Following are amended from a letter I wrote to some immediate
relatives, before I knew which Dehart family the Berks Co
Deharts belonged to. Now I know my family are Brooklyn Deharts.
There was another, unrelated, Manhattan family, who also settled
in New York City from Holland in the mid 17th century with a
tradition of French ancestry.
Here are my notes on the Deharts from the stuff in the Mormon
library. I looked at the Pennsylvania Genealogical Society
stuff, which is exclusively genealogies of the family of NYC,
Delaware, and New Jersey (the family that is not of Brooklyn),
with no reference at all to Pennsylvania Deharts; perhaps its
inclusion in Pennsylvania genealogical references is supposed
to be some sort of a clue, perhaps not; and at the Dehart
genealogy (I probably meant the Dehart, Meeks and Merserau one).
I didn't order the other family genealogies that included Deharts
they could possibly have some information. The Dehart family
history exclusively discusses the Manhattan
family, and its spread to
Delaware, and, esp New Jersey, with extensions to Canada, Ohio,
California, Virginia, and the Carolinas.
The four brothers who settled in NYC and were established and
wealthy merchants by 1664, though they must have been young,
meaning their father was probably established and wealthy too,
came from Holland. "The first of the family who is known was in
the service of Louis XIV of France, and was knighted by him."
Louis XIV came to the throne in 1643, at age 5, but for a long
time his reign was essentially a continuation of Louis XIII's
and someone knighted "by" Louis XIV could have served under
Louis XIII. I think that religious upheaval characterized
Louis XIII's reign more than that of Louis XIV, too; certainly
atleast as much. (I researched these two reigns to determine how
likely the tale is - and also, unsuccessfully, to try to find
mention of the ancestor.) He "afterward was banished from
France", and went to Holland, "where he is said to have married
the king's niece". King of where - France or Holland, isnot
identified. The royal families of France and Holland were
closely related. Kings' nieces and cousins included half of the
aristocracy. These kings gave new meaning to sleeping around -
with the single exception of Louis XIII. He was gay, and there
is a cute tale of how he was eventually trapped into conceiving
Louis XIV. He tried EVERYTHING to avoid it. The king's niece
could also have been produced by a brother of the king's father
the king, which also could have included a large segment of the
aristocracy. French kings often gave their numerous illegitimate
prodigy titles, and their descendants didn't distinguish on
which side of the sheets they were descended from royalty.
"One of the sons is also said to have MARRIED into the royal
family, and later the sons of that union are said to be the four
who came to America" - by 1664, which makes it important to
realize that much of the story may have occurred under as well
as in bed with predecessors of Louis XIV.
Note the OTHER implication of this - there were other family
members who did not come to America by 1664. Some could have
returned to France. Some could have come later.
The author of this family history said she made no attempt to
verify any of this, and found no source identifications with it.
Several other important parts of the story are taht the family
supposedly migrated from Alsace-Lorraine, which was ceded by
Germany to France during the reign of Louis XIII, not both at
once, no source identified for that either, and that the family
became prominent in military and financial affairs, in France,
again "during" the reign of Louis XIV. The first member of the
family was knighted for distinguished service in the battlefield,
and the coat of arms allegedly emphasizes that.
The coat of arms seems like another detail that should be easily
verifiable. There may have been a falcon and a visor on or with
it, as "the Falcon and the Visor were Louis XVI's own coat of
ARms". The coat of arms contained either a hart (a male deer
with antlers), or a Hart and a Deer, which stand for family
"names" (interesting), small shields for distinguished service
on the battlefield, medals for bravery. Motto - "Loyal in all
things".
When I checked that out, I found coats of arms for five Dehart
families. Van der Hart, Gueldre (deer head, l star); Van der
Hart, Holland, 2 hearts, bar of little things that look like
*'s, a deer; 't Hart, Schiedam (a deer), DeHart (Westphalia)
(a log) and
DeHart, Hoom, Holland, three hearts. All except in the last,
the hearts were really some sort of object roughly shaped like
a heart. Unless the hearts are really some barely recognizable
symbol for a shield, and the * like things are really some other
symbol, the coat of arms described above is not there. The
falcon and visor may have been on the crest, not shown with
the coats of arms, and mottos were not shown with them, either.
