The Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the "player judged most valuable to his team" in the National Hockey League. It was donated by Cecil Hart, the coach of the Montreal Canadians in 1923, in honour of his father, Dr. David Hart. The Hart family descended from Aaron Hart (1724-1800), who was among the first English settlers in British North America. Hart was born either in Bavaria or in London to where his parents had immigrated. He has been described as an officer of the British

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... that defeated the French forces in Montreal in 1760, terminating their colony of New France and founding British North America. More likely Hart was a provisioner to the British. The British commander became the administrator of Trois-Rivieres in 1762, and Hart's patron. Hart bought land from French seigneurs in the Thirteen Colonies, became involved with the fur trade that dominated the colony's economy, and in establishing retail trade along the St. Lawrence River. In 1768 he went to London to marry Dorothy Judah, cementing a commercial connection with her family. Further, he was associated with other Jewish merchants who had arrived from the Thirteen Colonies to Quebec in the wake of the British victory. At his death he was reputed to be the wealthiest person in the colony. Hart was survived by his four daughters and four sons. During the nineteenth century, while there was some measure of assimilation, the trophy is evidence that a portion of the family line remained intact. Historian Denis Vaugeois concludes that some immigrants kept their past secret while others simply didn't know their origins.