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- BIOGRAPHY: According to the 1920 census, both of Agnes Webster Hartman's parents were born in Pennsylvania.
BIOGRAPHY: The following was compiled and written by William Theodore Hartman Jr.
On 22 June, 1927 Agnes (Webster) Hartman was convicted of the crime of "False Pretense."... simply put: fraud or forgery. About one month later on July 28, 1927 Leo Hartman gathered their children and took them to St. Joseph's Waiscnanstalt auf Troy Hill, loosely translated, St. Joseph's Orphans Asylum of Troy Hill. When they arrived my grandfather had the children sit in the outer waiting area while he went in to make arrangements. I have been told that my grandfather lead the children to believe that they were going to see their aunt. Seeing all of the nuns and knowing that they had an aunt that was a nun, the children never suspected what was about to happen. According to the account provided, my grandfather left by the back door before the Sisters came out to collect the children. The documentation I have been able to obtain thus far indicates the commitment of four of the five children, Agnes, Joseph, Thelma, and Margaret. The documents provide all of the normal information expected like name, address, where baptized etc. as well as the following. Address of Mother.........................County Jail Received from................................Father Addenda: .......The mother is in jail and the father is to take care of the child. According to Rev. Edward McSweeney, Archivist, the fifth child, William, would have been too young, being less than two years old at the time, for placement in the orphans asylum. He would have been placed at the Roselia Foundling Home. 11 August, 1927. Agnes (Webster) Hartman was released on probation for a period of one year in the custody of Charles H. Austen, Probation Officer,
?upon the conditions?. What these conditions were are unknown. 21 August, 1927. The children left the orphans asylum with their mother and went to live at 1009 Talbot Ave., Braddock, PA. 9 August, 1928. [Court documents] "it being shown that the defendant [Agnes (Webster) Hartman] has not kept all of the conditions, the period of probation is extended six months. 31 July, 1931. Leo A. Hartman and Agnes (Webster) Hartman separated. There is no indication that there were ever divorce proceedings and so I assume that they remained legally married until their deaths.
Agnes left town and went, presumably, to New York where she would eventually meet and live in a common law relationship (again my assumption) with a Henry Meyers. The children were sent, this time, to live with relatives. Initially Leo kept Agnes and Paul with him. According to may father, William T (Ted) Hartman, Paul was a baby and hard to place so Agnes stayed at home, kept house for her father and took care of Paul. However, within the year Agnes and Paul would be sent to live with their grandmother Appolonia (Heil) Hartman and then, after a short while, with Samuel and Sadie (Webster) Pierce, Agnes (Webster) Hartman?s sister. William would be taken in by his grandmother Appolonia (Heil) Hartman, and later His Uncle ?Dorey? [Isadore] whom he described as strict disciplinarian. Eventually obtaining and falsifying [he changed the date of birth] his baptism certificate from St. Joseph?s Church in Braddock, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp at the age of 15. Joseph would join the Civilian Conservation Corp and eventually the U.S. Army. Margaret would become a U.S. Army Nurse. I have never been able to determine what became of Thelma from July 1931 until she married George Full. Whenever it came up she told people [including her husband and children] ?My mother died when I was born and I was raised in an orphanage.? For them the departure of their mother was a defining moment in their lives. Agnes became the psuedo-matriarch and peace-maker of the family. The girls would never speak to their father again. They would never be truly close to each other or any family member. They would visit one another occasionally but it was always more like old friends that shared a common background, not as brothers and sisters. Spring 1952. My parents William T. Hartman and Helen J. (Zimmerman) Hartman had been married a little over a year and my mother was pregnant with me. My grandmother, Agnes (Webster) Hartman, came to visit. She said that she was in town and had heard that ?Her little Billy? had gotten married and wanted to meet his wife and bring them a wedding present [a radio]. My mother disliked her immediately. Mom said she was rude, condescending, and obnoxious. She also didn?t care for the way she treated my dad like a little boy. My grandmother visited for a few minutes and then said that she really had to go and asked my dad if he could give her a ride to the bus station in Pittsburgh. Dad gave her the ride, bought her a cup of coffee, loaned her $20 and waited with her until it was time for her bus to leave. When he returned home my dad found my mother entertaining two very nicely dressed and well-spoken gentlemen. They were FBI agents. The were also the reason that my grandmother couldn?t stay long and they were really curious as to what part, beyond aiding the flight of a fugitive, my dad had played in her activities. They left after about an hour convinced that, like so many others, my dad had been conned by his mother. They never said why they wanted her but a few weeks later it would all become clear. In 1951 the United States Government authorized additional payment of a bonus to veterans of WWII. I am not sure about the amount but I believe my mother said it was around $100. In any event it was considered a large sum of money at the time and with a low paying job and a baby on the way my father considered it a godsend and looked forward to receiving it with the intention of purchasing a crib for me. My father filed all of the appropriate paperwork and anxiously awaited his check, hoping that it would arrive before I did. What he got however, was a rejection notice stating that he had already received his payment. When he appealed the rejection stating that he had never received such payment he was presented with ?his original application? and a cancelled check with ?his signature? as proof that he had, in fact, been paid. Needles to say neither the writing on the application nor the signature were his. They were his mother's [Agnes (Webster) Hartman] and the address was that of a boarding house in New Jersey. A boarding house that his mother ran primarily for servicemen that were in the process of being discharged. It appears that when the men were discharged they would move out and go home trusting my grandmother to forward their mail which included among other things final disbursements and discharge pay. That seems to be the reason the FBI was looking for my grandmother. She forged the signatures and cashed those checks. I have applied to the FBI under the freedom of information act for records relating to the investigation and am awaiting a reply. Among the charges I believe will be, Defrauding the Federal Government, Grand Theft, Mail Fraud, and Tampering with the U.S. Mail. As to what ever happened to Agnes (Webster) Hartman no one really knows for sure. However, there may be a clue in a letter written to me by Beatrice (Pierce) Wallis in February 1985. ? I [Bea] do remember that my mother [Sadie (Webster) Pierce] told me that the FBI was looking for Aunt Agnes [Agnes (Webster) Hartman].? ?If my mother knew what it was about she didn?t tell me.? ?All she said was that Aunt Agnes was in some kind of trouble. At
that time Aunt Agnes was ?married? to a Henry Meyers from New York. A neighbor of Grandma Webster?s [Hannah J. (Stiddard) Webster) was in Canada and was sure he saw her [Agnes (Webster) Hartman] but by the time he could get across the street, she was gone. He said he called her name and she looked around. That?s why he was so sure it was her.? One final note: Before she died my mother, Helen J. (Zimmerman) Hartman told me that prior to his death in 1984 my father, William T Hartman, would sit for long periods of time and stare out the window. Whenever an elderly woman he did not recognize passed the house he would get up and go to the window, watching to see where she went. Once, she asked him what he was doing. He told her that he ?had a feeling? that his mother was still alive and that he thought ?she might just show up at his door?. Sources: William T. Hartman Helen J. (Zimmerman) Hartman Beatrice (Pierce) Wallis Kathleen Janet Full Allegheny County Court Archives Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA., Archives Rev. Edward F. McSweeney, Archivist, Diocese of Pittsburgh PA
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