John Hunt (Quaker minister)

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John Hunt
BornAugust 5, 1740
Burlington County, New Jersey
DiedSeptember 21, 1824 (aged 84)
Burlington County, New Jersey
SpouseEsther Warrington
ChildrenWilliam, b: July 29, 1763
Samuel, b: January 27, 1765
Joseph, b: February 8, 1768
Abigail, b: October 6, 1770
Rachel, b: August 21, 1773
William, b: January 11, 1776
John, b: May 26, 1778
Benjamin, b: November 19, 1780
Esther, b: January 30, 1783
Hannah, b: May 4, 1785
Parent(s)Robert Hunt, Jr.
Abigail Wood

John Hunt was a prominent Quaker minister and journalist from Moorestown, New Jersey. He kept a diary, most of which has been preserved, from 1770 to 1824. The diary relates Hunt's personal activities, concerns and beliefs. It is also a concise source of primary evidence that documents local people and events. [1]

Contents

John Hunt, the son of Robert Hunt, Jr. (April 21, 1709 – February 29, 1764) and Abigail Wood (c. 1715 – February 22, 1747), his wife, was born August 5, 1740, at the small, rural community of Mount Pleasant. [2] Mount Pleasant is located in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey about two miles east of the town of Columbus. His father was a first cousin to John Woolman, the renowned Quaker minister. [3] The family moved to a farm at Colestown, a small community located three miles south of Moorestown. [4] [5] Here, Abigail Hunt died February 22, 1747. Robert Hunt and Martha Bates (c. 1725 – 1770), widow of George Ward, were married in May 1749. [2] Robert Hunt's seven children, from both marriages, lived together on the farm at Colestown.

John Hunt and Esther Warrington were married March 17, 1763, in the Friends Meetinghouse at Moorestown. They had ten children, three of whom died young. Hunt was a Quaker minister for more than 50 years. [6]

John Hunt died September 21, 1824, and was buried in the Moorestown Friends burial ground. [6]

His memorial, published in 1842, highlighted his public testimony concerning pride and superfluity, and stated that he was particularly concerned with temperance.

Notes

  1. Hunt; Inventory of the John Hunt Papers
  2. 1 2 Hynes, p. 10
  3. Hynes, p. 2-7, 10-13. Robert Hunt (died 1716), John Hunt's grandfather and progenitor of the Hunt family, and Elizabeth Woolman (1685–1755), widow of Nathaniel Paine, were married June 7, 1708. Her brother, Samuel Woolman, is the father of John Woolman, the minister.
  4. Letterbooks of Asa Matlack, Pg. 561: "John Hunt, Born in 1740 says... [Robert Hunt] learned the trade of shoemaker in Burlington then came to a small village called Colestown in Chester Township. The country was then much like a wilderness I heard him say, and that so as he came along through the woods he sat down on the road and wept."
  5. Colestown, the Deserted Village by George DeCou
  6. 1 2 Hynes, p. 23

Bibliography

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