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William Hunt was the son of William & Mary Woolman Hunt. (see discussion of his parentage below, after marriage and children.)
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William Hunt born about 1733 Pa died 9/9/1772 Newcastle, England burial Newcastle, England |
Sarah Mills born about 1734 Frederick Co, Va died 7/14/1778 Guilford Co, NC burial New Garden MM |
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Married: 10/6/1753 Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, Orange County, North Carolina
Children: Uriah Hunt born 10/14/1754 & died 8/1/1781 Rowan Co, NC; married Lydia Hiatt (Lydia married (2) Samuel Hoggatt) Isaiah Hunt born 10/16/1756 Rowan County, North Carolina; married Elizabeth Floyd Nathan Hunt born 10/26/1758 Rowan County, North Carolina; married (1) Martha Ruckman and (2) Prudence Thornbrough (more below) John Hunt born 10/30/1760 Rowan County, North Carolina; married Rachel Haworth Eleazar Hunt born 11/12/1762 Rowan County, North Carolina; married Lydia Worley Margaret Hunt born 1/18/1765 Rowan County, North Carolina; married William Hinshaw Hannah Hunt born 1/26/1767 Rowan County, North Carolina; married Uriah Baldwin William Hunt born 2/11/1769 Rowan County, North Carolina |
William Hunt's HistoryAll of the current sources on William Hunt give him as the son of William & Mary Woolman Hunt. A 1916 biography of son Nathan Hunt (Quaker Biographies, Vol V, Friend's Book Store, 304 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa) states "Jacob Hunt, who was Nathan's paternal grandfather, was not a member of the Society of Friends. He settled on Rancocas Creek, New Jersey, about 1700 where in 1733 his son William was born. While William was yet a lad his father and mother, who had moved to Pennsylvania, died, and William went to live in North Carolina with an aunt who was a very strict Friend." There is a good explanation of the source of the parentage error as Jacob given on the Robert Hunt Web Site: It corrects William Hunt�s parentage to William Hunt Sr. b. 1690 Bucks Co. PA d 1781 m 2nd month 14 day 1720 os to Mary Woolman. Nathan�s biography also probably errs in stating William went to live with an aunt in North Carolina. If he did live with someone it was more likely older brother Thomas Hunt or sister Margaret Hunt Beals.We do know that both William and Mary Woolman Hunt died at a young age. Fairfax Monthly Meeting in Loudon County, Virginia, records three of their children, Thomas, Eleazer, and Hannah as received by request into the Quaker faith in the 1740's (note repitition of these names in William Jr's children - again proof of the parentage). Hannah's date is earliest(9/27/1746) and it lists her parents as deceased, thus William's parents did die sometime before he was thirteen years old. Fairfax MM also records Thomas & Mary Ann Beals Hunt as moving to North Carolina in 1750, so William was probably sent to live with them in Virginia, not North Carolina, and he then moved with them to North Carolina. In Nathan Hunt's biography: "It is not recorded that he [William] joined the Friends, but he was accepted by common consent as one of them because he was a very 'serious-minded' child." William�s birth date of 1733 is probably correct even though William married in 1753, a very young age for a lad to marry in that time, but then he was "serious-minded." The biography continues that William began "speaking in meeting" at the age of fifteen: the Elders encouraged him and his gift developed rapidly. It states that in William Hunt's memoirs that he himself felt that his progress was not a healthy growth as he was sometimes filled with vanity which destroyed his spiritual power. However, at the age of twenty [also his marriage age] his gift was recorded and he became one of the most eminent ministers of his time. The biography contines that William Hunt and his wife settled on a farm two miles from the New Garden Meeting house, Guilford County (then Rowan County), North Carolina. He was so dedicated to the service of the Master that at one time he had preached in nearly all the Friends' Meeting houses in America. As Nathan's father was so frequently away from home on religious visits much devolved upon the mother of this large family. Her name was Sarah Mills Hunt and she must have been a fine character. Nathan says of his mother: "The death of my father left my widowed mother with a large family to care for. We had many difficulties and trials to contend with. The country was thinly settled, the Meeting house was two miles away; when meeting day came my mother would ride the horse with one child before and another behind her, while the older ones walked. She never failed to attend meeting when she was able to do so; although she never spoke in any open meeting, the action of her daily life was a continual sermon to me." There were few schools in those early days, but Nathan tells of the children going home from their daily work and picking up pine knots and dry sticks of wood, so that when chores were done, the