JOHN HART is a son of James and Sarah (Fossett) Hart, who were born in North Carolina, and became the parents of nine children: Stephen, Thomas, Susan, Rachel, John, Lucretia, Nathaniel B., Mary A. and William G. Mr. Hart came to Rutherford County, Tenn., in 1816, and in 1827 moved to Bedford County, where he died December 10, 1856. Mrs. Hart died August 30, 1860. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Our subject was born April 29, 1819, in Rutherford County, and the major part of his life has been spent on a farm. He began doing for himself as a merchant, and clerked in the store of William G. Cowan, of Shelbyville. He was married in December, 1842, to Virginia Holder, daughter of John W. Holder, and by her is the father of four children: James H., Catherine E., John W. and Carrie B., all of whom are dead save one. For his second wife Mr. Hart took Narcissa (Phillips) Jennings, daughter of Garrett Phillips. They have one child, Lillian C.
In 1847 he removed to his present place of abode, on the Murfreesboro Pike, five miles from Shelbyville. Mr. Hart served in the United States Army for about one year in the late war. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Both he and Mrs. Hart are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.