Joshua Darte

(14 August 1727 - )
Joshua Darte|b. 14 Aug 1727|p411.htm|Daniel Darte Junior|b. 31 Aug 1691\nd. 9 Feb 1771|p395.htm|Jemimah Shaylor|b. 9 Feb 1702|p406.htm|Daniel Darte|b. 3 May 1666\nd. 2 Jan 1738|p375.htm|Elizabeth Douglass|b. 25 Feb 1668\nd. 27 Jan 1714/15|p392.htm|||||||

5-greats-grandfather of Darrell Allen Martin.
Joshua was born possibly in Bolton, Tolland County, Connecticut, on 14 August 1727.1,2 He was the son of Daniel Darte Junior and Jemimah Shaylor. Joshua Darte was often called Captain or Deacon Joshua Darte. His surname was variously spelled Dart, Darte, or Dartt. He lived at first in Bolton, Conn..3 He married Deborah Spencer in Bolton, Conn., on 3 April 1751.4,5 He moved, probably in the range 1765 to 1769, to Gilsum, Cheshire County, New Hampshire.6 He was a soldier in the Revolution, at age 49 a member of Davis Hawley's (Hawlit's?) company that marched from Keene, N.H. to reinforce the Continental Army at Fort Ticonderoga. The company was part of Colonel Ashley's regiment, which served in May and again in July of 1777. In marching to Ticonderoga, the company would have passed through Weathersfield, Windsor County, Vermont on the Crown Point military road. He may have become connected with Weathersfield as soon as the next year, 1778.7 Joshua Darte resided in Weathersfield, Windsor County, Vermont, by 1780.8,9 He was one of five men chosen 29 August 1780 to be a committee to "go forward with the work of building a meeting house."10 In October of that year his sons Justus and Josiah served as Privates on an eight-day scouting trip by the town militia. He resided in Weathersfield in 1782.8 He became a Captain of the militia, and in 1786 was called by Benjamin Wait, Windsor County Sheriff and Colonel of the 3rd Vermont Regiment, to bring his company to subdue an armed mob in Windsor. A short battle resulted in injuries on both sides, including a head wound to Colonel Wait, but no deaths. "Captain Dart" was highly commended for the "humanity and firmness evinced by the military" which averted a major disaster.11,12 He resided in Weathersfield in 1787.8 He resided in Weathersfield in 1790.8 He resided in Weathersfield in 1793.8 He resided in Weathersfield in 1800.8 He resided in Weathersfield in 1808.8 Joshua died probably between 1808 and 1813.13

There is an area in District No. 6 (Center District) known as "Dart Hollow" from the family members who settled there and nearby. Butterfield calls the Dart and Tolles families the most important in the district. Joshua appears in many town records and served on a large number of diverse committees. Many of these related to a meeting house, which was a bone of contention for years.

As closely associated with Weathersfield as Joshua was, one would expect him to leave a record there of his death and burial. However, neither Butterfield's record of town cemeteries, nor Hurd's history, mention either. Further, the Windsor County Probate Index has no entry for any Joshua Dart(t).
Appears on these charts
Pedigree of Darrell Allen Martin

Children of Joshua Darte and Deborah Spencer

Cited documentation

  1. [S42] Thaddeus Lincoln Bolton, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America (Philadelphia: Cooper Printing Company, 1927), pg. 8, "Joshua Carte, born Aug. 14, 1727" [sic Carte] and pg. 12, "Joshua Dartt, third son of Daniel and Jemimah S. Darte, was born Aug. 14, 1727."
  2. [S167] The June 1998 LDS Ancestral File suggests he was born 14 August 1727 in Bolton, Conn.
  3. [S42] Thaddeus Lincoln Bolton, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America, pg. 12.
  4. [S42] Thaddeus Lincoln Bolton, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America, pg. 12, "Joshua Dartt ... married Deborah Spencer April 3, 1751."
  5. [S167] The June 1998 LDS Ancestral File suggests he married Deborah Spencer in Bolton, Conn.
  6. [S42] Thaddeus Lincoln Bolton, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America, pg. 12, "... they lived for some years at Bolton, Conn., and later moved to Gilsum, N.H." and pg. 13, "The Vital Statistics of the town of Bolton give the names of six children of this family. The do not mention Deborah, Parmelia, Leucretia or Daniel. The break in the record at Bolton probably indicates the time of the family's removal to New Hampshire."
  7. [S42] Thaddeus Lincoln Bolton, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America, pg. 13, "... a soldier in the Revolution. He was a member of Davis Hawley's company that marched from Keene, N.H., to reinforce the Continental army at Fort Ticonderoga."
  8. [S53] Butterfield, Inhabitants.
  9. [S46] John L. Hurd, Weathersfield Century One (Canaan, NH: Phoenix Publishing, for the Weathersfield Historical Society, 1975), pg. 209, "Deacon Joshua Dart settled on the Perkins Hill Road (6-13) at an early date."
  10. [S46] John L. Hurd, Weathersfield Century One, pg. 30.
  11. [S46] John L. Hurd, Weathersfield Century One, pgs. 60-61, "A few days after the trial [held 31 October 1786] about fifty of the insurgents gathered at the home of Captain Lull in Hartland, with the intent of forcibly releasing [Robert] Morrison from the Windsor jail. Word of this gathering soon reached Windsor and Colonel Benjamin Wait went into action. Acting in his dual capacities of sheriff and commander of the Third Vermont Regiment, Colonel Wait ordered Captain Dartt of Weathersfield to march his company to Windsor. The colonel then reinforced the Weathersfield Company with local men and led the detachment to Hartland. The insurgents were subdued in a short battle that resulted in injuries to both factions, including a head wound to Colonel Wait, but in no fatalities. In his History of Eastern Vermont, B.H. Hall writes of this happening. 'The results of this attack would have been far more disastrous but for the humanity and firmness evinced by the military. The conduct of Captain Dart was highly applauded and it was publicly announced at the time that he and his company were entitled to the particular thanks of the Freemen of the State.' ... The town records do not show which member of the Dartt family was captain of the Weathersfield Militia at the time, but the date would indicate it was either Josiah or Joshua."
  12. [S167] That Joshua Darte was the "Captain Dart" of the Vermont militia who was commended for his actions in Windsor is not explicitly stated in the record. I infer it was he, from his standing in the community and that he was often called "Captain" as an honorific. I use similar reasoning to identify him as the "Deacon Joshua Dart" that Butterfield puts in house "6-13."
  13. [S45] Ernest Warren Butterfield., The Weathersfield Burying Grounds, Weathersfield, Vermont (Reprinted 1989: The Weathersfield Historical Society), Joshua does not appear in this book.
 
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