CHAPTER I
BRET HARTE'S ANCESTRY
Francis Brett Harte was born at Albany in the State of New York, on Augusttwenty-fifth, 1836. By his relatives and early friends he was calledFrank; but soon after beginning his career as an author in San Franciscohe signed his name as "Brett," then as "Bret," and finally as "BretHarte." "Bret Harte," therefore, is in some degree a _nom de guerre_, andit was commonly supposed at first, both in the Eastern States and inEngland, to be wholly such. Our great New England novelist had a similarexperience, for "Nathaniel Hawthorne" was long regarded by most of hisreaders as an assumed name, happily chosen to indicate the quaint andpoetic character of the tales to which it was signed. Bret Harte's fatherwas Henry Hart;[1] but before we trace his ancestry, let us endeavor tosee how he looked. Fanny Kemble met him at Lenox, in the year 1875, andwas much impressed by his appearance. In a letter to a relative she wrote:"He reminded me a good deal of our old pirate and bandit friend,Trelawney, though the latter was an almost orientally dark-complexionedman, and Mr. Bret Harte was comparatively fair. They were both tall,well-made men of fine figure; both, too, were handsome, with a peculiarexpression of face which suggested small success to any one who mightengage in personal conflict with them."
In reality Bret Harte was not tall, though others beside Mrs. Kemblethought him to be so; his height was five feet, eight and a half inches.His face was smooth and regular, without much color; the chin firm andwell rounded; the nose straight and rather large, "the nose of generosityand genius"; the under-lip having what Mr. Howells called a "fascinating,forward thrust."
The following description dates from the time when he left California: "Hewas a handsome, distinguished-looking man, and although his oval face wasslightly marred by scars of small-pox, and his abundant dark hair wasalready streaked with gray, he carried his slight, upright figure with aquiet elegance that would have made an impression, even when therefinement of face, voice and manner had not been recognized."
Mr. Howells says of him at the same period: "He was, as one could not helpseeing, thickly pitted, but after the first glance one forgot this, sothat a lady who met him for the first time could say to him, 'Mr. Harte,aren't you afraid to go about in the cars so recklessly when there is thisscare about small-pox?' 'No! madam!' he said, in that rich note of his,with an irony touched by pseudo-pathos, 'I bear a charmed life.'"
Almost every one who met Bret Harte was struck by his low, rich,well-modulated voice. Mr. Howells speaks of "the mellow cordial of a voicethat was like no other." His handwriting was small, firm and graceful.
Chance acquaintances made in England were sometimes surprised at BretHarte's appearance. They had formed, writes Mme. Van de Velde, "a vague,intangible idea of a wild, reckless Californian, impatient of socialtrammels, whose life among the Argonauts must have fashioned him after atype differing widely from the reality. These idealists were partlydisappointed, partly relieved, when their American writer turned out tobe a quiet, low-voiced, easy-mannered, polished gentleman, who smilinglyconfessed that precisely because he had roughed it a good deal in hisyouth he was inclined to enjoy the comforts and avail himself of thefacilities of an older civilization, when placed within his reach."
Bret Harte's knowledge of these disappointed expectations may havesuggested the plot of that amusing story _Their Uncle from California_,the hero of which presents a similar contrast to the barbaric ideal whichhad been formed by his Eastern relatives.
The photographs of Bret Harte, taken at various periods in his life,reveal great changes, apart from those of age. The first one, atseventeen, shows an intellectual youth, very mature for his age, with afine forehead, the hair parted at one side, and something of a rusticappearance. In the next picture, taken at the age of thirty-five orthereabout, we see a determined-looking man, with slight side-whiskers, adrooping mustache, and clothes a little "loud." Five years afterward thereis another photograph in which the whiskers have disappeared, the hairseems longer and more curly, the clothes are unquestionably "loud," andthe picture, taken altogether, has a slight tinge of Bohemian-likevulgarity. In the later photographs the hair is shorter, and parted in themiddle, the mustache subdued, the dress handsome and in perfect taste, andthe whole appearance is that of a refined, sophisticated, aristocratic manof the world, dignified, and yet perfectly simple, unaffected and freefrom self-consciousness.
In a measure Bret Harte seems to have undergone that process ofdevelopment which Mr. Henry James has described in "The American." TheReader may remember how the American (far from a typical one, by the way)began with sky-blue neckties and large plaids, and ended with clothes andadornments of the most chastened, correct and elegant character. Actorsare apt to go through a similar process. The first great exponent of the"suppressed emotion" school began, and in California too, as it happened,by splitting the ears of the groundlings and sawing the air with botharms.
Bret Harte had something of a Hebrew look, and not unnaturally so, for hecame of mixed English, Dutch and Hebrew stock. To be exact, he was halfEnglish, one quarter Dutch, and one quarter Hebrew. The Hebrew strain alsowas derived from English soil, so that with the exception of a Dutchgreat-grandmother, all his ancestors emigrated from England, and not veryremotely.
