John Hart (1713-1779) and Deborah Scudder (1723-1776)
John Hart and Deborah Scudder are our fifth great grandparents. Sources disagree about the date and place of John Hart’s birth, but he was born about 1713, perhaps in Stonington, Connecticut or perhaps in Hopewell, New Jersey. He was the son of Edward and Martha (Furman) Hart. John married Deborah Scudder about 1739. Deborah Scudder was the daughter of Richard Betts Scudder, Jr. and Hannah Stillwell. Deborah’s father died when she was eight years old and her mother died when Deborah was about seventeen. She was raised primarily in the household of her grandparents Richard Betts and Hannah (Reeder) Scudder. John Hart and Deborah Scudder lived in Hopewell, New Jersey where they were parents of thirteen children. John Hart bought what would be their homestead about 1740, a property of 193 acres on the north side of what is now Hopewell. Although he was a Presbyterian, in 1747 he donated a piece of his front pasture to the Baptists as a location for their church.
John Hart was a farmer, statesman, miller, delegate to the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, he was designated as one of the officials to sign the new bill of credit notes issued by the western New Jersey district. He personally signed over 15,000 of these notes. On 22 June 1776, he was elected to the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence along with the four other delegat4es from New Jersey. On 13 August 1776, he was elected to the newly formed State assembly of New Jersey. On 29 August 1776, he was elected speaker of the assembly. However, he soon after returned home as Deborah was ill and she died 8 October 1776. The British invaded New Jersey 13 November 1776 and the Continental forces retreated. John Hart was sought by the British and Hessians. John hid out in a natural rock formation (outside in the winter) near Amwell, New Jersey in an area now known as “John Hart’s Cave.” His farm was partially damaged. On 22 June 1778, he invited the Continental army to encamp on his farm and 12,000 troops assembled there. They left on 24 June 1778 and engaged at the Battle on Monmouth 28 June 1778.
By the end of 1778, John Hart was too ill to travel to Trenton to fulfill his duties as Speaker of the General Assembly. He died at his home on 11 May 1779. He was buried in the Baptist churchyard. John Hart died owing money, and due to economic factors such as depreciation of Colonial currency and a glut of land on the market due to confiscated Loyalist lands being for sale, John Hart’s farm was sold for a portion of its value.