children could collect around the blazing fagots and read their books, while the mother spun on her little wheel. William Hunt, the father, was a first cousin and contemporary of that remarkable man John Woolman. They were doubtless very congenial spirits. (See Quaker Corner Web Site Surnames and click on John Woolman.) William Hunt was released in the year 1770 to visit Friends of the British Isles, but so great was his concern for the meetings of his own country that the whole of the winter of 1770 and 1771 was spent in company with his nephew Thomas Thornbrough in visiting Friends of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, the island of Nantucket, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island before he set sail for England. Thomas Thornbrough was husband of Ruth Hunt daughter of William's brother Thomas Hunt. Ruth had died in 1767 so Thomas Thornbrough was free to travel. He also accompanied William to England. The trip proved to be William's last Gospel mission. After spending nearly a year visiting Friends of Ireland and England, and attending London Yearly Meeting, William Hunt died in England in 1772 as a result of that fatal disease smallpox. His beloved cousin, John Woolman, who was also in England for religious service, died a few months later of the same disease. Friends of England felt great sympathy for the widow and children of William Hunt and wrote a letter containing grateful acknowledgment of their father's services in England as well as loving admonition that they follow in his footsteps. And son Nathan did (more on Nathan below). A testimony from New-Castle Monthly-Meeting in Great-Britain, concerning William Hunt. Our dear friend William Hunt, of New Garden, in Guilford County, North Carolina, accompanied by his nephew Thomas Thornborough, of the same place, being on a religious visit to friends of this nation, departed this life, at the house of a friend near Newcastle upon Tyne. The deep regard we bear to his memory and eminent services, engageth us to transmit the following testimony concerning him. They arrived in London about a week after the yearly meeting 1771, and attending several meetings in that city, proceeded northward, visiting friends in divers counties in England, and also in Scotland. The ensuing winter was spent in visiting Yorkshire, Lancashire and Ireland, returning to London in time to attend the yearly meeting there in 1772; then attending the yearly meetings in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and proceeding through Lincolnshire to Hull, they took shipping for Holland, and after visiting the few friends there, they embarked for Scarborough, but by contrary winds landed at Shields, the 25th of the eighth month, and fater being at their meeting on the 26th came that afternoon to the house of a friend near Newcastle upon Tyne. From accounts received, and our own knowledge of his conduct and ministry, we have good cause to believe, that in all his travels in Europe, he behaved as a faithful minister of Christ, exemplary and uniform in conduct, of a weighty deportment and retired spirit, his conversation was grave and instructive, seasoned with love and sweetness, which rendered his company both profitable and desirable, his ministry was living and powerful, deep and searching, an excellent example in patiently waiting for the clear manifestation of the divine will, and careful to move accordingly, so that his appearances in meetings were mostly accompanied with great solemnity, in which he skilfully divided the word, being to the unfaithful as a two edged sword, but to the honest hearted travellers in Zion, and to such as were seeking the way to God's kingdom, his doctrine was truly refreshing. He was a man of sound judgment, quick of apprehension, and deep in religious experience; and altho' he was only in the thirty-ninth year of his age, yet such was his experience and stability, that he stood as an elder and a father in the church, worthy of double honour. He attended the meeting at Newcastle, on the 27th of the eighth month 1772, in which he delivered a short and living testimony in the love of the gospel to his friends of that place; that afternoon he was cheerful, and expressed his satisfaction in being there, and upon being asked what place they intended for next, he replied, he saw no further at present than Newcastle. Next day he was taken ill, which was not apprehended to be the small pox 'till the fourth day of his illness; when the eruption appeared, he said to his companion, 'This sickness is nigh unto death if not quite;' his companion signified his hope that it might not be so, he replied, 'My coming hither seems to be providential, and when I wait I am einclosed and see no further.' At another time he made the same remark to a friend, saying, 'It will be a sore trial to my companion if I am now removed.' He also mentioned in an affectionate manner his dear wife and children to a friend who attended him, and requested some counsel and advise (which he then communicated) might be transmitted to them, if it should please the Lord to remove him, which was accordingly done. On the third day of his illness, two friends from the country came to visit him, to whom he thus expressed himself, viz. 