by Laurentio G. Hunt
eldest son of John Hunt and Eliza King Hunt
of Kalamazoo, MI
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n starting a genealogical tree, antiquarians and genealogists try to
get started away back before the beyond; trying to trace a line from the
ancient word. In our tribe the word is old. Long before man could
articulate, when he could not articulate, all his language was a grunt or
chatter, he could say Unt. I think
that was an impulsive sound, when he told his boys to Unt for their breakfast.
At least we know that early man had to Unt (chase) for a living: hence it
follows that we are of the oldest families. Our folks were the leaders --
the original 400 of these early people.
When these people began to articulate,
they put on the Hunt. Still to this
day the English do not use the H. I think that by this time we were too
numerous, anyhow the American lines are all of the pure Anglo-English stock.
The English records show that
in the time of Henry the Eighth, one Henry Hunt was sued for lands in Rothwell,
Yorkshire, 1609-47. Time of Edward the Sixth, 1549-53, Richard Hunt sued for
land Lyne Hurst. In the Parliamentary write, dated 1295, we find the names John Le Hunte,
and in 1302 Ralph Le Hunte. These records only show that our folks were there in the
old days. Now you see we were right to the front in various countries and in
the House of Commons.
These old records fail to show any
titles of the Nobility, but the Hunts must have been to the front as Archers were
the van in the cross-bow times.
In the Arch-Deacons Courts
(Judge of Probate) there were proven seven wills from 1593 to 1629 Surray, and
25 more in different counties.
In the Parish Register of
Halifax in Yorkshire, there are twenty Hunts. Among the old families, John
is of frequent mention. This first name evidently started the same as the Unt.
When the grunt was to Unt, the next would be to On-jon (John). Go ahead, keep
at it, get there, a good motto and good name.
This is from the records as
published in the Genealogy of the Hunt Family published in Boston in 1862,
authorized by W. L. G. Hunt, complied by G. B. Wyman. What I have drawn from
the mighty column of guess, you may substitute your guess following the known
lines of evolution.
Coming to America, we find nine
different lines, all coming from England, and leaving posterity to the present
day: Amesburg, Concord, Duxburg, New Jersey, New York, Northampton, Rhode Island,
Salem, and Weymouth. These lines take their names from their place of
settlement in the colonies.
William Hunt, born in 1605 and
died in Concord in 1667, was made freeman in 1641, the first Hunt to emigrate
to the Colonies. Several of the Hunt lines trace back to him.
The Northampton line, our line, starts
from Jonathan Hunt, born in 1637,
moved to Connecticut about 1660, married Clemence Hosmer;
eighth son Ebenezer, born in 1675, died in 1742, married Hannah Clarke and
had 13 children. The youngest, Beulah, married Jonathan Parsons. There were
six daughters: Esther, Beulah, Priscilla, Eunice, Hannah, Thankful, and Mercy.
This daughter Hannah M. Behemish Cleveland, died at the age of
105 years, 7 months. One of these sisters was 99 years old, another 98 years old
and one other over 90. Mrs. Cleveland was the mother of 13 children, 39 grandchildren,
and more than 40 great-grandchildren.
Simeon Hunt was the first of
his name. In his family is another Simeon, born 1762, son of Daniel, who
was a son of Ebenezer, who was a son of Jonathan.
Daniel Hunt of Sharon, Vermont, does not tell whom he married.
Simeon's children were Daniel,
David, Simeon (born 1762 and died 1852 of Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont),
Dan, and Cynthia.
Simeon Hunt was a native of
Sharon, Vermont. Mrs. Hunt was a native of Standish, born on January 22, 1773
and died November 22, 1815. Their first daughter married Dudley Moody,
second daughter married Nathaniel King, third daughter married Loren Roberts,
and fourth daughter married Elbridge Gilley.
Ormand Hunt, son of Simeon and
Delia Hoyes, had children Simeon (born in Vermont and died in 1889),
John Herman (born in Vermont, died in 1872 in Nashville, Tennesee and
was a 1st Lt. Col. in the 21st Michigan Infantry), and Amanda (born in Vermont
and died in 1910).
This Simeon had one son, Louis,
who died at the same time that his father died in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
His issue was one daughter, Anna Isabel Hunt, residing at 225 Paris Avenue in
Grand Rapids, Michigan as of September 1916 (according to G.H.H.).
John Herman Hunt married
Elizabeth English and had children Edson Hale, Ormond Fremont, and Mary Elizabeth.
After John Herman's death Elizabeth took her family to the State University at
Ann Arbor, and gave Ormond Fremont and Mary Elizabeth a full course in the
University, and Edson Hale at M.A.C. in 1877.
Ormond Hunt is a prominent lawyer
in Detroit, Michigan. Elizabeth was a teacher in the University for some
years and went to California as a principal of a high school. Edson Hale
is a farmer near Saranac, Michigan and has a fine family of unusually smart
children. I visited there a few years ago and think very highly of all of that
family. Amanda Hunt married James English. He died in 1908 leaving one son,
Earl Woodman, who has one son, Louis, who is a graduate of the law school of
the State University and is living in the far West.
James English was a noted
raiser of red polled cattle. He had a table full of silver cups and lots of
blue ribbons, prizes at many State and County fairs. They visited our
family frequently and I have visited them several times.
During the years from 1835 to
1837, several families came from Tunbridge, Vermont west. Some stayed in Ohio.
The township of Boston, Michigan is settled mostly by those who were neighbors
in Vermont. They were a very prosperous community, always keeping up good
schools, churches, and granges.
Burnam Hunt, son of Simeon,
had one son George W. who was born in 1824 and married Emily Mahala Moody.
Garretson Hunt, son of Simeon, married Louise Peck of Solvett, Vermont.
Regarding my grandparents,
when we moved to Michigan in May, 1837, grandmother came with us to Coneaut,
Ohio, where grandfather was. At that time several Vermont families came to Ohio,
including one Horace Hunt, a cousin. I have found no record of this family.
Friends have told us that he had a son, Henry, who was on the staff of the
New York Tribune for many years.
From the schedule of Old Army
service, comes a record of Daniel of Orange County, Vermont who enlisted in the
Vermont line, and David, a carpenter born in Purbury. They were brothers of
our great-grandfather, Simeon Hunt. Several of the older Hunts were soldiers
in the Revolutionary War, total 190. There are many pages in the genealogy
of noted men -- one Ira Hunt of Netchlen, New York, and M.D. author ("The
Patients and Physicians Aid," published in 1860), good as any of the health
sermons, and has put in all the helps in old age.
In 1803 John Hunt
was born in Antwerp, Michigan; he died in October of 1887. His wife was
Eliza King, who died in October of
1900. Their children are Laurentio G. Hunt, born October 23, 1830 who
married Henrietta G. Hill in 1854; Sarah Aurora born September 22, 1832;
Harty, born October 20, 1834; Nathaniel K.,
born January 13, 1837; Lydia K., born July 28, 1840; Simeon, born January 29, 1843;
Garrettson, born March 3, 1845; Eliza, born December 12, 1847; and John,
born June 9, 1850.
This brings the record to our
own time. It would take several pages to tell of the whereabouts and occupations
of even our family. In the John Hunt
family there were nine children, eight of whom had families, and there are
now four still living, with 34 great-grandchildren. These grandchildren are
scattered from eastern Pennsylvania to northwest Washington, some in Michigan,
Illnois, North Dakota and Southern California. From studying the old records
we find many noted persons on the daughter's side. Both the men and women were
good choosers of mates. As there were over 10,000 of us in 1862, one can
guess how impossible it would be to try to follow up our line father than our
aunts and cousins.
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