Hello James...

I have HART ancestry from Ireland.  My HART ancestors, Teddy and Mary HART and their son, Felix HART, and his wife Bridget CARRIGAN emigrated to South Texas in 1829, at the time it was a possession of Mexico.

Teddy HART and his family had settled in Maryland (which was a haven for Catholics) before 1810 and Felix HART and his family settled in New York between 1822 when first daughter, Catherine, was born in Ireland and 1829 when his son, Timoothy, was born in New York.  Teddy's son and my 3rd Great Grand Uncle, also named Timothy, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at Goliad.

There were several unrelated HART families that gained Mexican Land Grants in the area which is now called San Patricio and Bee Counties.

Later, more HART families joined these original HART families in settling South Texas.  The Mexican Government recruited these families to act as buffers between the Comanche Indians and the Mexican population in general as well as a buffer between the generally Protestant Anglo settlements along the border between Texas and Louisiana.

Every Texas school kid is versed in the history of the settlement by Anglos such as the Stephan F. AUSTIN colony.  However, few people in Texas know anything about the brave Irish Colonists who settled South Texas and who also fought and died for Texas independence. 

James,

My email is richardpcrowe@gmail.com...

Send me an email and I will forward you the information on my HART ancestors.

I also have a very interesting autobiography of Rosalie HART.  Some information is available at Texas History Online:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpr32

Rosalie HART was not related to my family.  Her family came from County Wexford and were of English stock.  It is said that the "Old English" settlers became "more Irish than the Irish".  I have a transcript of her autobiography and will send you a copy if you like.

When I first began to study my South Texas Irish ancestors, I was totally confused because there there four different HART families who settled in this area.  I don't think that they were related because they intermarried.  There were a lot of HART persons with the first name Bridget and Timothy and it was quite confusing to tell them apart.

I when I was a child, that I had known about my HART ancestors who settled on the Mexican Land Grants.  I was born in New York but, lived for a while in Texas (my father was born there) and the kids called me a "damn Yankee".  I could have told them that my family was established in Texas before their people ever thought of coming to America.

Regards,

Richard Crowe