Benjamin A. "Ben" Hart
Marriages
J. May Bryant Hart - 1897
in Denver, Colorado.
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 1 - November 6, 1931
TWO EARLY SETTLERS PASS AWAY FRIDAY MORNING AT NEAR SAME TIME. Frank FARNUM Meets Death at Post of Duty in Salida and Ben A. HART Ends Long Struggle Against Illness at Home of Daughter in Eagle--Both Were Prominent in Upbuilding of Eagle County.
Last Friday morning, October 30, 1931, two of the pioneers of Battle Mountain and Eagle county passed away when Ben A. HART died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Joseph D. ALLEN, in Eagle, and Frank FARNUM was killed in an automobile accident in Salida, Colo.
Both of these men were most prominent in shaping the early history of this section of the state. Each coming to Eagle county when they were very young men, mere boys, in fact, they each spent the best years of their lives in actively building up the community, and any story of the growth of the county cannot be truthfully recounted without reference to Frank FARNUM and Ben HART.
Mr. HART was born in Council Bluffs, Ia., August 15, 1872. He was only fourteen years of age when in 1886 his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. T. HART, accompanied by their family, removed from Omaha, Neb., to Red Cliff. The elder Hart engaged in the mining business and young Ben learned that business from the mine portal to the face of the last drift thoroughly. His early training shaped his life's course and when J. T. HART died many years ago, his son carried on. He was active in this work as an owner and operator up to the time that failing health the past two or three years forced him to reluctantly retire from any active business. His work was centered around some of the most famous gold producers on Battle Mountain--the Champion, Ground Hog, Mable, Percy Chester and Tram Lode groups. For years the Hart properties were the heaviest producers of ore in the district, and the recovery of gold and silver from these properties under Mr. HART's management over the years ran into six figures. But as with most men of that day and business, wealth only meant the means with which to develop more ground, and when the last pay streak refused to yield further, Mr. HART had not retained any considerable amount of the riches wrest from the mountains. He had spent most of it in developing the region that others might reap the harvest.
In 1897 he was married to Miss J. May BRYANT in Denver, and to this union were born three children, two daughters, Helen and Joyce, and one son, Richard. The son lost his life in an automobile accident several years ago. He is survived by his widow, the two daughters, Mrs. J. D. ALLEN of Red Cliff, and Mrs. Earl PEMBERTON of Denver, Colo. Other relatives surviving are two sisters, Mrs. J. D. ROBERTS of Minturn, Colo., Mrs. Fay GETNER of Tulsa, Okla., and a brother, James, living in Oregon.
Funeral services were held in Red Cliff Sunday afternoon, where a large following of old friends gathered in the little Presbyterian church of that city to listen to Rev. C. R. STOCKINGER deliver the last words of respect over the body of Benjamin A. HART. The body was laid to rest in Evergreen [sic Greenwood] cemetery in Red Cliff, besides the loved ones who had preceded him in death.
The family has the heartfelt sympathy in their loss.
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3 - November 9, 1931