The Hebrew in the pedigree was his paternal grandfather, Bernard Hart. Mr.Hart was born in London, on Christmas Day, 1763 or 1764, but as a boy ofthirteen he went out to Canada, where his relatives were numerous. TheseCanadian Harts were a marked family, energetic, forceful, strong-willed,prosperous, given to hospitality, warm-hearted, and pleasure-loving. Oneof Bernard Hart's Canadian cousins left behind him at his death no lessthan fourteen families, all established in the world with a good degree ofcomfort, and with a sufficient degree of respectability. Now theimpropriety, to say nothing about the extravagance, of maintainingfourteen separate families is so great that no Reader of this book (theauthor feels confident) need be warned against it; and yet it indicates alarge, free-handed, lordly way of doing things. It was no ordinary man,and no ordinary strain of blood that could produce such a record.
Bernard Hart remained but three years in Canada, and in 1780 moved to NewYork where, although scarcely more than a boy, he acted as the businessrepresentative of his Canadian kinsfolk. The Canadian Harts had manycommercial and social relations with the metropolis, and there was much"cousining," much going back and forth between the two places. BernardHart lived in New York for the rest of his life, and attained a high rankin the community. "Towering aloft among the magnates of the city of thelast and present century," writes a local historian, "is Bernard Hart." Hewas successful in business, very active in social and charitable affairs,and prominent in the synagogue. In 1802 he formed a partnership withLeonard Lispenard, under the name of Lispenard and Hart. They werecommission merchants and auctioneers, and did a large business. In 1803the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Hart continued in trade by himself. In1831 he became Secretary to the New York Stock Exchange Board, and heldthat office for twenty-two years, resigning at the age of eighty-nine. In1795, the year of the yellow fever plague, Bernard Hart rendered heroicservice, as is testified by a contemporary annalist. "Mr. Hart and Mr.Pell, who kept store at 108 Market Street, a few doors from Mr. Hart, wereunceasing in their exertions. Night and day, hardly giving themselves timeto sleep or eat, they were among the sick and dying, relieving theirwants. They were angels of mercy in those awful days of the first greatpestilence."
Bernard Hart was also a military man, and in 1797 became quartermaster ofa militia regiment, composed wholly of citizens of New York. That he was a"clubable" man, too, is very apparent. It was an era of clubs, and BernardHart founded the association known as "The Friary." It met on the firstand third Sundays of every month at 56 Pine Street. He was also Presidentof The House of Lords, a merchants' club, which met at Baker's City Tavernevery week-day night, at 7 o'clock, adjourning at 10 o'clock. Each memberwas allowed a limited quantity of liquor, business was discussed,contracts were made, and sociability was promoted. He was
, too, a memberof the St. George Society, and is said, also, to have been a Mason,belonging to Holland Lodge No. 8, of which John Jacob Astor was master in1798. Bernard Hart was a devout Jew, and his name frequently appears inthe records of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, known as theCongregation Shearith Israel, the first synagogue established in New York.He lived in various houses,--at 86 Water Street, at 24 Cedar Street, at 12Lispenard Street, at 20 Varick Street, and finally at 23 White Street. Apicture of him still hangs in the counting-room of Messrs. Arthur Lipperand Co., in Broad Street.
How came it that this orthodox Jew, this pillar of the synagogue, marrieda Christian woman? The romance, if there was one, is imperfectly preservedeven in the family traditions. It is known only that in 1799 Bernard Hartmarried Catharine Brett, a woman of good family; that after livingtogether for a year or less, they separated; that there was one son, HenryHart, born February 1, 1800, who lived with his mother, and who became thefather of Bret Harte.
A few years later, in 1806, Bernard Hart married Zipporah Seixas, one ofthe sixteen children, eight sons and eight daughters, born to BenjaminMendez Seixas. These young women were noted for their beauty andamiability, and so strong was the impression which they produced that itlasted even until the succeeding generation. The marriage ceremony wasperformed by Gershom Mendez Seixas, a brother of the bride's father, andrabbi of the synagogue already mentioned. From this marriage came numeroussons and daughters, whose careers were honorable. Emanuel B. Hart was amerchant and broker, an alderman, a member of Congress in 1851 and 1852,and Surveyor of the Port of New York from 1859 to 1861. Benjamin I. Hartwas a broker in New York. David Hart, a teller in the Pacific Bank, foughtgallantly at the battle of Bull Run and was badly wounded there. Theodoreand Daniel Hart were merchants in New York.
