Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Lieutenant Governor)

:"For the U.S. representative from Vermont, see Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative)"Jonathan Hunt (1738-1808) was born in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1738, the son of Capt. Samuel Strong Hunt [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=YBxWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1479&lpg=PA1479&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+northampton&source=web&ots=TBPXBGZRLR&sig=5OUt3iW6A6llGCXwE_4173rvQ84&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong of Northampton, Massachusetts, Vol. II, Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, Joel Munsell, Albany, 1871] ] of Northampton and Ann Ellsworth of Windsor, Ct., and the great-great-grandson of Jonathan Hunt and his wife Mary Webster, daughter of John Webster (Governor of the Colony of Connecticut). [ [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=5hvC1x_n0M4C&dq=%22history+of+hadley%22+sylvester+judd&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=msTXpI7SkB&sig=iq64o1H-nXOSaDFQd6eW5LRCfZ8#PRA1-PA150,M1 Gov. John Webster, History of Hadley, Sylvester Judd, 1905] ] Hunt was one of the earliest settlers of Vermont, where he began clearing land at Guilford, Vermont in 1758. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=JtvN6g_l0QwC&pg=RA1-PA323&lpg=RA1-PA323&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+northampton&source=web&ots=Th6Vj3zEtZ&sig=eWd5m06GsPF5MmI4-UwLwSJlXLw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result Memorials of a Century, Embracing a Record of Individuals and Events Chiefly in the Early History of Bennington, Vermont, Isaac Jennings, Gould and Lincoln, Boston, 1869] ] There are indications that the Hunt family had ties to Vermont even earlier, when Jonathan Hunt's grandfather Jonathan witnessed a 1687 Massachusetts deed conferring land in what was later Vermont by several Native Americans. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=2sQgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA101&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+guilford+vermont Vermont: Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, Vol. III, E.P. Walton, J. & J.M. Poland, Montpelier, 1875] ]

The grandson Jonathan Hunt and his associates were later granted extensive tracts of land by New Hampshire Gov. Benning Wentworth, as well as by patent from New York State and by purchase. [ [http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/franklin.html Jonathan Hunt, virtualvermont.com] ] Jonathan Hunt's father, Capt. Samuel, had himself been the proprietor named in the charter of many New Hampshire towns. [There are indications that the Strong family's push into Vermont may have been spurred, as with many Vermonters, by an independent cast of mind. Capt. Samuel Strong, a highly opinionated individual, was not always comfortable with the ruling Puritan-influenced oligarchs of Northampton and the surrounding Connecticut River Valley. Northampton was a hotbed of religious fervor since the days of Rev. Jonathan Edwards] His son Jonathan was the last Lieutenant Governor of the independent republic of Vermont (1794-1796) and presidential elector for Vermont, 1800. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=f8UgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+vermont&source=web&ots=tHeTR9I73Q&sig=ibYVr3Uhz32y3EJxgVWtvM1ObII&hl=en#PPA66,M1 Vermont: Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, Edited and Published by the Authority of the State, E. P. Walton, Montpelier, 1876] ]

Hunt is considered one of the founders of Vermont as well as one of its earliest pioneers and largest landowners. He lived in Vernon, Vermont, the name suggested by his wife Lavinia (Swan) Hunt, a Massachusetts native and former pupil of President John Adams. (Lavinia Swan Hunt's brother Benjamin served as Vermont's State Treasurer for many years; her brother Timothy Swan was an eccentric composer and poet who lived at Suffield, Connecticut.) [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=ghcfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA576&lpg=PA576&dq=%22william+swan%22+worcester&source=web&ots=Ojmiwb-i6V&sig=VrtO7zHg9LymIfqLZxvHh67g3r8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Massachusetts, Vol. II, Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, John F. Trow & Son, New York, 1874] ]

When Hunt was instructed by the Vermont General Assembly to change the name of the town he represented from Hinsdale to Huntstown in his honor, he demurred. He asked his wife, who suggested Vernon instead, making it the only Vermont town said to be named by a woman. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=OfMMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA393&lpg=PA393&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+vernon+vermont&source=web&ots=aaRLTIVKYa&sig=yprw_VeB7pfDvMWtLpjoRrXn32U&hl=en History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Mass, 1901] ] [ [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtwindha/vhg5/vernon.htm Vernon, Windham County, Vermont Historical Gazetteer, Abby Maria Hemenway, 1891,] ] The Governor Hunt house, built by Hunt in 1789, and once featured in Herbert W. Congdon's "Old Vermont Houses," is now on the grounds of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Hunt's son, also named Jonathan, served as a U.S. Congressman from Vermont.(See Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative). [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=zF90vZBrQ5oC&pg=RA1-PA366&lpg=RA1-PA366&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+vermont&source=web&ots=J5Vt9OzTUU&sig=-4kU0FttgmlkEpfdDTjpeRdl3og&hl=en#PRA1-PA289,M1 Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895, Mary Rogers Cabot, Brattleboro, 1921] ]

Jonathan Hunt's brother General Arad Hunt, who also lived in Vernon, was general of the Vermont militia, a member of the Westminster Convention of 1777, and a prominent early backer of Middlebury College, to which he donated over convert|5000|acre|km2 of land in Albany, Vermont. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=k19awpssdbYC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=%22arad+hunt%22+land&source=web&ots=XB769yUnn7&sig=nUQncMTFK7a5lDl_4fwgoYgHaqo&hl=en Grant of land to Jonathan and Arad Hunt, Green Leaves from Whitingham, Vermont: A History of the Town, Clark Jillson, Worcester, Mass., 1894] ] Along with his brother, he was one of the largest speculators in Vermont lands, owning tens of thousands of acres across the state. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=j_5JAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA235&lpg=PA235&dq=%22arad+hunt%22+land&source=web&ots=QYC3rWwHnx&sig=3HQn9QAksLfOMECfupZ8Gp_a33g&hl=en Arad Hunt to Middlebury College grant, The American Quarterly Register, American Education Society, Andover, Mass., 1829] ] Jonathan Hunt's daughter Ellen was married to Lewis R. Morris, U.S. Congressman from Vermont and nephew of statesman Gouverneur Morris. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=zF90vZBrQ5oC&pg=RA1-PA289&lpg=RA1-PA289&dq=%22jonathan+hunt%22+governor+vermont&source=web&ots=J5VtbTzUUV&sig=EvEDMK0cKbMVNIjKPQqR1xbuPQU&hl=en#PRA1-PA289,M1 Annals of Brattleboro, Mary Rogers Cabot] ]

References

External links

* [http://sophia.smith.edu/~jmoulton/sessions/sessionshistory.html The Hunt/Henshaw House, Deacon Jonathan Hunt family, Northampton, Mass., Megan Gardner, Smith College, 1997, sophia.smith.edu]

ources

* Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History by Esther Munroe Swift

Trivia

*Governor Hunt Road in Vernon, Vermont, is named for Jonathan Hunt