Progeny Unbound

In this fifth and final installment of the Hart family dynasty chronicles, Charles Law turns to mid-nineteenth century Quebec, Canada, to capture the rise and fall of the next generation of the Hart family.

What is this third generation of Harts to make of their forbears' pursuit of wealth? The "cousins," the multiple grandchildren of Dolly and Aaron Hart, were taught to revere their grandfather, though none ever knew him while he was alive. But they have little reason to emulate so illustrious a personage who, after all, was no more than a shopkeeper, sutler, fur trader, and minor landowner before he died in 1800.

Instead, this generation clings to Hart's legend of being a British army officer; most become lawyers, doctors, or industrialists because of the money he accumulated and his sons Moses and Ezekiel aggrandized. These fortunes require protection via the law-and it was rather farsighted that several of the "cousins" learned the law.

In the year or two following the suppression of the Papineau-led rebellion in Canada, this learning is put to more political purposes, and Aaron Philip, Aaron Ezekiel, and Adolphus Mordecai are all involved in the aftermath of that failed struggle. In their hands, the dynasty takes a different turn, perhaps one far removed from their patriarch's enduring legacy.