Henry V. Hart (1839 – 1915) was born to Frederick Hart and Judith Brown in Frankfort, Kentucky. Frederick Hart, a bi-racial son of Dolly, who was enslaved to Colonel Richard Callaway, was the first child born in Fort Boonesborough, KY, in November 1775. The Hart family were enslaved to Orlando Brown at Liberty Hall in Frankfort in the 1830s. Frederick Hart had paid his manumission debt by the late 1830s, but Judith remained enslaved until around 1845. She manumitted her daughter Sarah Jane in 1846. No record of Henry’s manumission has been found. The family moved in 1853 to northern Ohio to settle in Columbia Township, southwest of Cleveland. Henry was classically trained on violin as a young man. He worked as a Bee Line freight messenger, and as a barber and musician on riverboats along the Ohio River. In late 1864 he married pianist Sarah Smith (of Jeffersonville, Indiana) in New Orleans, where the two were performers with Prescott’s Museum. In 1867, they moved to Evansville, IN, to raise a family.

During the 1870s, Hart travelled the region with his ensemble, known as Henry Hart’s Original Colored Minstrels. He collaborated with many musical artists including the singer Sam Lucas and banjo player Jake Hamilton, as well as other touring groups like Callender’s Original Georgia Minstrels. Several of Hart’s published works were commissions for individuals, noted in the dedications on the covers. Some works were popularized by famous performers such as Billy Emerson. Over the years, the Harts raised seven daughters, all musically trained by their parents on piano, viola, cello, harp, xylophone, and drums. The family moved to Indianapolis, IN, in 1879, where “Professor Hart and his Orchestra” became a popular dance band choice for upper class hosts, such as Eli Lilly. Hart’s daughters often joined the band, with Myrtle on harp, Hazel on piano, and Willie on cello. Through the late 1890s and early 1900s, Henry Hart performed for multiple Governors, and for the visits of three U.S. Presidents.