Harry W. Hart, former county attorney of Harvey County, had enjoyed a steadily increasing practice and prestige as a lawyer at Newton since his admission to the bar.
Mr. Hart was born on a farm in Highland Township of Harvey County October 27, 1885. His grandfather, Henry Hart, was born in Germany in 1824. After his marriage he came to America, settling at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced his profession as a veterinary surgeon. He died at Dayton, Ohio, in 1897. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion in 1861 he enlisted with the Fourth Ohio Cavalry and saw active service all through the struggle.
William Hart, father of the Newton attorney and founder of the family in Kansas, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1854. He grew up in his native city and was married at Dayton, Ohio. He spent his active career as a farmer, and in 1878 joined the early settlers of Harvey County, locating in Highland Township, where he bought a farm of eighty acres. He was employed in its cultivation until his death in 1904. William Hart was a republican, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Susie Herby, who was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1862 and died in Highland Township, Kansas, in 1895. She was the mother of the following children: Orva, a resident of Newton; Charles, bookkeeper in the Midland National Bank of Newton; Harry W.; Floyd, connected with the International Harvester Company and a resident of Wichita; Bruce, who died at the age of fourteen years; Walter, who is an educator and is now principal of the high school at Kremmling, Colorado; and Myrta, who died in 1904, when eight years of age.
Harry W. Hart had the usual experiences of a Kansas farm boy. He grew up in Highland Township and attended the country schools there. He afterwards entered as a student Bethel College at Newton, where he was graduated in 1904. In preparation for his chosen profession he pursued the full course of the Kansas University Law Department, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1909. While in college he became a member of the honorary law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta.
Mr. Hart began practice with the firm of Bowman & Hart, composed of the late Cyrus S. Bowman and Harry Bowman and Mr. Hart. This partnership was dissolved January 1, 1910, and since then Mr. Hart had practiced with Ezra Branine as partner under the name Branine & Hart. They have a large business as lawyers and their offices are in the Loan Building in Newton. A source of valuable experience to Mr. Hart in his profession was his service from 1913 to 1915 as county attorney. He made his official experience not only valuable to himself but a means of very capable service to the county.
Mr. Hart owned his residence at 401 West Seventh Street and several other dwelling houses in the city. Politically he is a republican, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, belongs to the Harvey County and State Bar associations, and is affiliated with Newton Lodge No. 74, Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Local Camp of the Woodmen of the World.
On June 15, 1915, at Newton, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hart and Miss Helen Hoisington. Mrs. Hart is a daughter of Col. P. M. and Kate (Gregory) Hoisington. Her father is one of Newton’s most widely known citizens, president of the First National Bank and also now a colonel of the Second Regiment of the Kansas National Guard.
