James Williamson Hart, eldest child of Henry and Nancy (Rainey) Hart was born in either S.C. The name of James W. is not recorded in the 1830 Bedford County Census, nor is his name found later in the church records of Mt. Hermon Church which was chartered August 14, 1833. We must assume that he never returned to Bedford County to live.

It would be interesting to know why James W. Hart went to White County IL. On the romantic side, it is possible that James W. knew Sally Gott in their younger days in Tennessee and she moved to White County IL. They could have been engaged and he went there as a young man to make her his bride. It is more likely that the promise of rich, fertile farm land that Illinois promised was the reason.

A son, James Darrell, was born to James W. and Sally on August 23, 1832. Sally probably died at childbirth or soon thereafter, as James W. left home to fight as a volunteer in the Black Hawk Indian War which took palce in 1832-33. The fact that he was a volunteer and fought in the battle near Prairie du Chein is stated in the History of White County. It is not known who kept his baby son. A granddaughter of James W., Mrs. Ida Maye Hart Montgomery, has a copy of the pension record of James W. in this war. She also has a copy of the divorce papers of James W. and his second wife, Jane (Gott) Britton Hart, dated May 6, 1872. He sued her for divorce and it was not contested, but she did get 60 acres of land in White County, IL and alimony. James W. Hart had married wife # 2, Jane, sister of Sally Gott his first wife on November 18, 1835. They were married 37 years and had seven children. She is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery about 2 miles south of Brownsville community. He married wife # 3 Hulda (Campbell) McGhee on July 13, 1875. He was 70 years old and she was 60..

According to family stories it was James W and his brother John Henry who were responsible for the majority of their brothers and sisters moving from Tennessee to Illinois, including their mother in 1854. In Illinois, James W. and his brother John H. were known as the "Red and Black Harts" due to one being a red head and the other having black hair. It is not known which was which, but there was and still is, red and black hair in the Hart families. In 1869 the writer (Charles Gerton Hart) attended a Hart-Dixon reunion in Illinois and to his surprise a nice young lady came up and asked "Are you a red or black Hart."

A petition for Letters of Adminitration of the estate of James Williamson Hart was filed in White County IL on the 17th of November 1883 by J. R. Kuykendall, Clerk (Probate Journal Q page 237). These papers show that James W. died intestate and his sons, John N. and Anthony W. Hart were appointed administrators. He had apparently disposed of his real estate as these papers list only Personal Estate consisting of one horse, about 150 bushels of old corn, about 30 bushels of oats, about $300 in notes on various parties, also about $90 in cash... All of said property being estimated at $600.00 The estate was divided among his living children and the children of James Darrell, Thomas J. and Sarah L. (Hart) Downs who had predeceased him. He died September 7, 1883 in White County at the home of his son Anthony Wayne. His wife Hudla died there January 4, 1902.

Children of James Williamson & Sarah (Gott) Hart:
James Darrell Hart 23 August 1832 White Co IL

Children of James Williamson & Jane (Gott) Hart:
Martha Ann Hart 04 March 1840
Mahala E.Hart 04 March 1843
Henry F. Hart 12 January 1846
Thomas J. Hart
John Norris Hart 15 August 1851
Anthony Wayne Hart February 1854
Sarah Lodica Hart

From the James Hart Book