Oliver Hart Sr. (1723-1795)

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This white person has 3 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
Identifier
NJS-PER-02702
Given Name
Oliver
Family Name
Hart
Birth Date
1723
Death Date
1795
Sex
Male
Occupation
Religious
Biographical Description
Rev. Oliver Hart was a Baptist minister and an enslaver. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1723 and was licensed to preach by the Philadelphia Baptist Association. In 1750, he moved to South Carolina where he led the Charleston Baptist Church for 30 years. Hart became an influential religious, social, and political leader in South Carolina.

During the Revolutionary War, he was driven out of Charleston by the British. In 1780, he left South Carolina and accepted a call to become the pastor of the Baptist Church in Hopewell, Hunterdon County (now in Mercer County), New Jersey. He moved to Hopewell with his second wife Anne Sealey Grimball Hart. Hart brought with him an enslaved Black boy named Friday from South Carolina.

Hart died in Hopewell in 1795 and was succeeded at the pulpit by the Rev. James Ewing. Hart's will and two indenture documents signed by his widow Anne Hart shortly after his death confirm that the Hart family held in bondage a man, a woman, and two boys in the 1790s.

A collection of Oliver Hart Papers, containing correspondence, diaries, and sermon notes, has been preserved and digitized by University of South Carolina Special Collections.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
clergy
Places
Charleston, South Carolina
Hopewell (Mercer County)
Pennsylvania
Enslaver of
Dinah (b. 1751)
Friday Truehart (b. 1767)
James (b. 1786)
Parent of
John Hart (b. 1758)
Oliver Hart Jr. (b. 1754)
Spouse of
Anne Sealey Grimball Hart (1741-1813)
Related Person
Sarah Hart
References

Ege, Ralph. Pioneers of Old Hopewell, with Sketches of Her Revolutionary Heroes. Hopewell, NJ: Race & Savidge, 1908. See p. 47. http://archive.org/details/pioneersoldhope00egegoog

"Hart, Oliver," by Helen Lee Turner. South Carolina Encyclopedia (University of South Carolina). https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/hart-oliver/

"About Hopewell." The Hopewell Museum. https://thehopewellmuseum.org/about-hopewell

Oliver Hart Papers, 1741-1961. South Caroliniana Library. University of South Carolina Libraries Digital Collections. https://digital.library.sc.edu/collections/oliver-hart-papers-1741-1961/.

This person is represented on the following page(s):
WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hart-2775
Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20819355
Record Contributor
Larissa Jimenez Gratereaux
Jesse Bayker
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