Wife of Ossian B. Hart, the 10th governor of Florida.
Excerpts from her husbands bio (Ossian B Hart)
...married Catherine Smith Campbell, a resident of Newark, New Jersey who was visiting Jacksonville. Called "Kate," she was smart and self-reliant, and he would depend on her throughout his career. They never had children, but often would include the needy children of family and friends in their household. They married in Newark on October 3, 1843, and returned by sea to Florida's unsettled southeastern coast.
...that 1845 legislative session gave Ossian Hart a real claim to fame with his successful sponsorship of the Married Women's Property Act, which protected a woman's private inheritance or dowry from her husband's debtors. Calls for such laws were just beginning to be heard in other states, and the idea might have been Kate's, who may have heard of these reforms from New York's early feminists.
Although Kate was disturbed by the open vice in this sailor-dominated town, Ossian did well there financially at the practice of law. Both also observed a form of slavery that was much less harsh than in north Florida: because dark-skinned people were a majority in Key West, race relations were more amicable, and the Harts largely were unaware of the issues roiling to the Civil War.
While Kate lived in Key West and New Jersey, Ossian spent much time in Tampa, first as the district prosecutor, and then after losing reelection, as a lawyer and businessman promoting a railroad between Jacksonville and Tampa. That seemed realistic at the time, but in fact Tampa would not have a railroad until the 1880s, after he was dead. When Key West had a yellow fever epidemic, Kate joined Ossian permanently in Tampa in 1856. They lived in a fine house at the northeast corner of Pierce and what now is Kennedy Boulevard.
Kate mostly stayed in Tampa and may have overseen the resettlement of some of the slaves in Ossian's family estate. His father died early in the war, leaving several homes and businesses, as well as a 2,000-acre plantation and 53 slaves. Ossian's work as estate manager was complicated by the fact that his father disinherited his eldest son and willed significant property to his longtime mistress and slave, Amy Hickman, but Ossian carried out the will's intent.
... Ossian Hart died on March 18, 1874. There were no pensions for wives back then, and the Hart family had lost much of its wealth because of the nation's first serious depression in 1873. A fire and then a foreclosed mortgage meant that Kate lost their Jacksonville home. Needing income, she probably used her Republican connections to get a presidential appointment as postmaster of Kissimmee in 1883. She held this until 1886 and also ran a stationery shop there. She died at age 72 while visiting family in New Jersey, but her body was returned to lie with Ossian at Jacksonville's Old City Cemetery.
ll quotes are from the definitive biography by Canter Brown, Jr., Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. See also Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies by Robert Buccellato.
Excerpts from her husbands bio (Ossian B Hart)
...married Catherine Smith Campbell, a resident of Newark, New Jersey who was visiting Jacksonville. Called "Kate," she was smart and self-reliant, and he would depend on her throughout his career. They never had children, but often would include the needy children of family and friends in their household. They married in Newark on October 3, 1843, and returned by sea to Florida's unsettled southeastern coast.
...that 1845 legislative session gave Ossian Hart a real claim to fame with his successful sponsorship of the Married Women's Property Act, which protected a woman's private inheritance or dowry from her husband's debtors. Calls for such laws were just beginning to be heard in other states, and the idea might have been Kate's, who may have heard of these reforms from New York's early feminists.
Although Kate was disturbed by the open vice in this sailor-dominated town, Ossian did well there financially at the practice of law. Both also observed a form of slavery that was much less harsh than in north Florida: because dark-skinned people were a majority in Key West, race relations were more amicable, and the Harts largely were unaware of the issues roiling to the Civil War.
While Kate lived in Key West and New Jersey, Ossian spent much time in Tampa, first as the district prosecutor, and then after losing reelection, as a lawyer and businessman promoting a railroad between Jacksonville and Tampa. That seemed realistic at the time, but in fact Tampa would not have a railroad until the 1880s, after he was dead. When Key West had a yellow fever epidemic, Kate joined Ossian permanently in Tampa in 1856. They lived in a fine house at the northeast corner of Pierce and what now is Kennedy Boulevard.
Kate mostly stayed in Tampa and may have overseen the resettlement of some of the slaves in Ossian's family estate. His father died early in the war, leaving several homes and businesses, as well as a 2,000-acre plantation and 53 slaves. Ossian's work as estate manager was complicated by the fact that his father disinherited his eldest son and willed significant property to his longtime mistress and slave, Amy Hickman, but Ossian carried out the will's intent.
... Ossian Hart died on March 18, 1874. There were no pensions for wives back then, and the Hart family had lost much of its wealth because of the nation's first serious depression in 1873. A fire and then a foreclosed mortgage meant that Kate lost their Jacksonville home. Needing income, she probably used her Republican connections to get a presidential appointment as postmaster of Kissimmee in 1883. She held this until 1886 and also ran a stationery shop there. She died at age 72 while visiting family in New Jersey, but her body was returned to lie with Ossian at Jacksonville's Old City Cemetery.
ll quotes are from the definitive biography by Canter Brown, Jr., Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. See also Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies by Robert Buccellato.
Wife of Ossian B. Hart, the 10th governor of Florida.
