Emmett Thomas Hart
May 12, 1922, Red Lake, Minnesota — December 26, 1965, Seldovia, Alaska
Buried in Seldovia City Cemetery Plot #197EMMETT THOMAS HART, born on May 5, 1922 in Red Lake, Minnesota, was the middle child of William and Mary CONNORS Hart’s five children. Both William and Mary were born in Minnesota but they came from Irish families, and Emmett has always been a popular Irish name.
Emmett’s parents owned a farm near Lambert in Red Lake County, and that is where Emmett grew up. As was common among farm families in much of the country at the time, Emmett attended the local school through the eighth grade, and then worked on the family farm and on neighboring farms.
The Hart Family: Emmett and brother Teddy are sitting on back of car
He was living in Minnesota in 1930 and 1940 and registered for the draft in WWII while employed by the Soo Line Railroad in Lambert. It is not known exactly when he started working for the railroad as indicated on his military registration card but most likely it was in 1939 or later.
His family says that Emmie was a hard-working, hard-drinking man – probably more intelligent and sensitive than many people knew. He was kind of accident-prone — his arm was broken when he was thrown off a horse, his head was split open when he fell back onto a disc blade while discing a field with a team of horses that ran away, and he got pinned under a tractor that tipped over on him. He also once drove a car into a stopped train.
Emmett enlisted in the U.S. Navy on November 10, 1942. He was a member of the US Navy and trained at Pearl Harbor. and then served on the U.S.S. Snyder, a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys in the Pacific Ocean. Records show that Emmett first boarded the USS Snyder on May 5, 1944. He was an MoMM2, Machine Motorist Second Class.
When Emmett returned to Minnesota in December 1945 he was featured on the front page of the Oklee Herald:
Soon after the war Emmett and his brother Teddy bought or rented some land and a tractor in Red Lake County. They raised flax. Around 1955 Lester LaJambe, a neighbor and good friend, encouraged Emmett to move to Alaska where Lester’s two sisters lived. Lester always went to Alaska in the spring long before Emmie went there.
Emmett found work there at the Columbia Lumber Company. He would go back to Minnesota in the winter when there was less work in Alaska. At the time of the 1964 Earthquake, when Emmett’s family didn’t hear from him, his mother, Mary Hart, and sister, Buddy Sabetti, had the Red Cross find him to let them know he was safe. Some interesting information on the Columbia Lumber Company and results of the earthquake can be found at https://www.alaskarails.org/industries/colombia-lumber.html
Emmett bought the Hart family farm in Lambert Township, Red Lake County, Minnesota after his dad, Bill Hart, died in 1962. He was in Alaska at the time but he didn’t want to see the farm go. None of the family did.
Emmett drowned on December 26, 1965 in Seldovia, AK after falling off an icy boardwalk as he walked home from a bar. It was not possible to send his body back to Minnesota during the winter. The funeral was in the Catholic Church he helped build in Seldovia and he is buried in the Seldovia City Cemetery, Plot #197.
Emmett’s family has created an on-line blog of stories of many members of the family. They have graciously provided us with photos and details of Emmett’s life before coming to Seldovia. https://hartconnorsfamily.wordpress.com/
Grave Marker: Minnesota World War II MOMM2 USNR May 12, 1922 - Dec 26, 1965