James Huntington (1728 - 1812)

Born 25 Apr 1728 in Lebanon, New London, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 10 Dec 1812 at age 84 in Orange, Vermont, United States

Biography

Son of Caleb & Lydia (Griswold) Huntington

He married Hannah Marsh in CT - parents of Asa

He was several summers the town shepherd. He was so conscientious that he refused taking care of the sheep on the Sabbath, and a boy was employed by the town for this service.

He died December 10, 1812, at the residence of his son Joseph, in Orange, VT

Sources

• Joseph Dow's History of Hampton: A SHEPHERD'S CONTRACT -- JOHN TUCK, TOWN CLERK AND COMMONERS'S CLERK

[1]

This description of a Shepherd is from a New Hampshire site but is most likely typical of most if not all Town Shepherds in the 1700s: in the summers certain men agreed to keep the flock of sheep "without the snow shall come to hinder them from their feed" -- will do it themselves or by those the selectmen shall approve of -- to go with the sheep one day" to one location, the next day to another location, and the third day to another location. . .. "each man of them to provide a good and convenient pen for the sheep to lie in from the dust and from danger of the wild creatures, -- the sheep to go at no time without a keeper -- to be let out every morning by sun half an hour high -- not to pen them before sunset at night. They give bonds of 40 shillings to perform their equal part in every particular -- to be sued before a justice of the peace by any man who can prove the above articles not fulfilled". Several witnesses signed the covenant.

• Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection)
• Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920
• Family Group Record of James Huntington, AFN:1KLL-LM and IGI Record Film # 1239619; Page # 1076; Reference#36142 and IGI Record Batch # 7225632; Sheet # 73
• American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI)
• Huntington Family Association, The Huntington Family in America: A Supplement to the Genealogical Memoir Published in 1915 (Name: Name: Published by the Huntington Family Association; Norwich,CT,1962;;).
• The Huntington Family in America (Huntington Family Association, Connecticut, 1915) Page 749