There was a Martin RIGDON who escaped from the fort. We think there might be a connection, Reuben HART was first known to be in west Conecuh Co Ala. in 1815 The HARTs in the fort could be his father and mother.
Rootsweb File - Ft. Mims Forum

The Hart DNA study tried to match Reuben to one of several families, but the test proved that Reuben was not related to any of the known immigrant families who entered this country in the 1600s and 1700s. We have found a close family relationship only with the family of Samuel Hart who moved to Washington County, Georgia from Chatham County, North Carolina before 1800. His son, Jonathan, was a contemporary of Reuben's and this family relationship may be the reason Reuben moved to the small farming community of Tennille, near Sandersville, in Washington County. 

Reuben was a farmer all his life. He primarily raised sheep and cattle; land cleared was for household vegetables and feed for the animals. Reuben reportedly started life with nothing, but by the time of his death, he had accumulated considerable land holdings and owned many slaves. (6 slaves in 1820, 7 in 1830, 14 in 1840) (1)
Recorded in the 60s by a woman who left her notes in the Crestview Library is as follows: Reuben and Nancy Rigdon Hart were buried in Okaloosa Co, Florida, in Old Yellow River Cemetery. That information was provided to researchers at that time that published the name as Rigdon. The headstones are now gone. There does not appear to be a Rigdon in GA near where Reuben lived that she could be the daughter of. It is possible that the name was misinterpreted on the headstone since there are a number of Higdons in GA. NOTE:  It has since been proven through Census documents (including Slave records) that Rigdons resided in Georgia. Entered 2008.

Although, let it be noted here that at least some HARTs and RIGDONs did occupy the same area. According to Nathan Chessher, during the massacre at Fort Mimms, Baldwin County, Alabama (August 30, 1813) both families were involved. (Akers 136; Griffith 99) (Internet:Fort Mimms)
Martin RIGDON was one of the survivors who along with Samuel Smith, Joseph Perry, Mourrice and Jesse Steadman escaped through the picketing. Leaping the fence in front of the bastion, over the heads of the squatting Indians, they reached the swamp, there they remained three days. Finding an old canoe below the boat yard, they escaped to Mount Vernon. 

(Major Kennedy, sent from Stockton, Alabama, to bury the dead found only 247 bodies which he could identify as being those of the settlers. Many of the dead were of mixed American Native and Caucasian blood of the Tensaw area and could easily have been mistaken for full blooded American natives. Also, the bodies were exposed to the heat and elements for over two weeks. Those hiding in the buidlings were burned by fire. In some cases, entire families were killed, leaving no survivors to identify the dead.) Of those idetified, HART is listed. 

Speculation is that these HARTs were Isaac (Isiah) HART and his wife (unknown) Ervin, the parents of Reuben Hart Sr. Today stands a monument to the known slain at Ft. Mimms. Upon the surface is chiseled the surname: HART. 

Reubin moved his family from Washington County, GA to Conecuh, Alabama in 1817. The first known record of him was in 1805 when he participated in the Georgia Land Lottery. In 1810 he received a bounty land grant of 150 acres in Washington County.

Reubin and Nancy started their wagon trip from Georgia to Alabama in December 1816 and arrived in Conecuh County, Alabama on March 3, 1817. They settled near Bellville until the winter of 1820. Then Reubin moved his family to Escambia County, Florida, now Okaloosa, and settled on the west side of the Yellow River near Blackman, Florida. Here he filed for an Emigrants Claim on 320 acres of land. He remained in Florida until 1835, then returned to Alabama and settled in Covington County on the south side of the Conecuh River near Pleasant Home community. They remained here until their deaths, but are buried in the Old Yellow River Cemetery in North Okaloosa County, Florida.

All of their children were born in Georgia except his youngest two sons who were born in Alabama and Florida, respectively. When the clan all returned to the southwest corner of Covington County, the Harts' community became large enough to obtain a post office around 1875. (2)

Seminole Indian Wars: Captain Barrow's Company May 13, 1837 - January 13, 1838 Enlisted at Yellow River. The soldier list includes: Allen Hart, May 27, 1837 (served 7 months, 16 days). Daniel Hart, May 13, 1837 (8 months). Isaac Hart, May 27, 1837 (7 months, 16 days). John Hart, May 27, 1837 (7 months, 16 days). Reubin Hart, May 13, 1837 (4 months, 12 days) discharged Sept. 25, 1837. (Indformation provided by N. Okaloosa Historical Assoc., Inc. Baker Block Museum)


PETITIOIN TO THE PRESIDENT BY CITIZENS OF WALTON COUNTY (NA:SF, 22 Cong., 1 sees.; DS) January 24, 1832 (Section 5 of Subscribers to Petition)(Note: All spellings in document were copied as is.)

To the Preseident of the United States-

SIR-The Subscribers citizens of Walton County in the Territory of Florida having understood that the term of office of the Honorable Henry M. Backenridege Judge of the Superior Court of the Western District of Florida will expire in a short time beg lieave most respectfully to request that he may be re-appointed. Since the organisation of our Courts Judge Brackenridge has presided with great satisfaction to the people and with Honor to himself. The deportment of Judge Brackenridge on the bench and in his intercourse with his fellow citizens has been such as to elicit their warmest approbation. (page 638 Territorial Papers) 35 signatures included the following: Reuben HART Senior, Reuben HART Junior, Daniel HART, John HART. 