Some other information, besides the sexual habits of royalty, is
needed to make sense out of the tale. For one thing, both Louis
XIII and LouisXIV sold a great many offices and titles to raise
money. This proved a very common means of upward mobility.
Middle class families, often lawyers or merchants, who had
aquired wealth, bought titles. Offices often went with the
titles. Louis XIII and Louis XIV further had huge bureacracies
in every area of government andin every locality in France.
The result was title inflation, but that wasn't realized yet,
and an awful lot of families could claim to have achieved
prominence. It is possible that this story is simply a bit
exaggerated. Maybe the original Dehart was really an army
official and minor government functionary of some sort. Also,
at times France possessed Holland, and an official with his
bought title could have been installed there or given a title
there.
But the plot thickens. The old nobility were for the most part
financially ruined, and though they hated the watering down of
the aristocracy, to gain money they intermarried heavily with
the ambitious and wealthy newly titled middle class nobodies.
Having a title made one's children eligible to marry nobility.
Upward social mobility was rapid and rampant. Many lawyers
and merchants within two generations had descendents who were
dukes, duchesses, and, yes, members of the royal family.
Further, it was de rigeur to have country estates, so as soon as
middle class people aquired aristocratic titles, they also went
after country estates. So the entire description of the Dehart
history matches that of a great many people. Only
those at the very top of the pyramid, like the king's immediate
family, remained inbred. The watering down of the aristocracy
created conflicts over power, and helped to set up the
Revolution. As much as they needed the money of the middle
class, the nobility did not want to share political power with
them, and of course the middle class-cum-aristocrats felt fully
entitled to it. So the royal blood part of the story is not as
improbable as it sounds.
I'm having no easy time trying to verify it, though. Not many
French sources are available to me, and those that are are not
alphabetized. My search efforts turned up nothing, but it would
have been very easy to miss something. I'm not sure the sources
I used were complete or comprehensive, either. Equally
difficult is taht the names of the aristocracy take the form
Jacob X of (de) Y, and if indexed or organized at all they can
as easily be found under Jacob, X, deY, or Y, with no cross-
referencing.
It is very likely that the original name of this family including
the name of the person who rose under Louis whichever was not
DeHart. The compiler of this genealogy doesn't even think it
was. She says the name Hart, or Haert, was picked up from a
little village of that name in Guelderland,
a province of Holland. Another thing;
hart is not a French word, but a Germanic one. The name hart
and variations of it are found in England, Holland, and Germany,
but I have not been able to establish that there were ever any
Frenchmen named Hart or DeHart. Of course, people from Alsace
or Lorraine could easily have had the name Hart.
There is alot of reference material in the Mormon library on
French nobility, people prominent in France, people prominent
in the French military, and some day I may start working on it.
It is not easy enough to get to a Family History Center right
now, and I have other priorities. Also; the stuff is all in
French. I would first have to re-learn French.
The original Dehart was Jacobus. There is a partially readable
citation NY___Bro Rec vol 10: 29. I believe his four sons were
Jacobus, Daniel, Tony, Jacobson, m Christina Van Deg__ss,
bapt 5/5/1683. One of them had four sons; Balthazar, Daniel,
James or Jacobus, and Matthias; information about them follows.
Lane cites John S. Dehart compiled notes about 1899.
The four brothers came to New Amsterdam, from Holland, around
1660.
Balthazar b abt 1635 Netherlands. In New Amsterdam as early as
1655. NYC merchant, in shipping business. Margaret Stuyvesant
dau of Peter Stuyvesant was the wife of Bacter, a prosperous
merchant, who died abroad broke, and his large property was
foreclosed upon. Balthazar bought it - a large estate
in Elizabethtown NJ, near NYC, at public auction. He also had
an affair with Margaret; I don't know in what order he did these
things. They didn't marry. They had two sons, Matthias and
Daniel. She was religious, Dutch Ch, and the children were
baptized. Much of this is from church records.