BERNARD HART
Bret Harte's Grandfather]
One of Bernard Hart's sons by the Hebrew wife was named Henry. He was bornin 1817, and died of consumption in his father's house in White Street onNovember 16, 1850. He was unmarried. Bernard Hart himself died in 1855, atthe age of ninety-one. His wife was then living at the age ofseventy-nine.
None of his descendants on the Hebrew side knew of his marriage toCatharine Brett or of the existence of his son, the first Henry Hart,until some years after Bret Harte's death. It seems almost incredible thatthis Hebrew merchant, prominent as he was in business and social life, inclubs and societies, in the militia and the synagogue, should have beenable to keep the fact of his first marriage so secret that it remained asecret for a hundred years; it seems very unlikely that a woman of goodEnglish birth and family should in that era have married a Jew; it ishighly improbable that a father should give to a son by a second marriagethe same name already given to his son by a former marriage. And yet allthese things are indisputable facts. There are members of Bret Harte'sfamily still living who remember Bernard Hart, and his occasional visitsto the family of Henry Hart, his son by Catharine Brett, whom he assistedwith money and advice so long as he lived. Bret Harte himself rememberedbeing taken to the New York Stock Exchange by his father, who therepointed out to him his grandfather, Bernard Hart. It may be added thatbetween the descendants of Bernard Hart and Catharine Brett and those ofBernard Hart and Zipporah Seixas there is a marked resemblance.
How far was the venerable Jew from suspecting that the one fact in hislife which he was so anxious to conceal was the very fact which wouldrescue his name from oblivion, and preserve it so long as Englishliterature shall exist! Even if the marriage to Catharine Brett, aChristian woman, had been known it would not, according to Jewish law,have invalidated the second marriage, but it would doubtless haveprevented that marriage. What rendered the long concealment possible was,of course, the deep gulf which then separated Jew from Gentile. CatharineBrett had been warned by her father that he would cast her off if shemarried the Jew; and this threat was fulfilled. Thenceforth, she lived alonely and secluded life, supported, it is believed, by her husband, buthaving no other relation with him. The marriage was so improbable, soill-assorted, so productive of unhappiness, and yet so splendid in itsultimate results, that it seems almost atheistic to ascribe it to chance.Is the world governed in that haphazard manner!
But who was this unfortunate Catharine Brett? She was a granddaughter ofRoger Brett, an Englishman, and, it is supposed, a lieutenant in theBritish Navy, who first appears in New York, about the year 1700, as afriend of Lord Cornbury, then Governor of the Province. The coat of armswhich Roger Brett brought over, and which is still preserved on a pewterplacque, is identical with that borne by Judge, Sir Balliol Brett, beforehis elevation to the peerage as Viscount Esher. Roger Brett was avestryman of Trinity Church from 1703 to 1706. In November, 1703, hemarried Catharyna Rombout, daughter of Francis Rombout, who was one of theearly and successful merchants in the city of New York. Her mother, HelenaTeller, daughter of William Teller, a captain in the Indian wars, wasmarried three times, Francis Rombout being her third husband. SchuylerColfax, once Vice-President of the United States, was descended from her.Francis Rombout was born at Hasselt in Belgium, and came to New Amsterdamwhile it still belonged to the Dutch. He was an elder in the Dutch Church,served as lieutenant in an expedition against the Swedes, was Schepenunder the Dutch municipal government, alderman under the reorganizedBritish government, and, in 1679, became the twelfth Mayor of New York.
Francis Rombout left to his daughter, Roger Brett's wife, an immenseestate on the Hudson River, which included the Fishkills, and consistedchiefly of forest land. There, in 1709, the young couple built for theirhome a manor house, which is still standing and is occupied by adescendant of Roger Brett, to whom it has come down in direct line throughthe female branch. A few years later, at least before 1720, Roger Brettwas drowned at the mouth of Fishkill Creek in the Hudson River. Catharyna,his widow, survived him for many years. She was a woman of markedcharacter and ability, known through all that region as Madame Brett. Sheadministered her large estate, leased and sold much land to settlers,controlled the Indians who were numerous, superintended a mill to whichboth Dutchess County and Orange County sent their grist, owned the sloopswhich were the only carriers between this outpost of the Colony and thecity of New York, and was one of the founders of the Fishkill DutchChurch. In that church, a tablet to her memory was recently erected by theRombout-Brett Association, formed a few years ago by her descendants. Thetablet is inscribed as follows:--
_In memory of Catharyna Brett, widow of Lieutenant Roger Brett, R.N., and daughter of Francis Rombout, a grantee of Rombout patent, born in the city of New York 1687, died in Rombout Precinct, Fishkill, 1764. To this church she was a liberal contributor, and underneath its pulpit her body is interred. This tablet was erected by her descendants and others interested in the Colonial history of Fishkill, A. D. 1904._
Roger Brett had four sons, of whom two died young and unmarried, and two,Francis and Robert, married, and left many children. Whether the CatharineBrett who married Bernard Hart was descended from Francis or from Robertis not certainly known. Francis Brett's wife was a descendant of CorneliusVan Wyck, one of the earliest settlers on Long Island. Robert Brett's wifewas a Miss Dubois.
