Famous Hunts of America, Past Generations

Following are some of the prominent Hunts in America, of past generations:

BENJAMIN FANEUIL HUNT: lawyer; b. Watertown, Mass., 1792; d. New York City, 1857; elected to State House of Representatives, South Carolina, 1818; one of the “main props” of the Union Party in S. C. 1830-4; noted for his eloquence.

CHARLES SEDGWICK HUNT: journalist; b. Litchfield, Conn., 1842; d. New York City, 1876; at beginning of Civil War he was acting master on the war sloop “Juniata”; reporter for the New York “Tribune”; financial editor of New York “Standard”; Albany correspondent of the “Tribune”, and on editorial staff of New York “Times”.

EDWARD BISSELL HUNT: military engineer; b. Livingston County, N. Y., 1822 ; d. Brooklyn, N. Y., 1863 ; graduated U. S. Military Academy, 1845 ; employed as assistant professor of civil and military engineering at West Point, 1846-9, and afterwards in coast survey and construction of fortifications and lighthouses; instrumental in preventing forts of Southern Florida from falling into hands of Confederates at beginning of Civil War.

EZRA MUNDY HUNT: physician; b. Middlesex County, N. J., 1830; in 1863, as regimental surgeon, was placed in charge of a hospital in Baltimore; president, American Public Health Association; delegate to International Medical Congress at London (1881) and Copenhagen (1884) ; received degree of Se. D. from Princeton, 1883.

FREEMAN HUNT: publisher; b. Quinsy, Mass., 1804; d. Brooklyn, N. Y., 1858; managing editor of the Berwick Company; founder and editor of “American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge”; publisher of “The Traveller” in New York, 1831; projected “The Merchants’ Magazine”, 1837; published “Library of Commerce”, 1845.

HARRIOT KEZIA HUNT: physician; b. Boston, 1805; d. there, 1875; was probably the earliest female practitioner in the United States; noted lecturer on woman suffrage and sanitary reform.

HENRY JACKSON HUNT: soldier; b. Detroit, 1819; d. Washington, D. C., 1889; accompanied his father, Samuel W. H-, on expedition that established Fort Leavenworth in 1827; served on frontier during Canada border disturbances of 1839; did gallant service during Mexican War, at Contreras and Churubusco; wounded at Molina der Rey; present at capture of Mexico City; commanded artillery in Battle of Bull Run; chief of artillery in defenses of Washington; aide to Gen. McClellan, 1861; commanded artillery in peninsular campaign of 1862; took active part in all battles fought by Army of the Potomac in 1862-5; appointed governor of Soldiers’ Home, Washington, 1883.

JEDEDIAH HUNT: poet; b. Candor, N. Y., 1815; emigrated to Ohio about 1840; contributed lyric poems and prose articles to magazines.

JOHN WESLEY HUNT: physician; b. Groveland, N. Y., 1834; served at Fortress Monroe, 1861, becoming successful in treating the “Chickahominy” fever; one of the organizers of Jersey City Charity Hospital.

LEWIS CASS HUNT: soldier; b. Fort Howard, Wis., 1824; d. Fort Union, N. M., 1886; stationed in Washington Territory in 1859, and when a joint occupation of San Juan by British and U. S. forces was arranged, he was put in command of the American detachment; severely wounded at Fair Oaks, -May, 1862; brevetted colonel for gallantry at Kinston, N. C., 1862-3; commanded defences of New York Harbor, 1864-6.

RICHARD MORRIS HUNT: architect; b. Brattleboro, Vt., 1828; pupil of Hector Lefuue at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and assisted him in erecting the buildings connecting the Tuileries and the Louvre; in 1855 he engaged in extension of the Capitol at Washington; designed the William K. Vanderbilt house, Central Park entrances in New York, Vanderbilt mausoleum on Staten Island, Yorktown Manument, Virginia, and pedestal of Statue of Liberty; Chevalier of Legion of Honor, 1884.

ROBERT WOOLSTON HUNT: metallurgist; b. Fallsington, Pa., 1838; established in 1860 the first analytical laboratory connected with any iron or steel works in the U. S.; assisted George Fritz in constructing Bessemer steel work of the .Cambria Company; general superintendent, Albany and Rensselaer Iron and Steel Company in 1875, and of its successor, the Troy Steel and Iron Company, in 1885; in 1886 elected trustee Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; member of American Society of Civil Engineers; president, American Institute of Mining Engineers, 183-4.

SAMUEL HUNT: clergyman; b. Attleboro, Mass., 1810; d. Boston, 1878; superintendent of education for the American Missionary Association, 1864. and labored to establish schools among the freedmen; clerk of U. S. Senate committee on military affairs, 1868; private secretary to Vice-President Henry Wilson, 1873-5.

THEODORE WHITEFIELD HUNT: author; b. Metuchen, N. J., 1844; graduated Princeton, 1865, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1869; studied two years in Univ. of Berlin; professor of rhetoric and English literature at Princeton; degree of Ph. D. was conferred on him in 1880 by Lafayette College.

THOMAS HUNT: physician; b. Charleston, S. C.. 1808; d. New Orleans, 1867; won distinction by successful treatment of cholera in Charleston, 1832-6; a founder of Univ. of Louisiana and its first professor of anatomy.

THOMAS POAGE HUNT: clergyman; b. Charlotte County, Va., 1794; d. Wyoming Valley, Pa., 1876; attained wide reputation as temperance lecturer.

THOMAS STERRY HUNT: scientist; b. Norwich, Conn., 1826; chemist and mineralogist to the geological survey of Canada; held chair of chemistry in Laval Univ., delivering his lectures in French, 1856-62; similar professorship in McGill Univ., 1862-8; professor of gealogy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1872-8; president, American Association for Advancement of Science; invented a green ink, 1859, which gave the name of “greenback” currency to bills which are printed with it; served on jurists at World’s Fair in Paris, 1855 and 1867; judge at World Fair in Philadelphia, 1876; president, Royal Society of Canada, 1884; an organizer and first secretary of International Geological Congress held in Paris, 1878; member, National Academy of Sciences, 1873; fellow, Royal Society of London, 1859.

TIMOTHY ATWATER HUNT: naval officer; b. New Haven, Conn, 1805; d. there 1884; commanded the supply ship “Electra” in Mexican War and “Narragansett” in Civil War.

WARD HUNT: jurist; b. Utica, N. Y., 1810; d. Washington, D. C.;, 1886; practiced law many years in Utica; Mayor in 1844; member New York Legislature, 1839; elected to New York Court of Appeals, 1865; Associate Justice of U. S. Supreme Court, 1872.

WASHINGTON HUNT: Governor of New York; b. Windham, N. Y., 1811; d. New York City, 1867; elected to Congress as a Whig in 1842; Comptroller of the State, 1849; Governor, 1850; after dissolution of Whig Party he became a Democrat; in 1860 declined nomination for Vice-President of the United States.

WILLIAM HUNT: surgeon; b. Philadelphia, 1825; attained eminence as a surgeon; demonstrator of anatomy in Union of Pennsylvania; fellow of the College of Physicians.

WILLIAM HENRY HUNT: lawyer; b. Charleston, S. C., 1824; d. St. Petersburg, Russia, 1884; throughout the Civil War he was a Unionist; appointee Judge of Court of Claims, 1878; Secretary of the Navy, 1881; Minister to Russia, 1882.

WILLIAM MORRIS HUNT: artist; b. Brattleboro, Vt., 1824; d. Isle of Shoals N. H., 1879; entered Royal Academy at Dusseldorf in 1846 to study sculpture studied painting under Couture at Paris; settled in Boston and taught art with great success.