My 4th-great-grandfather, Samuel Hart, was born about 1789. He married a Charlotte Marrow or Harrow (depending on what record you look at) in 1807 in St. Columb's Parish, Londonderry. According to a newspaper article from 1925 discussing a Hart family reunion in Michigan, they traced their lineage to Scotland, which they left around 1785 and settled in Ireland, staying for two generations before emigrating to America aboard a brig called Ontario in 1834. My brick wall has been trying to identify Samuel's father, who most likely was born in Scotland. Samuel had nine children:

Thomas (b.1811 d.1892)

James (b.1813 d.1889)

Joseph (b.1815 d.1869)

Samuel Jr. (b.1816 d.1890)

Moses (b.1818 d.1890)

Eliza (b.1820)

Mary Ann (b.1821 d.1841)

Solomon (b. 1822 d.1890)

William (b.1826 d.1911)

All of them had settled in America by 1842, first in Orleans County, New York, and after Samuel and Charlotte stop appearing on the census records, in 1856, three of the sons moved to St. Clair County, Michigan. A poem written by their school teacher in Ireland (named McKinney) as they prepared to leave for America describes each of the children and refers to Mr. Hart's home in "Shanvalley" - which, based on James Hart's 1841 marriage record, would be Magherashanvalley in Castlefinn, Donaghmore Parish, County Donegal.

I've visited many of the farms in New York and Michigan where Samuel's sons lived over the years.

If anyone can find other records of Samuel or his parents in Ireland or Scotland, it would be a huge help and greatly appreciated. Other than the two marriage records for Samuel and James, I have found no birth/baptism records for any of them, and a Samuel and a James are both listed on the civil ejectments from the early 1830s in Magherashanvalley, with a Thomas Hart is listed in Corcullen. That's all I know.