Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Hart, Budd, and Nestell family papers

Call Number

MS 3127

Date

1804–1955, inclusive

Creator

Hart family
Nestell (Family)

Extent

1 Linear feet (in 1 record carton).

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

A small collection of 19th and early 20th-century deeds, wills, estate inventories, legal papers, and portrait photographs documenting the intermarried Hart, Budd, and Nestell families of Westchester County, New York, and New York City. The collection includes two maps and a series of 1912 photographs of properties at Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles, California, many of which were lost to fire in 1915.

Biographical / Historical

(All names underlined below are represented by documents in the present collection.)

The family documented here descends chiefly from Monmouth Hart (1689–1761), of Westchester County, New York, and his wife, Sarah Ogden. Among the children of Monmouth and Sarah (Ogden) Hart was a son, Joseph Hart (circa 1726/7–1807). By his marriage to Elizabeth Gidney, Joseph was the father of another Joseph Hart (1757–1836). The younger Joseph married Tamar Budd, a daughter of Joseph Budd, and among their children was a son, Henry Hart, who married Esther Horton. The children of Henry and Esther (Horton) Hart included John Horton Hart (1819–1886), Joseph Budd Hart (1825–1878), Henry Azariah Hart (1832–1865), and George Washington Hart (1837–1896).

New York City merchant Joseph Budd Hart—not to be confused with his uncle, fellow merchant Joseph B. Hart (1796–1887)—married Emma Selina Nestell (1834–1907), a daughter of John Joachim Nestell (1809–1885) and Jane Ann Elizabeth Schultz. Together Joseph Budd and Emma S. (Nestell) Hart had four children: Irene Nestell (Hart) Collord (1860–1950), George Henry Hart (1861–1867), Charles Henry Hart (1867–1940), and Emma Josephine (Hart) Sheridan (1869–1916).

Joseph Budd Hart died in 1878, leaving substantial real estate holdings. His will appointed as executors his brother, George Washington Hart, his widow, Emma, and Emma's brother, John Jay Nestell (1840–1917). The latter took control of the estate's affairs, but was eventually charged with failing to account for about $600,000 of it. Hart's heirs claimed Nestell misused the funds to speculate on recreational properties at Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, in Los Angeles, California, for his personal gain (hence the maps and photographs in Folders 23–25).

This note draws largely from genealogical data supplied by the donor found in Folder 1. See, also, "Accused of Failing to Render Account" in the Los Angeles Herald, Saturday 15 August 1908, p. 12, and "Estate $600,000 Short. Referee Charges Speculation with J. B. Hart Property" in the New York Tribune, Saturday 14 May 1910, p. 7.

Arrangement

The collection is organized alphabetically by surname or topic in 38 folders.

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection contains deeds, wills, estate inventories, legal papers, and portrait photographs of members of the intermarried Hart, Budd, and Nestell families, dating from the early 19th through early 20th-centuries. The family held significant amounts of real property in New York City, and files for those properties contain instruments such as quitclaim deeds, building permits, proposals, specifications, and the occasional blueprint. The properties at Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island, in Los Angeles, California, are marked on two maps (1912 and undated) and documented by two series of photographs: one taken in 1912, the other in 1915 after a fire had destroyed half of Avalon's buildings.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers.

Use Restrictions

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to:

Department of Rights and Reproductions
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024-5194
Email: rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Hart, Budd, and Nestell Family Papers, MS 3127, New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Charles Centerfit Hart, December 2018 (accession no. MS-2019-007).

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:16 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in March 2020.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024