11834–1914

Introduction

Born: June 26, 1834, Coey­mans, New York.

Died: De­cem­ber 21, 1914, San An­ton­io, Tex­as.

Buried: Oak­wood Ce­me­te­ry, Aus­tin, Texas.

portrait

Biography

John was the son of Da­ni­el Sut­ton Car­hart and Mar­ga­ret Mar­tin. He mar­ried twice, to The­re­sa Ma­ry Mum­ford (1857) and Mol­lie C. Car­hart (1906)

He stu­died at Un­ion Se­mi­na­ry, Char­lottes­ville, New York (DD 1861); Berk­shire Me­di­cal Col­lege, Pitts­field, Mas­sa­chu­setts; and the Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois] Col­lege of Phy­si­cians and Sur­geons (gra­du­at­ed March 13, 1883); and the New York Po­ly­clin­ic (gra­du­ate course, 1884).

He prac­ticed me­di­cine for a while in Clar­en­don, Tex­as, and Osh­kosh, Wis­con­sin, then re­lo­cat­ed to Tex­as in 1883, set­tling in Lam­pa­sas in 1884. While in Lam­pa­sas, he was a mem­ber and cor­res­pond­ing sec­re­ta­ry of the Shakes­peare Club. He moved to La­Grange, Tex­as, in May 1894.

Carhart was al­so a min­is­ter, join­ing the Troy, New York Con­fer­ence of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church be­fore age 20. Around 1871, he moved to the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Wis­con­sin Con­fer­ence. In 1876, he was ap­point­ed pre­sid­ing el­der of the Ap­ple­ton dis­trict, serv­ing four years.

On Oc­to­ber 31, 1880, the 34th Ses­sion of the Wis­con­sin Con­fer­ence ex­pelled Car­hart from the min­is­try and mem­ber­ship of the Met­hod­ist Epis­co­pal Church for dis­hon­es­ty, per­ju­ry, ly­ing, and im­mor­al Chris­tian con­duct.

The se­cu­lar world re­mem­bers Car­hart as an in­vent­or—he built one of the first steam-powered au­to­mo­biles. In the 1870s, he creat­ed a two-cyl­in­der steam en­gine car called The Spark, which had an as­ton­ish­ing speed of five miles per hour. He was re­port­ed­ly obliged to dis­man­tle the ma­chine when a horse died af­ter be­ing star­tled by its noise (Ba­lou­sek, p. 43).

In July 1878, The Osh­kosh, based on Car­hart’s de­sign, won a Wis­con­sin road race. Car­hart al­so held two pa­tents, for a Lam­in­at­ed Tire (1907) and a Ve­hi­cle-Tire (1910).

Small wonder that one obi­tu­ary called Car­hart the fa­ther of the au­to­mo­bile (The Day Book, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, Dec­em­ber 22, 1914, vol­ume 4, num­ber 73, last edi­tion, page 31).

Works

A po­em writ­ten to ac­com­pa­ny a ser­mon on the cen­ten­ary of Ame­ri­can Me­thod­ism:

Poem

Centenary Hymn

A hundred years!—O God we bless Thee
For the riches of Thy grace;
Deep the love and great the mercy
Flowing still to all our race;
We will praise Thee
For this hundred years of grace.

A hundred years hast Thou upheld us,
With the strength of Thy right hand;
A hundred years hast thou preserved us—
Still our Zion’s bulwarks stand;
God is with us—
God, who all our greatness planned.

A hundred years have borne us forward,
O’er time’s swiftly rolling tide;
Still we’re moving, moving seaward,
With our canvas spreading wide,
Toward the city
Of our God, beyond the tide.

A hundred years of toil and weeping,
Here at length their fruitage bring;
Millions now that rest are reaping
Of which oft on earth we sing—
Rest in heaven,
Where no heart is sorrowing.

A hundred years—Saints borne to glory,
From the cares and woes of time,
There to worship and adore Thee,
In seraphic strains sublime;
Pain and sorrow
Ne’er becloud that glorious clime.

John Wesley Carhart
Four Years on Wheels, 1880

Sources

Lyrics