WILLIAM C. HART, whose comfortable farm home is within Gill township, is a native of Clark county, Illinois, born March 20, 1855, son of John and Susan (Smith) Hart. Of his parentage it may be said that the father was born in Germany and the mother in Pennsylvania. The father came to America when a young man and made his home in Freeport, Kentucky. From there he moved to Clark county, Illinois, and bought a piece of land, having previously learned the blacksmith's trade. He remained there until his death in 1852, at the age of fifty-one years, and which was before William C. was born. The widowed mother for about twelve years continued to reside on the farm left her by the husband, and then moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, residing with a daughter, and later coming to live with her son, William C., of this biographical notice. At his home she died April 21, 1905, aged ninety-five years and some few days. Mr. and Mrs. John Hart were the parents of ten children, only two of whom are now living-Joseph, of Gill township, and William C., who was the youngest of the children.
On account of the death of his father and the size of the family which had to be provided for, William C. Hart's education, which he obtained at the district schools of Clark county, Illinois, was quite limited. He remained with his mother until he was fourteen years of age, after which he lived elsewhere until he was twenty-one years old. He then worked for various persons for four years, at the end of which period he married. He then became a land-renter in Illinois, and later in Indiana, having come to the last named state in 1884. For nine years he rented land, then purchased thirty-nine acres, upon which he still resides, carrying on general farming operations and paying some attention to the raising of stock. Upon this place he has made all of the many substantial improvements, and now enjoys the comforts of a well-equipped farm home.
Mr. Hart was married January 1, 1880, to Margaret Koppler, born in Clark county, Illinois, daughter of John A. and Johannah (Listenberger) Koppler. John A. Koppler was a native of Baden Baden, Germany, born in 1833, and his wife of Ohio, where she was born in 1834. In 1848, Mr. Koppler came to America and settled on a farm in Ohio. He there married and resided until 1859, when he moved to Clark county, Illinois, where he bought a farm upon which he resided until his death in 1903. The mother still survives and occupies the old homestead, around which cling so many fond memories. In the Koppler family there were eight children, two of whom are deceased, and the living are: Christopher, of Clark county, Illinois; Hannah, wife of Oliver Morgan, also of Clark county; Margaret, Mrs. Hart; Julia, wife of Frank Minekee, residing in Missouri; Katherine, wife of Curt Guard, of Terre Haute, Indiana; Christina, wife of Lyman Thompson, a teacher and farmer of Clark county, Illinois.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hart are as follows: Alice May, born September 27, 1881, died January 17, 1882; John E., born October 21, 1882, married Martha Prose, and they reside with her father; William Henry, born March 13, 1884, a farmer of Gill township, married Ada Dudley; Katherine, born March 24, 1886, unmarried, at home; Edward Franklin, born August 12, 1888, unmarried and at home.
As a means of protection to his family, William C. Hart carries a membership with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 5488, at New Lebanon. While he is not connected with any church organization, he is in sympathy with the teachings of the Friends' Society. In politics he is a Democrat.