Hart, William O.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Hart, William O., lawyer and author, is a native of Louisiana, and was born in the city of New Orleans, Aug. 29, 1857. His parents were Toby and Ann a (Hussey) Hart. The father was born in Newberry, S. C., Aug. 29, 1835, and died at New Orleans, Dec. 27, 1907, and the mother was born in the city of New Orleans, April 12, 1838, and died here in 1891. Toby Hart was a son of William R. Hart, who was born in the city of New York and was a son of William Hart, who was a British soldier in the American revolution, settled in New York city, and there married American lady and became an American citizen, removing later to South Carolina, from which state his son, William R. Hart, moved to New Orleans when the father of William O. Hart was a boy. Toby Hart won distinction in the war of secession, serving as captain of Company E, Eighth Louisiana battery of heavy artillery. He planted the first gun at Vicksburg, Miss., served till the close of the war, and surrendered at Meridian, Miss., in May, 1865. For many years he was a prominent contracting painter at New Orleans. William O. Hart was reared in New Orleans. He obtained an academic education at New Orleans and Gainesville, Ala. He began the study of law in the office of Braughn, Buck & Dinkelspiel, of New Orleans, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, although he had practiced law 2 years when admitted. Mr. Hart became a member of the law firm of Braughn, Buck, Dinkelspiel & Hart, the successor of which firm is the well known law firm of Dinkelspiel, Hart & Davey.

Mr. Hart has won an enviable reputation as a lawyer. He has been a member of the American Bar Association since 1893, and has been continuously a member of the association's committee on uniform state laws since 1895; was a member of the executive committee in 1908-09-10; was elected chairman of the committee on legal education in 1909, and is now a member of the committee on taxation, also of the local council. For many years he has been a prominent member of the Louisiana Bar Association, serving a long period as a member of the executive committee of the association; one year as chairman of the library committee and as chairman of the committee on uniform state laws since that committee was created, and has been on many other important committees. Mr. Hart is also a member of the American Society of International Law, the International Law association, and the Medico-Legal society. At the Louisiana State university he delivered in 1907 a course of lectures which has been published under the title of "Fragments of Louisiana Jurisprudence." He has published several well received and valuable treatises, including: "License Taxation in Louisiana," "Legal Problems of the Country Banker,'' ''A Boy's Recollection of the War," "Universal Peace Impossible without an International Code," "Relation of the Public to School Boards." He has compiled the laws of Louisiana for Sharp & Alleman's Legal Directory and Corporation Manual for many years. Mr. Hart was a member of the International Congress of Lawyers and Jurists, held at St. Louis in 1904, and in 1906 a member of the credential committee of the National Divorce Congress. He has delivered addresses before the state bar associations of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Mississippi.

In politics he has taken an active part in behalf of the men and measures of the democratic party. He was a member of the Louisiana constitutional conventions of 1898 and 1913; was presidential elector in 1900; delegate to the national democratic conventions of 1908 and 1912. He has served as a member of the civil code commission; was a member of the first tax commission of Louisiana; also as a member of the play ground commission of New Orleans; was one of the curators of the Louisiana State museum from 1907 to 1912; has been one of the commissioners on uniform state laws since 1902, and was vice-president of the national body in 1903 and 1907. Mr. Hart has taken an active part in the affairs of the Sons of Confederate Veterans; was the first to suggest the observance of the anniversary of the birth day of Gen. Robt. E. Lee, in Jan., 1907, and was chairman of the exercises in New Orleans on the first occasion of the celebration; is a member of the executive committee of the general committee for the celebration of the one-hundred years of peace between Great Britain and the United States- 1914-15. He was a member of the second, third, and fourth national peace congresses, and delivered an address before the second. He is treasurer and member of the executive committee of the Louisiana Historical society; vice-president of the Presbyterian hospital of New Orleans; vice-president of the Louisiana Forestry association; member of the Louisiana child labor commission, of the Louisiana prison reform association, of the Louisiana state Sunday school association, of the First Presbyterian church of New Orleans, of the Presbyterian Men's union; member of the board of directors of the National Tax association, and is chairman of the committee on uniform tax laws of the Southern congress; member of the executive committee of the American Flag association, and influenced the passing recently by the Louisiana legislature of a law preventing the desecration of the national flag and a law legalizing the Louisiana state flag. He originated in the public schools recognition of "peace day," May 18, and "flag day," June 14.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 762-764. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.