thus becoming the chairman or presiding justice of the court. Some years before he had been a member of the court and also High Sheriff of Augusta County.

For the purpose of organization he was commissioned Sheriff, with Gabriel Jones and Robert Cravens as his sureties. Upon completion of organization on the second day, Hart and Daniel Smith, the senior justice "in consideration of their having enjoyed the office lately in Augusta" relinquished their claim to the Office of Sheriff and requested the court to recommend another. Josiah Davison, John Skidmore, and George Boswell were named to the Governor as suitable persons. (Rockingham Court Order Book No. 1, part 1, pages 1, 2, and 3). Davison was chosen and his commission signed by Patrick Henry. It was sixty days in arriving. A reading of the names of those chosen to organize the court and start it on its way, will indicate the fact of their being men of the highest integrity and learning, and who all along wisely guided and shaped the affairs of the new county.

Among the early settlers in the region of the North Fork were the brothers, John and Silas Hart (above). Thomas, another brother, settled in the lover Valley. All three are mentioned on the Orange Records. "September 25^th 1741, John Hart was sworn Under Sheriff for the part of Augusta County called Irish Tract (Beverly Manor); March 25^th, 1742, Thomas appointed Constable; August 25^th, 1743, Silas Hart appointed Administrator of his Brother and Next of Kin, John Hart; November 24^th, 1743, Silas Hart appointed Under Sheriff; etc." (Orange Court Order Book, 1741-1743, pages 24 and 113; 1743-1746, pages 5, 29, and 55) (Harrison in his Settlers by the Long Grey Trail).

The Harts were from Burks County, Pennsylvania. John and Eleanor (Crispin) Hart of this county had ten children, among who were Joseph and Oliver, John, Silas and Thomas. Joseph, the eldest, was prominent as a patriot of Bucks County, Pennsylvania during Monthly Meeting in 1722 and settled on Elk Branch of the Opequin, where he purchased 1500 acres of land from Joist Hite in 1735. Oliver Hart, A.M. entered the Baptist ministry in 1748, and for over thirty years served his church at Charleston, South Carolina.

(Harrison)

Silas Hart was a rather ample land owner, tho possibly not to the extent his brother Thomas seems to have been. He is credited with being the owner of more than 900 acres on the south Fork of North River of Shenandoah. In Chalkley; volume 3, page 274, we find: "February 15, 1740, Robert Rennock to Silas Hart, mason, part of 400 acres patented to Robert (Rennock), June 10^th, 1740, Buffalo Lick Branch"; June 5^th, 1749, John Smith, Gentleman, to Silas Hart, mason, 400 acres on south Fork of North River of Shenandoah, James Wood’s Line. Patented to John Smith, June 25^th, 1747. Margaret (Smith), John’s wife, releases dower. Teste, John Thompson, John Poage, John Archer. He had other lands besides the tracts noted.

Being a tradesman seems not to have been a handicap, nor to have prevented the holding of positions of trust and importance, and those who had been brought up in mechanical trades were proud of their special pursuits and were generally careful to refer to them in their legal documents. Such reference indicated that they had been well reared. It was customary in the best of families where funds were not sufficient to establish the sons in a profession to apprentice them in trade. Frequently in early deeds the same man is referred to in one place as a "carpenter" or "mason", etc., and in another as a "gentleman". I understand every boy should learn a trade, thus encouraging self-reliance and independence and sturdiness of character for which the Englishman is famous. Silas Hart was a mason; he was also our first justice of the court. His ancestry traces back to England, originating near Islip in Oxfordshire. His father was John Hart, the immigrant of Whitney, in Oxfordshire, who married Susannah Rush. John Rush, the father of Susannah, was the great grand father of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Harts originally belonged to The Society of Friends, but later became Baptists. In 1765 Silas Hart, a "Person of Quality" was admitted to transient communion in the Linville church, and a year later to full membership.

In 1765, Silas hart was High Sheriff of Augusta County. In July 1775, the Third Virginia Convention assembled at Richmond and measures were taken to raise two regiments of Regular Troops for one year and two companies for the protection of the western frontier. The executive authority was lodged in a committee of safety consisting of eleven members. The county committee of Augusta when formed was headed by Silas hart, the elderly justice.

The County of Rockingham was organized in 1778 with Silas Hart as the first justice in the commission of the Peace, and as such, it was to him the deed for the Public Square was made by his friend, Thomas Harrison, Senior.

Silas Hart was born May 5^th, 1718 and died October 29^th, 1795, in the 78^th year of his age, exceeding his allotted three score years and ten, of an active useful life.

Court Records,

Houstan Harrison.

Chalkley.

July 6, 1937 George W. Fetzer,

Harrisonburg, VA