Excerpts from her husbands bio (Ossian B Hart)
...married Catherine Smith Campbell, a resident of Newark, New Jersey who was visiting Jacksonville. Called "Kate," she was smart and self-reliant, and he would depend on her throughout his career. They never had children, but often would include the needy children of family and friends in their household. They married in Newark on October 3, 1843, and returned by sea to Florida's unsettled southeastern coast.
...that 1845 legislative session gave Ossian Hart a real claim to fame with his successful sponsorship of the Married Women's Property Act, which protected a woman's private inheritance or dowry from her husband's debtors. Calls for such laws were just beginning to be heard in other states, and the idea might have been Kate's, who may have heard of these reforms from New York's early feminists.
Although Kate was disturbed by the open vice in this sailor-dominated town, Ossian did well there financially at the practice of law. Both also observed a form of slavery that was much less harsh than in north Florida: because dark-skinned people were a majority in Key West, race relations were more amicable, and the Harts largely were unaware of the issues roiling to the Civil War.
While Kate lived in Key West and New Jersey, Ossian spent much time in Tampa, first as the district prosecutor, and then after losing reelection, as a lawyer and businessman promoting a railroad between Jacksonville and Tampa. That seemed realistic at the time, but in fact Tampa would not have a railroad until the 1880s, after he was dead. When Key West had a yellow fever epidemic, Kate joined Ossian permanently in Tampa in 1856. They lived in a fine house at the northeast corner of Pierce and what now is Kennedy Boulevard.
Kate mostly stayed in Tampa and may have overseen the resettlement of some of the slaves in Ossian's family estate. His father died early in the war, leaving several homes and businesses, as well as a 2,000-acre plantation and 53 slaves. Ossian's work as estate manager was complicated by the fact that his father disinherited his eldest son and willed significant property to his longtime mistress and slave, Amy Hickman, but Ossian carried out the will's intent.
... Ossian Hart died on March 18, 1874. There were no pensions for wives back then, and the Hart family had lost much of its wealth because of the nation's first serious depression in 1873. A fire and then a foreclosed mortgage meant that Kate lost their Jacksonville home. Needing income, she probably used her Republican connections to get a presidential appointment as postmaster of Kissimmee in 1883. She held this until 1886 and also ran a stationery shop there. She died at age 72 while visiting family in New Jersey, but her body was returned to lie with Ossian at Jacksonville's Old City Cemetery.
ll quotes are from the definitive biography by Canter Brown, Jr., Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. See also Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies by Robert Buccellato.
Excerpts from her husbands bio (Ossian B Hart)
...married Catherine Smith Campbell, a resident of Newark, New Jersey who was visiting Jacksonville. Called "Kate," she was smart and self-reliant, and he would depend on her throughout his career. They never had children, but often would include the needy children of family and friends in their household. They married in Newark on October 3, 1843, and returned by sea to Florida's unsettled southeastern coast.
...that 1845 legislative session gave Ossian Hart a real claim to fame with his successful sponsorship of the Married Women's Property Act, which protected a woman's private inheritance or dowry from her husband's debtors. Calls for such laws were just beginning to be heard in other states, and the idea might have been Kate's, who may have heard of these reforms from New York's early feminists.
Although Kate was disturbed by the open vice in this sailor-dominated town, Ossian did well there financially at the practice of law. Both also observed a form of slavery that was much less harsh than in north Florida: because dark-skinned people were a majority in Key West, race relations were more amicable, and the Harts largely were unaware of the issues roiling to the Civil War.
While Kate lived in Key West and New Jersey, Ossian spent much time in Tampa, first as the district prosecutor, and then after losing reelection, as a lawyer and businessman promoting a railroad between Jacksonville and Tampa. That seemed realistic at the time, but in fact Tampa would not have a railroad until the 1880s, after he was dead. When Key West had a yellow fever epidemic, Kate joined Ossian permanently in Tampa in 1856. They lived in a fine house at the northeast corner of Pierce and what now is Kennedy Boulevard.
Kate mostly stayed in Tampa and may have overseen the resettlement of some of the slaves in Ossian's family estate. His father died early in the war, leaving several homes and businesses, as well as a 2,000-acre plantation and 53 slaves. Ossian's work as estate manager was complicated by the fact that his father disinherited his eldest son and willed significant property to his longtime mistress and slave, Amy Hickman, but Ossian carried out the will's intent.
... Ossian Hart died on March 18, 1874. There were no pensions for wives back then, and the Hart family had lost much of its wealth because of the nation's first serious depression in 1873. A fire and then a foreclosed mortgage meant that Kate lost their Jacksonville home. Needing income, she probably used her Republican connections to get a presidential appointment as postmaster of Kissimmee in 1883. She held this until 1886 and also ran a stationery shop there. She died at age 72 while visiting family in New Jersey, but her body was returned to lie with Ossian at Jacksonville's Old City Cemetery.
ll quotes are from the definitive biography by Canter Brown, Jr., Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. See also Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies by Robert Buccellato.
Gravesite Details
Her grave marker is carved on the reverse side of her husband's marker
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