Hart Family Tree

Canavan, Anthony and Catherine Kirby Green 2

Anna Delores Canavan Hart and the Canavan Family Green

Editor's Note: To understand the Canavan family relationship with the Hart family you need to start with the top tree above of the parents of our progenitor Anthony Canavan, Sr. (1822-1890).

Our progenitor's father was also named Anthony Canavan and our progenitor's mother was Catherine Kirby. One of the three daughters of our progenitor's parents was Honora Canavan (1823-1901), the lady in green as it were. Honora Canavan married Patrick Doyle and that couple had two daughters, Elizabeth and Anna Doyle. Anna Doyle is shown here.

Anna Doyle (1855-1938) married her cousin John Canavan (1843-1936), a son of our progenitor Anthony Canavan, Sr.

Canavan, John-Anna Delores Canavan Hart (Kirby Hart Green Tree)

The daughter of John Canavan and Anna Doyle was Anna Delores Canavan. Anna Delores Canavan married James Francis Hart in 1913. They had these seven sons:

James Austin HART was born in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, on October 20, 1914. He died in Jupiter, Palm Beach, Florida, on October 8, 2003, at the age of 88.

John Francis HART was born in Des Moines on July 8, 1917. He was ordained a priest in 1943. John Francis died in Winterset, Madison, on December 14, 1974, at the age of 57. He was buried in Winterset City Cemetery, Winterset, Iowa.

Joseph Thomas HART was born in Des Moines on September 25, 1918. He died in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, on July 23, 1986, at the age of 67.

Lawrence Michael HART was born in Des Moines on June 14, 1921. He died in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha, South Dakota, on May 21, 2002, at the age of 80.

Paul Vincent HART was born in Des Moines on December 15, 1922. He died in Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 2, 1996, at the age of 73.

Maurice Peter HART was born in Des Moines on October 25, 1924. He died in Wahpeton, Dickinson, on November 15, 2010, at the age of 86.

Bernard Jerome HART was born in Des Moines on January 22, 1926. He died in Spirit Lake, Dickinson, on May 22, 2013, at the age of 87. Bernard Jerome was buried in St. Jacob's Cemetery, Graettinger, Iowa on May 25, 2013.

Canavan, Anna Delores and John Francis Hart

Editor's Note: The various Hart families descended from the seven sons of James Frances and Anna Delores Canavan Hart are widespread and numerous to say the least. However, I have had limited contact with only two of their descendants. The first was their son James Austin Hart. I believe I met him at least once, though I can't remember the circumstances. I also found the correspondence to him you see on the right. I had written to him after he sent me his paper on the U.S. doing business with East Germany. This was not a very popular idea in 1980, with the fall of the Berlin Wall still more than a decade away. Before he died he left behind a memoir Joe Hart tracked down for me: James Austin Hart (1914-2003) Memoirs.

1980 Letter to James Austin Hart from William John Bowe, Jr.

The second branch of the Hart family I've had more recent contact with. The branch's representative to me is Joseph Christopher Hart, a grandson of James Francis and Anna Delores Canavan Hart. I have corresponded with Joe Hart for over a decade now, always regarding the history of the extended Canavan families. A gifted genealogist and a careful student of my mother's Canavan research in her book, The Families, he stands out in my mind among other Anthony Canavan, Sr. descendants that have taken up the important work of cataloging the family's extensive and complicated history.