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Samuel Hartt, lumberman, resident on section 23, Monroe Township, of which he is present Supervisor, was born Sept 15, 1833, in Saltfleet (then Niagara) District, Ontario. He is the son of Jonathan and Jemima (Phillips) Hartt. The former was a native of New Hampshire, the latter of Penn. The place of birth of the mother was near the city of Philadelphia, and is now included therein.
The patronymic was originally Hart, and the change in orthography involves a little account, which fully displays the traits that characterized earlier if not later generations and affords a fine illustration of the temper and spirit which ruled the contending elements in the time of the Revolution.
The Hart family at that period included five brothers, and the fact that John Hart, grandfather of Mr. Hartt of this sketch, was a member of the Continental Congress, declares their position in social and public affairs. How strong and bitter was party spirit when the question of submission to British despotism was uppermost in every mind, was exemplified by the state of affairs among the Hart brothers, two of whom were Royalists and abandoned country and fraternal relations to preserve their fealty to the king, one going to New Brunswick, the other tot he East Indies. Three remained loyal to the principles from which their brethren fled; and so strong was the sentiment that controlled those remaining that they doubled the final consonant of the family name in order to express as fully as possible their disgust and vexation at the actions and principles of their relatives. In this they accomplished a two-fold result. In addition to setting themselves apart fraternally, they secured the identity of their family for many generations, the orthography of their name providing an unmistakable clue to their origin.
Later in life Jonathan Hartt went to New Brunswick, married there and engaged some years as a lumberman on the Oromocto River, a tributary of the St. John. On leaving New Brunswick he went to the State of New York and finally settled, with his family, 13 miles from Hamilton, Can., where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.
When Mr. Hartt was 12 years old his father died, and three years later the demise of his mother occurred; but the children remained together until they separated to establish their own homes and families. School privileges were of the character common the rural districts of the Dominion, and the meager education Mr. Hartt was enabled to obtain there he acquired in schools five and six miles distant.
He decided on the trade of millwright as a calling, and accordingly passed three years in acquiring the knowledge requisite to its successful prosecution. He worked as such until December, 1870, when he came to Lowell, MI. He spent the winter there, and in the spring of 1871 went to Grand Haven and carried on the business of millwright. In 1872 he went to Sand Lake and turned his attention to lumbering, in which he has since been continuously engaged. He worked at Sand Lake until the winter of 1880-1, when he located at Foxville, Monroe Twp., where he is largely interested in the various branches of lumbering. In his long course of business, Mr. Hartt has been associated at times with other parties and is at present in partnership with William Horning, firm style Horning & Hartt.
Mr. Hartt was married Sept. 3, 1854, in Princeton, Canada, to Eliza Jane, daughter of John and Margaret Gilchrist. Of this union five children have been born: Emily Caroline (Mrs. H. L. Carter, of Sand Lake) was born July 21, 1855; Cicero Winslow, December 19, 1857; Ella Jane (Mrs. L. B. Bradish, Grand Rapids) July 29, 1860; and Sylvia Samantha, May 15, 1865. These are the names of those living. A son, Charles, born March 14, 1874, died Sept. 15, 1875.
Mr. Hartt has been a member of the Masonic fraternity many years, and belongs to King Hiram Lodge, No. 33, Ingersoll, Can. He belongs to the National Greenback party, and is now holding his first local official position, to which he was appointed in the spring of 1883, to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Hugh S. Swan. The family are Baptists in religious sentiment.
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