Betsey Howard Hart
Betsey Amelia Howard Hart
Betsey Howard Hart was raised in a very old section of New York City east of William Street and north of Maiden Lane as the only child to William Howard and Rebecca White Howard.
At the age of 18, she married her cousin Richard P. Hart and together they would have 14 children, the first born in 1817 and their last child in 1841.
After her husband’s death in late December 1843, Betsey took over his estate with the help of her son, William Howard Hart, and parlayed his business interests into an even larger fortune.
A Mother in and out of the Home
Betsey’s charity was well-known in her day. In many instances she continued to support the interests of her husband, but she also focused on supporting a number of institutions that worked with children.
She was one of the founders of the Troy Day Home (1858), a charity that provided daycare for the city’s indigent children, and of the Troy Young Woman’s Association (1882). She continued her husband’s interest in educational institutions, especially the Troy Female Seminary which eight of their ten daughters attended.
During the Civil War, she responded to relief efforts with generosity, as she did numerous times to fires and other disasters. Immediately following Troy’s Great Fire of May 1862, which devastated a large portion of downtown Troy, she responded to the loss of institutions like the Troy Orphan Asylum with a gift of $10,000 to be matched by others’ donations.
She left sizable bequests to RPI, the Troy Day Home, the Marshall Infirmary, one of Troy’s first hospitals, and the Troy Orphan Asylum upon her death in 1886.
Betsey Amelia Hart continued the Hart family’s role in the life of the city of Troy both in business and community service. She maintained many of her husband’s business dealings and through her son, William Howard Hart, continued to influence a number of boards of banks and institutions where she herself could not directly participate. Although it was an age when women were not generally public figures, her many generous charitable donations put her in the forefront of her community.
From evidence in the Hart Papers, it would appear that as long as she was able, Betsey maintained a direct involvement with her large and varied business affairs, reflecting her dedication to the community.