Such was the ancestry of Bret Harte's paternal grandmother. Her son, HenryHart,[2] lived with her until, on May 5, 1817, he entered Union College,Schenectady, as a member of the class of 1820. He remained in collegeuntil the end of his Senior year, and passed all his examinations forgraduation, but failed to receive his degree because a college billamounting to ninety dollars had not been paid. The previous bills werepaid by his mother, "Catharine Hart." Alas! the non-payment of this billwas an omen of the future. Henry Hart and his illustrious son were boththe reverse of thrifty or economical. Money seemed to fly away from them;they had no capacity for keeping it, and no discretion in spending it.Unpaid bills were the bane of their existence. Henry Hart's improvidenceis ascribed, in part, by those who knew him, to the irregular manner inwhich his father supplied him with money, Bernard Hart
being sometimesvery lavish and sometimes very parsimonious with his son.
Henry Hart was a well-built, athletic-looking man, with rather largefeatures, and dark hair and complexion. His height was five feet teninches, and his weight one hundred and seventy pounds. He was anaccomplished scholar, speaking French, Spanish and Italian, and being wellversed in Greek and Latin. He passed his short life as school-teacher,tutor, lecturer and translator.
On May 16, 1830, he married Elizabeth Rebecca, daughter of Henry PhilipOstrander, an "upstate" surveyor and farmer, who belonged to a prominentDutch family which settled at Kingston on the Hudson in 1659. It will beremembered that the hero of Bret Harte's story, _Two Americans_, is MajorPhilip Ostrander. The mother of Elizabeth Ostrander, Henry Hart's wife,was Abigail Truesdale, of English descent. Henry Hart was brought up byhis mother in the Dutch Reformed faith, but soon after leaving college,owing to what influence is unknown, he became a Catholic, and remainedsuch until his death. His wife was an Episcopalian, and his children wereof that, if of any persuasion.
In 1833 we find Henry Hart at Albany, and there he remained until 1836,the year of Bret Harte's birth. In 1833 and 1834, he was instructor in theAlbany Female Academy, a girls' school, famous in its day, where he taughtreading and writing, rhetoric and mathematics. Early in 1835 he left theAcademy, and for two years he conducted a private school of his own at 15Columbia Street, but this appears not to have been successful, for heceased to be a resident of the city in the latter part of 1836, or earlyin 1837. One event in Henry Hart's life at Albany is significant. InDecember, 1833, a meeting was held in the Mayor's Court Room to organize aYoung Men's Association, which proved to be a great success, and which hasplayed an important part in the life of the city down to the present day.Henry Hart, though a comparative stranger in Albany, was chosen to explainthe objects of the Association at this meeting, and at the next meeting hewas elected one of the Managers. When Bret Harte came East fromCalifornia, he went to Albany and addressed the Association, upon theinvitation of its members.
After leaving Albany the family led an unsettled, uncomfortable life,going from place to place, with occasional returns to the home of anOstrander relative in Hudson Street in the city of New York. The late Mr.A. V. S. Anthony, the well-known engraver, was a neighbor of Bret Harte inHudson Street, and played and fought with him there, when they were bothabout seven or eight years old. Afterward they met in California, andagain in London. From Albany the Henry Hart family went to Hudson, whereMr. Hart acted as principal of an academy; and subsequently they lived inNew Brunswick, New Jersey; in Philadelphia; in Providence, Rhode Island;in Lowell, Massachusetts; in Boston and elsewhere.
A few years before her death Mrs. Hart read the life of Bronson Alcott,and when she laid down the book she remarked that the troubles andprivations endured by the Alcott family bore a striking resemblance tothose which she and her children had undergone. Some want of balance inHenry Hart's character prevented him, notwithstanding his undoubtedtalents, his enthusiasm, and his accomplishments, from ever obtaining anymaterial success in life, or even a home for his family and himself. Buthe was a man of warm impulses and deep feeling. When Henry Clay wasnominated for the Presidency in 1844, Henry Hart espoused his cause almostwith fury. He gave up all other employment to electioneer in behalf of theWhig candidate, and the defeat of his idol was a crushing blow from whichhe never recovered. It was the first time that a really great man, as Claycertainly was, had been outvoted in a contest for the Presidency by acommonplace man, like Polk; and Clay's defeat was regarded by hisadherents not only as a hideous injustice, but as a national calamity. Itis not given to every one to take any impersonal matter so seriously asHenry Hart took the defeat of his political chieftain; and his death ayear later, in 1845, may justly be regarded as a really noble ending to atroubled and unsuccessful life.