Thomas Elwood Hunt (abt. 1727 - 1808)

Born about 1727 in Westchester, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Milicent (Wright) Hunt — married 20 Jan 1758 (to 15 Sep 1802) in New York Colony

Husband of Hannah (Wright) Hunt — married after 15 Sep 1802 in Westchester, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 4 Jul 1808 at about age 81 in Westchester, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Mags Gaulden [send private message] and Tina Yarbrough [send private message]

Disputed Origins

This profile, in its earlier form, clearly attempted to merge two different families -- one of which was misidentified. The family of Dr. Thomas Hunt of Bedford County, Virginia -- who married a woman named Ann (presumably, Ann Henson) -- was incorrectly connected to the family of Thomas Elwood Hunt of Westchester, New York. The DNA of Thomas Elwood Hunt's descendants does not genetically match that of the family of Dr. Thomas Hunt of Virginia.

The name Elwood has not been associated with Dr. Thomas Hunt of Bedford County, Virginia; nor has the last name of Dr. Hunt's wife Ann[e] been associated with the name Mattingly as was shown in the earlier version of this page. If there were documentary evidence of this name for Ann, it would smash down a brick wall which has eluded researchers for centuries!

[By all means, please post a comment below if you become aware of any such evidence and can cite its specific source -- preferably, including any available online link.]

Please see the Origins of the "Hunt 14" for the children of Dr. Thomas Hunt of Bedford County, Virginia.

Biography

Thomas Hunt was born in, or very close to, 1727, as shown in his Find A Grave memorial. He was born at West Farms, the family home in Westchester, New York Colony; that is also where he died in 1808, and he was buried nearby in the old Hunt's Point Cemetery, now within Joseph Rodman Drake Park -- named after a grandson of his second wife, by her first marriage^[1] -- in the Bronx.

Find A Grave shows Thomas's wife as "Hannah 'Millicent' Wright Hunt". However, both Henry Griswold Jesup in his 1887 Jessup genealogy^[2], and Douglas Wright Cruger a century later in his 1987 Genealogical Dictionary of Wright Families^[3], concur that Thomas married twice... and that the two wives were sisters, the first wife being Milicent Wright, and the second, the widow Hannah (Wright) Drake. Cruger places the marriage to Milicent in mid-September of 1757; possibly this is the date the couple's intentions were published, as Genealogy: A Weekly Journal of American Ancestry dates the union of "Wright, Milseson and Thomas Hunt" -- by State License, from a transcribed list -- to 20 January 1758^[4], as does the earlier 1862 Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt^[5]. Thomas's second union, to Hannah, took place on an unknown date following Millicent's death, which Cruger places on the 15th of September,1802... though Robert Bolton's History of Westchester incorrectly dates her death to 15 September 1832^[6]. The Bolton date cannot possibly be accurate, as second wife Hannah died twenty years prior, in 1812, as witnessed by the inscription on her gravestone (see https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2016/87/89543306_1459200984.jpg).

According to Thomas Wyman Bellows in his 1863 book on the Hunt family, the Thomas of this profile, son of Thomas Hunt and Sarah (Ward) Hunt, was born in Westchester in 1727. He was active in the Revolution; his home was fired upon by the British, and a musket ball passed through a shutter, lodging in the chimney. He and his wife fled to Dutchess County, where she soon died. They had twelve children^[7]. Bellows' book concurs with both Jesup's and Cruger's (Bellows, publishing earlier, might be their source) that Thomas married, at an advanced age, the widowed Hannah (Wright) Drake, sister of Milicent.

Research Notes

Henry Griswold Jesup, in his 1887 book, says that the Thomas Hunt who died in 1808 married two sisters (the second of whom, Hannah (Wright) [Drake] Hunt -- widow of Moses Drake -- was a grandmother of poet Joseph Rodman Drake). All were probably buried in the Hunt burial ground on "the Point" at West Farms in Westchester, New York^[8], though by 1905, no gravestone for first wife Milicent was found by a committee of the Underhill Society^[9]. Jesup thought the two sisters to be offspring of Joseph Wright; Cruger, after researching the records available a hundred years later, concluded that the sisters' father was instead Jonathan Wright.

As indicated in the Disputed Origins section above, the originally-imported GEDCOM data for this profile had another family from Virginia, and all the children of that Thomas Hunt, mixed in with those of this Thomas Hunt. They have been separated. The birth and death dates included in the original GEDCOM file were those for Thomas Hunt of Virginia, not for this Thomas Hunt of New York; the original birth dates on this profile were thus presumably incorrect (unless this Thomas and Thomas of Virginia shared a birthday). Care has been taken to replace all dates with those for Thomas of New York -- dates supported by reputable sources.

