A local link with the very beginnings of our nation is the grave we are now viewing, which contains the remains of Deborah Hart Darragh, granddaughter of John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and wife of the Honorable Robert Darragh, who was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 1846.
Deborah Hart was born near Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776, and married Robert Darragh, who was born in Ireland in 1776. Darragh came to America early in life and settled in Sharon, now the northern portion of Bridgewater. He was one of the early hotel keepers of Beaver County and also established, early in the 19th Century, a very successful general store and warehouse trade in Sharon, which was then a shipping point.
During the War of 1812, when word reached Sharon of an Indian massacre of women and children near the present city of Warren, Ohio, Robert Darragh sent at his own expense all of the powder, shot, lead and flints stored in his warehouse, to aid the endangered settlers.
Robert Darragh later built a large iron foundry at Sharon, which he successfully operated with his sons, John Stafford, Hart, Mattison and Scudder Hart under the name R. Darragh & Sons until 1848, when all withdrew except Mattison and Scudder Hart, who continued the business until 1902 when they sold out and retired.
Deborah Hart Darragh's grandfather was forced to flee his farm in New Jersey when the British occupied the state and attempted to track him down as one of the hated signers of the Declaration of Independence. The frustrated British finally offered John Hart public amnesty if he would renounce his signature and swear allegiance to the Crown. But, he was not one of the "sunshine patriots" that Thomas Paine held in such contempt, and the offer went unheeded.
When General Washington's stunning victories at Trenton and Princeton drove the British out of New Jersey, John Hart returned home to find his wife dead, his family scattered, his livestock gone, his fields neglected and his buildings razed or in disrepair. He immediately set about the task of restoration, but the gruelling ordeal he had undergone had undermined his health and he died in 1779 at the age of 68.
His granddaughter, Deborah, died in 1864 at the age of 88.