Hart, Budd, and Nestell family papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
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.
Subjects
Families
Genres
Topics
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).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in March 2020.
Repository
View Inventory
[Genealogical data and collection information], [2018], inclusive
Budd, Joseph. Estate, 1826 July 21
Collord, Irene Nestell (Hart) (1860–1950). Estate, 1947 October 14
Hart family. Photographs, circa 1860–1900, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes carte-de-visite and cabinet card photographs of
Emma S. Hart
Esther Horton Hart (1794–1875)
George Hart (1861–1867)
George W. Hart
George & Anne Hart
Henry Azariah Hart (1832–1865)
John Horton Hart (1819–1886)
Joseph Budd Hart (1825–1878)
William Horton Hart
Two unidentified
Hart, Charles Henry (1867–1940). Photographs, circa 1870–1895, inclusive
Hart, Emma Selina (Nestell) (1834–1907). Estate, 1907–1910, inclusive
Hart, Henry (1787–1848). Assignments, bonds, mortgages, releases, 1834–1845, inclusive
Hart, Henry (1787–1848). Will, 1841 April 27
Hart, Henry (1787–1848). Estate inventory (Eastchester, Westchester Co., N.Y.), 1848 June, inclusive
Hart, Jane (Barker). Transfer of mortgage to John G. Horton, 1849 August 1
Hart, Joseph (circa 1726/7–1807). Will (Bedford, Westchester Co., N.Y.), 1804/1807
Scope and Contents
Will dated December 28, 1804; proved April 10, 1807.
Hart, Joseph (circa 1757–1836). Deed, 1810 January 25
Hart, Joseph (circa 1757–1836). Estate, 1834–1838, inclusive
Hart, Joseph Budd (1825–1878). Notebook, 1849–circa 1985, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Notebook originally the property of Joseph Budd Hart (1825–1878), containing genealogical data, family bible records, and later contributions by Hart's descendants. Many pages blank.
Hart, Joseph Budd (1825–1878). School rewards of merit (4), [1830s], inclusive
Hart, Joseph Budd (1825–1878). Estate (2 folders), circa 1875–1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
"Papers on Judgement against John Jay Nestell as executor under the Last Will & Testament of Joseph Budd Hart."
Hewer, William and Martha. Release to William Ward, 1844 January 25
Nestell family. Photographs, circa 1860–1900, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes carte-de-visite and cabinet card photographs of
Edward Victor Nestell (1871– )
John Joachim Nestell (1809–1885)
Raymond Jay Nestell (1877–1968)
Nestell, John Joachim (1809–1885). Miscellaneous, 1849, 1854, inclusive
Nestell, Schultz, and Coger families. Vital statistics, undated, inclusive
Notebook [blank], [circa 1899], inclusive
Scope and Contents
Promotional pocket-sized notebook issued by E. S. Higgins Carpet Co., 41 Union Square West, New York.
Real estate. Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles, California (3 folders), 1911–1912, 1915, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Maps and photographs of properties owned/managed by John Jay Nestell (1840–1917), purportedly as executor for the estate of his brother-in-law, Joseph Budd Hart (1825–1878). The maps (2), labeled "Map showing portions of Town of Avalon, Catalina Island" (undated) and "Map of portion of the Town of Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles Co., California" (March 11, 1912), are marked to indicate the following properties, each of which is recorded by an accompanying photograph (spread across Folders 23 and 24):
Bijou Apartments
Blake Bonnie Cottage [or Blink Bonnie Cottage]
Brownie Cottage
Buena Vista Cottage
Campus Virginia
Firenze Apartments
Floral Camp No. 1
Floral Camp No. 2
Isabella House
Loraine Apartments
Pacific Hotel
Rosemary Cottages (Nestell Place)
Savoie
Sea Breeze Cottage
Tio Juan Houses
Touraine Apartments
For further details, see the transcript of a "Journal kept by Charles Henry Hart, 199 Lenox Avenue, New York, New York, of a business trip to Denver, Colorado and Catalina Island, California, February 26, 1912 to March 23, 1912" in Folder 1.
Folder 25 holds photographs depicting the aftermath of the fire of November 29, 1915 that destroyed half of Avalon's buildings, including, from the list above, the Bijou, Brownie, Firenze, Loraine, Pacific Hotel, Rosemary, Savoie, Sea Breeze, Tio Juan, and Touraine.
Real estate. New York, N.Y. Attorney Street, no. 105, 1837, undated, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. East 3rd Street, no. 38, 1942 April 20
Real estate. New York, N.Y. East 124th Street, no. [31?], 1861, 1867, 1884, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. East 124th Street, nos. 15-21, and East 125th Street, nos. 16-24, circa 1926–1955, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. East 125th Street, no. 24, 1875, 1899, 1907, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. East 128th Street, no. 157-159, 1884–1905, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. Lenox Avenue, no. 199, 1897 July 20, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. Ridge Street, no. 41, 1843 December 30, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. St. Mark's Place, no. 65-67, 1849–1851, inclusive
Real estate. New York, N.Y. West 125th Street, no. 76 (2 folders), 1908–1909, inclusive
Real estate. Orange County, N.Y., 1818, 1819, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Two deeds for property in the Drowned Lands, today known as the Black Dirt Region, of Orange County, New York: Wm. Townsend, Isaac Townsend, et al., to John Hildreth (October 19, 1818), and John Hildreth to Robert Wardell (January 16, 1819).
The Sun [newspaper], 1834 March 11
Scope and Contents
According to the donor (see copy of letter dated December 4, 2018 in Folder 1), this single issue of The Sun, published at New York, was found inside an old Hart family bible that his father, John Budd Hart (1918–1982), had brought to Birmingham, Alabama, to be re-bound. The donor had the newspaper framed under glass, with both sides visible. That is how it came to the New-York Historical Society. The frame was discarded on March 5, 2020.