Matthias b 1669 ancestorof Elizabethtown family.
A grandson John Dehart member of first Congress,
Abigale m Col Waye of Va.
Daniel b 1669 bapt 1671 d 1763 m Catherine VAn Pelt.
His name was VanVoos because he was illegitimate.
He lived and died on Staten Island.
Owned considerable real estate from his father.
Daniel b 1707
Balthazar b 1709
Saartis (Sarah) b 1711
Samuel b 1717 m Abigail. Hanover, Morris Co, NJ
Elizabeth b 1715
Matthys b 1715
Samuel b 1755
Edward b 1753
Matthias b 1758
Moses b 1763 d 1851 in __________ m Sophie
*** Deharts of Staten Island mayhave lived with their
relatives in Elizabethtown NJ during part of the
Revolutionary War. Msay also have gone to
Monmouth Co, where Brooklyn (Gowanis) Deharts
lived.
d Morristown 1831. Presbyterian
Daniel b 1790 ?
William ?
Moses Jr 1784-1825
Luke C DeHart eldest son 1805-1889
a shoemaker, farmer, livery business.
Became profitable. 20 when his father
died. 7 other children. To Brooklym
grocery store clerk, inherited store
from proprietor.
George 2nd son
?-John m Betty
a drayman in Brooklyn. Moved to Morris
Co, became a farmer
Harvey
Aaron
Ira never married
Mary Wade
?-a girl
Mary 1810 - 1889 m Job Wade. Lived in Newark
Became a maid.
Elizabeth b 1822 Mr. Woodruff son Charles
Ira never married.
Balthazar married in 1695 Jannett Morris, Jeannette Maunty
Jacob b 1700 or 12/28/1699 Elizabethtown NJ d 9/2/1777
vestryman and warden St. John's Episcopal Church
Elizabethtown NJ, 1740. Assembly 1756. Colonel
NJ forces, m Abigail Crane b 1/25/1703 Elizabethtown
on 3/3/1723/4 d 6/10/1779
John b 7/25/1727 Elizabethtown
Matthias a physician d 4/29/1776 age 43 b ca 1733
Jacob sea caaptain d Fort Prince 1788 age 33
b abt 1755
*** CAn Jacob really be son of same man?
Daniel - a doctor. d 1689-1690 in NYC m Martha no issue
James, Jacobus__________1673 have he married Cornelia Beecher
Pisher in 1673 and m Cornelia Peck, or this seems to be
what my notes say.
Matthias m 1670 Jannettie, widow of James DeWitt, a wealthy
flour merchant.
The following notes I don't have how they connect up.
I don't even know how I selected what I wrote down. It isn't
very intelligible. I'm including it because people seem
very anxious to see whatever I have. The original source
would be more complete, and, hopefully, intelligible. This
stuff is all from Lane's book from the Mormon Library.
Some may also be in that stuff in the Pennsylvania genealogical
society.
Daniel Dehart (gt gf) m Elizabeth Mersereau (one of families
that are the subject of the genealogy)
both b NYC, not Canada.
son John (gf) b 1780 in Ontario
m Ana Bancico
son ? Thomas Dehart
(father) Eli Dehart b 1813 d 1901 m Hannah Harkness 1819-1891
Eli b Whitby Canada
Anna Van Cise m of Jane Brewer m of Aunt Polly. Don't ask.
**** I have an idea the Mormon data bases also contain the
information that makes sense out of this. The names Hannah
Harkness as well as Van Cise look very familiar.
Albert, another brother (of who?)
b 1815 d 1867 m Sarah E. Cates 1836. A shoemaker. Carcoal and
farming. Accidentally killed.
John S. b 1837
m Madonna Fuller b 1840
John S Jr b 1869
Florence b 1811
Clara b 1873
______ (Loeuu?) b 1874
Lucille b 1876
Job W b 1839
Harriett B 1842
Sarah b 1844
Henry b 1845
Charles b 1847
Adrianna b 1853
George Miller b 1850
two children died in infancy
Charles, Albert's youngest brother?
A Balthazar DeHart was 3rd liutenant in Revolutionary War
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