'I have longed to see you and be with you, but was put by,' one of them said, I hope we shall have thee with us yet; he answered 'that must be left;' the friend said, that whatever affliction we are tried with, we may yet see cause of thankfulness; he replied, 'Great cause indeed, I never saw it clearer, O the widom! the wisdom and goodness, the mercy and kindness has appeared to me wonderful, and the further and deeper we go, the more we wonder; I have admired since I was cast upon this bed, that all the world does not seek after the truth, it so far transcends all other things.' Two friends from Northumberland coming to visit him, he said, 'The Lord knows how I have loved you from our first acquaintance, and longed for your growth and establishment in the blessed truth; and now I feel the same renewed afresh;' and said, 'He much desired they might fill up the places Providence intended, and lay up treasure in Heaven,' adding, 'What would a thousand worlds avail me now?' The disorder was very heavy upon him, having a load of eruption, under which he shewed great fortitude and patience even to the admiration of the physician and surgeon who attended him; his mind being mercifully preserved calm, and resigned to his master's will, whose presence he found to be near him in the needful time, saying, 'It is enough, my master is here;' and again, 'He that laid the foundation of the mountains knows this, if it pleases him he can remove it;' at another time he said with great composure, 'The Lord knows best, I am in his hands, let him do what he pleases.' Perceiving a friend to be diligent and attentive to do what she could for him, he said, "the Lord refresh thy spirit, for thou hast often refreshed this body, and whether I live or die, thou wilt get they reward." After the second fever came on, finding himself worse, he said, "My life hangs upon a thread." The doctor being sent for, he said, "They are all physicians of no value without the great Physician." A friend said, I know thy dependance is on him, he answered, "Entirely." Understanding that two friends who had sat much by him, did not intend to leave him that night, he very sweetly said, "And will you watch with me one night more?" On being asked how he did, he said, "I am here pent up and confined in a narrow compass, this is a trying time, but my mind is above it all;" which was evident to those about him, who were sensible of praises and sweet melody in his heart when few words were expressed. A little before he died, he said triumphantly, "Friends, truth is over all;" so in great peace departed this life, the 9th day of the ninth month 1772, and was interr'd in friends burying-ground in NewCastle upon Tyne, the 11th of the same month, accompanied by many friends; upon which occasion a solemn meeting was held, and divers testimonies borne to the truth, in the service of which he lived and died, an example to many brethren. A minister 24 years. More on Son Nathan HuntSon Nathan Hunt [portrait] married (1)Martha Ruckman, daughter of Joseph and Sarah White Ruckman, on 11/12/1777 at New Garden Monthly Meeting in Guilford County, North Carolina. They had children: Sarah (b 7/24/1778 m. Nathan Harlan); Zebulon (b. 12/24/1779 m. out of unity); Joseph Hunt (b 2/21/1782 m Anna Unthank); Jabez Hunt (b. 1/13/1784 m. Priscilla Coffin); Asenath Hunt (b. 9/11/1785 m. Dougan Clark); Samuel Hunt (b. 1/26/1788 m out of unity).Martha Ruckman Hunt died 2/2/1788 in Guilford County. Nathan then married Prudence Thornbrough, daughter of Thomas and Abigail Brown Thornbrough, on 4/6/1791 at New Garden MM in Guilford County. They had children: Abigail (b. 12/14/1791 m. Joshua Stanley; Rhoda (b 12/12/1793 d. 6/19/1794); Nathan (b 12/1/1795 m. Sally B. Stockton); Thomas (b. 7/5/1800 m. Nancy D. Stockton) [Home of Prudence and Nathan] Nathan Hunt was a well known Quaker minister as was his father. His biography says "So great was his spiritual power at the age of ninety that young and old alike considered it a great privelege to hear him preach." He gave freely of his time, ability and means to New Garden Boarding School (now Guilford College) from 1827. Despite his involvements he was a devoted family man and wrote often to his wife while traveling. From Philadelphia 4/15/1804, he wrote: "In the cordial flowings of that love that often increased our joy into a river of pleasure, making hard things easy, and bitter cups sweet, I salute thee and all our beloved children with heartfelt solicitude that you may be the redeemed of the Lord; sitting in the tent-door of watchfulness, that you may be preserved from everything which might in any way hurt that pure seed which I desire above all other things to cherish in you. May you in every movement honour that calling for the sake of which I have left all, and am subjected to deep exercises, regarding not my life, so that I may win precious souls to Christ." |