Sources

1. ↑ See Find A Grave biographical sketches for Jonathan Drake, son of Moses Drake & Hannah (Wright) Drake [later, Hunt], and for Jonathan's son Joseph Rodman Drake: Jonathan, Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95007938/jonathan-drake : accessed 25 June 2022), memorial page for Jonathan Drake (1770–1797), Find A Grave: Memorial #95007938, citing Joseph Rodman Drake Park, Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Bobby and Carol Babin Estes (contributor 46900498); Joseph, Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19538464/joseph-rodman-drake : accessed 25 June 2022), memorial page for Joseph Rodman Drake (17 Aug 1795–21 Sep 1820), Find A Grave: Memorial #19538464, citing Joseph Rodman Drake Park, Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave .
2. ↑ Edward Jessup of West Farms and His Descendants, 1639-1887, by Jesup, Henry Griswold, Westchester County, New York, 1887, p. 61 and p. 383; p. 61, https://books.google.com/books?id=m9cxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false; p. 383, https://books.google.com/books?id=m9cxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false)
3. ↑ A Genealogical Dictionary of Wright Families in the Lower Hudson Valley to 1800, by Douglas Wright Cruger, Bowie, Md. : Heritage Books, 1987, p. 97 (Milicent, aka "Melicent/Milseson 1") and p. 52 ("Hannah 8") [accessible online; may be borrowed hourly at Archive.org (free membership)]; p. 52, https://archive.org/details/genealogicaldict00crug/page/52/mode/2up; p. 97, https://archive.org/details/genealogicaldict00crug/page/96/mode/2up
4. ↑ Genealogy: A Weekly Journal of American Ancestry, Volumes 6-7, William M. Clemens, Publisher, 1916, p. 57; https://books.google.com/books?id=4nFbAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA57&lpg=RA2-PA57&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false
5. ↑ Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt : Early Established in America from Europe : Exhibiting Pedigrees of Ten Thousand Persons : Enlarged by Religious and Historic Readings, section - "New York Line", by Bellows, Thomas, compiled by T. R. Wyman, orig. pub New York, J, Wilson, 1862; Boston: J. Wilson and Son, 1985, p. 163; https://archive.org/details/genealogyofnamef01wyma/page/162/mode/2up
6. ↑ A History of the County of Westchester, from Its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. 2, by Robert Bolton, Alexander S. Gould, 1848 - Westchester County (N.Y.), Appendix, p. 523; https://books.google.com/books?id=mUcVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA523&lpg=PA523&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false
7. ↑ Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt, by Bellows, Thomas, compiled by T. R. Wyman, as above, p. 154 & p. 163; p. 154, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofnamef01wyma/page/154/mode/2up; p. 163, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofnamef01wyma/page/162/mode/2up
8. ↑ Edward Jessup of West Farms and His Descendants, 1639-1887, by Jesup, Henry Griswold, Westchester County, New York, 1887, p. 61; https://books.google.com/books?id=m9cxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false
9. ↑ Annual Report of the Secretary, Underhill Society of America · 1904, Vols. 12-25, Sixteenth Annual Report, 1908, "Burial Place Committee", "Hunt's Burial Ground, Hunt's Point, N.Y.", p. 26; https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Secretary/ye8UAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hannah+Hunt+Talman&pg=RA4-PA26&printsec=frontcover

• [Note: linked only to memorial of second wife, the widow Hannah (Wright) Drake; first wife was Hannah's sister, Milicent Wright.] Birth (year only), family members, death, and burial: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89542519/thomas-hunt : accessed 24 June 2022), memorial page for Thomas Hunt Jr. (1727–4 Jul 1808), Find A Grave: Memorial #89542519, citing Joseph Rodman Drake Park, Bronx, Bronx County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Barbara Doxey (contributor 46556096) .

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to M. Gaulden for noting the discrepancy between dates originally given on this profile (those of Dr. Thomas Hunt of Virginia), and the correct dates for Thomas Hunt of New York.

• This GEDCOM Information is a combination of two totally Different Hunt Families. This Profile has been separated and all info which may be relevant to this profile has been kept intact.

Original GEDCOM download notes:

• WikiTree profile Hunt-1079 created through the import of Foster Family Tree.ged on May 27, 2011 by Ferrell Foster.

• WikiTree profile Hunt-5697 created through the import of Foster Family Tree.ged on May 27, 2011 by Ferrell Foster.