Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

IGEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 3227for his splendid citizenship and his almost unexampled generosity. Hewas lavish in his charity and gave to everyone who needed his kindness andhis help. He was loyal and unselfish in what he did, not infrequently wronging himself in order to confer benefit upon another. He was never known torefuse aid when asked, and would take his coat from his own back and theshoes from his feet in order to give them to an unfortunate person whose needhe believed to be greater than his own. One time a negro with the small-poxwas cast adrift near his home, and though it involved danger of spreadingthe infection, Mr. Hart, out of his deep love for humanity, accompaniedthe poor darkey to a dwelling on the outskirts of the town, carried food tohim daily in his illness and also provided, him with medical attention; allthis in spite of an active opposition from his neighbors. He was a neighborand friend of Alexander H. Stephens, the great Georgia statesman, and was inharmony with the views of Stephens on the questions which were finallydecided during the early '60s,After Georgia went out of the Union, Mr. Hart supported the state in itsstruggle and personally established a Soldiers' Wayside Home at Union Point,at that time the place of his residence. More than two million meals wereserved to the soldiers of both the Blue and the Gray during the war, and'twas through the untiring efforts of Mr. Hart, aided by the co-operation andgenerosity of tlte surrounding counties, that this Soldiers' Home was main--tained. At the close of the war, Mr. Hart presented the most faithful of hisfreed negroes with homes surrounded by small plats of ground and encouragedthem in their efforts to make a livelihood under the changed conditions. Hehad great influence among all people who knew him and was a counselorand guide, a mediator who frequently poured oil upon the troubled watersof domestic and neighborly discord. Being of an unusually progressive andpublic spirit, his desire was to have his native county, Greene, rank amongthe best in the state in its, development. Exposure incurred in his efforts toachieve this end resulted in pneumonia, which disease terminated this unselfishand useful life in November, 1879. After his death, in response to urgentrequests, his body was allowed to lie in state for several days and many of thenotable men of Georgia paid their respects to his memory, while the sceneat the grave was especially impressive. After the usual rites had been performed, a crowd 6f former slaves who had assembled in the cemetery beggedpermission to take charge of the concluding ceremonies, and while theymarched around casting sprays of evergreen into the open sepulchre, theysang with an emotion, such as only the negro race can express, that oldSouthern darkey folk song "Massa's in the Cold, Cold, Ground." The oldHart homestead, "Oak Grove," still stands in a good state of preservationthree miles from Union Point.In Mrs. Sibley's maternal ancestry are many of the most distinguishedpersonages of South Carolina and Virginia. Her mother was Maria Virginia(Collier) Hart, and through her she is descended from Sir Francis Wyatt,who was famous in English history and served as colonial governor of Virginia from 1627 to 1643. Her maternal grandfather, Dr. William Collier,rode from South Carolina to Philadelphia in his gig and entered DoctorRush's medical college, where he was graduated as a member of its firstclass. Her mother, Mrs. Hart, was a remarkably beautiful woman, honoredand loved by all who knew her, and of her might have been said with peculiaremphasis that "none knew her but to love her, none named her but to praise."It was Mrs. James B. Hart whose efforts secured for Augusta the establishmentof the Orphans' Home. She also organized the first Sunday School in GreeneCounty in 1841, and personally conducted it for a number of years. She waslike an angel of kindness to her slaves, whom she ruled by love, not by force,and in return they held her in the deepest veneration.With such ancestors, and particularly with the example and influence of