Welcome to my website. The history of my branch of the Hart family is deeply rooted in the rich culure of British Judaism of the 18th century. Leizer/Lewis Hart  born in 1743,possibly in Birmingham, but  first located in London married Rachel, family name unknown, about 1770. They had four chrildren, Elizabeth b 1770,Asher b 1786,John b 13/2/1789 and Abraham b 1801. I am descended through Elizabeth. The Hart family lived and worked in Rosemary Lane, now known as Royal Mint St in Whitechapel London. I dont know when they first lived there but they were there right into the mid 19th century. They were involved in the hat and clothing trade. Elizabeths sons came to Australia and became some of the founding fathers of the Jewish community in  Melbourne, the future capital of the state of Victoria.Her brother John served in the Royal Navy before going to New York, where he married Isabella Levy in 1819. His daughter Elvina, born in New York in 1822 came to Melbourne where she married Moses Rintel in 1849. He was born in  Edinburgh Scotland in 1823. The son of the Reverend Meir/Myer Rintel he became the first Reverend of the Melbourne Hebrew Synagogue. From these beginnings the Hart family and its associated branches, the Hansen,Morrissey,Beattie, Ireland, Rintel and Meinrath families spread over Australia and New Zealand.