PETITION TO CONGRESS BY CITIZENS OF WEST FLORIDA (NA:HF, 25 Cong., 3 sess,;DS) referred January 21, 1839 (Copied from pages 565, 566, 567 of Florida Territory-Territorial Papers) (Spellings copied as is.)

To the Honorable Congress of the United States-

We whose names are undersigned, Citizens of the Western District of Florida, would respectfully represent to your Honorable body that whereas Government is instituted to promote the happiness of the people, in the accomplishment of which object it is necessary that wrongs should be redressed & rights enforced--and whereas it is the bounden duty of all good Government to develope the resources of the country under its control, particularly where those resources may be of general benefit to the people--We therefore, a portion of your constituents, who have at all times & under all circumstances faithfully fullfilled all our duties which have devolved upon us as good & faithfull Citizens, respectfully present to your Honorable body the following statement of facts which we earnestly urge you to take into serious consideration --Yellow River, a tributary stream of Blackwater Bay, rises in the state of Alabama & pursuing a southerly course through West Florida, discharges its waters into Blackwater Bay, an arm of & conjoining the Bay of Escambia, about twenty miles east of the City of Pensacola--About twenty miles of this River in Walton County, Florida, is skirted on either side by a body of rich & valuable land, which is now settled by about forty families & is capable of supporting a much larger population--Many streams valuable for affording mill-seats & large quantities of excellent timber of various kinds which skirt their borders, are tributary to this River; but the navigation which is naturally good for plying steamboats & other craft of the same draft of water, is at this time so obstructed for about fifty miles by huge piles of drift wood which have become so matted together as to form rafts of considerable extent in different parts of the River, that its navigation unless cleared out is altogether impracticable--Were these rafts however, removed, this River would be navigable for all boats necessary to be used here, from the settlements on its borders to Pensacola--& the lands & fine timber skirting its margins & tributary streams would be greatly enhanced in value--The people in this section of the country are now compelled, in the absence of water communication, to transport their produce over land for forty miles before they reach navigable water which may float their produce to the nearest market and if they continue on by land, the distance is lengthened to sixty miles & an expense of crossing two ferries, one of which is four miles in extent, is incurred--all these inconveniences & disadvantages may be remedied by the removal of the rafts of wood in Yellow River, which we are assured may be accomplished by the expenditure of about six thousand dollars--

The right of petitioning for a redress of grievances is guaranteed to us by the constitution under which we live, and the relative duty of hearing & carefully considering our petitions must devolve upon your Honorable body--And it is with confidence that we appeal to yor Honorable body to do what may be in our power to remove the grievance under which we labour & remedy the evils of which we complain--Whilst other portions of our Territory have been nurtured & sustained by our fostering care & protection, we have been utterly neglected & have silently borne the wrongs of which we now complain; but we feel convinced that when they are made known to in a respectful manner, by a faithful & unobtrusive people, they will be immediately redressed--We therefore humbly pray that your Honorable body will take this matter into serious consideration & that you will make the necessary appropriation to remove all obstructions to the navigation of Yellow River up to the Settlements on its border which is, by the river, about one hundred miles above its disemboguement into Blackwater Bay & as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray. Included in the 60 signatures: Reuben HART, Daniel HART

Source: (1)(2) The Folks From Pea Ridge in Covington and Conecuh Counties Alabama by Wyley Donald Ward. The Reprint Company Publishers, 1993. p.78.
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We are proud to be a descendant of this Pioneering family which for us started with the birth of Reuben Hart in North Carolina about 1780. The saga continued with his movements through Washington County, Georgia; Conecuh County, Alabama; and on into Northwest Florida by 1820; producing 11 children. He then returned to the Pleasant Home area of Covington County, Alabama by 1840, where he died about 1861. Despite the hardships encountered during a lifetime of living on the Frontier of America, he survived past his 80th birthday. He and his wife are believed to be buried in Stewart Cemetery in North Okaloosa County, Florida in unmarked graves.

There is a lack of hard evidence about his wife or wives, but we are continuing to check all available information in order to prove who he married and when. On the 1820 Spanish Census of Florida his wife was listed as "Saly", which does not match any of the family lore. All other family records have consistently listed Nancy Ann Rigdon as wife of Reuben. We have not been able to prove or disprove this family history which is repeated in many sources but cannot be verified. The search continues.....

Dr. McCreary, in his article about Reuben, believes that his father was named Isaac, and that he had three brothers. *Alex Hart, founder of Opp, Alabama, agreed with this in a notarized letter not seen by me but read by others, and provided the names of the brothers, Stephen, Alexander, and Benjamin. Neither report has ever been proven. We are continuing to search for clues that will prove his parentage and siblings, but records to confirm them may have been lost for all time. General Sherman did his work well. 
Source: Roger Hart.  "Hart of My Heart"
1820
Florida
*Alex Hart was the grandson of Reuben and son of Daniel Hart.
LindaMatz71 originally shared this on 19 Dec 2008

 

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