Jonathan Hunt (abt. 1716 - 1782)

Born about 1716 in Hopewell Township, Hunterdon, New Jersey

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Frances (Smith) Hunt — married 1738 in Hopewell, NJ

Descendants

Died 5 Sep 1782 at about age 66 in Rowan, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Colonel Jonathan Hunt was born 1715/6 in Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, on of John Hunt Jr. (~1693 - ~1748) and Margaret Frances (Moore) Hunt (1698 - 1752). He served as Captain and then Colonel of the Rowan County Militia in North Carolina, protecting the area from Indian attacks. He died 5 September 1782 in Rowan County (now Davie County), North Carolina and is buried in Eatons Baptist Church Cemetery in Mocksville, North Carolina. ^[1][2]

His siblings were:

1. Wilson Hunt (1714 - 1782)
2. John Hunt (1719 - )
3. Joanna Hannah (Hunt) Greene (~1719 - ~1789)
4. Noah Hunt (1722 - )
5. Daniel Hunt (~1726 - ~1802)
6. Enoch Hunt (1728 - ~1762)
7. Gershom Hunt (1730 - 1810)

Jonathan Hunt first married Mary Smith in 1738 in Hopewell, New Jersey. They had eight children:

1. Sarah Hunt (c1738-after 1804) was born about 1738 in Hopewell, NJ. Sarah was the eldest daughter of Colonel Jonathan Hunt. She first married Thomas Bryan in Rowan Co, NC in c1757. They had seven children. After Thomas Bryan died, Sarah married Rev. John Gano on April 15, 1793.^[3] Sarah died after the death of her second husband.^[4]

2. Jonathan Hunt, Jr. was born between 1738 - 1748 and died before 3 May 1775. While the date of his birth is not known, he was one of the older children as indicated by his marriage to Rachel Hampton on August 7, 1769.

3. Andrew Hunt (c1740-1803) was born about 1740 and died 8 February 1803. He married Lucy Giles on 27 Sept 1764 at Rowan Co., NC.

4. Charles Hunt (c1742-1818) was born about 1742 and died 27 August 1818. He married about 1765 Francina Smith. They had 14 children.

5. John Hunt (1748-1828) was born 19 September 1748 at Hopewell, New Jersey and died 7 May 1829 in Fayette County, Kentucky. He served as a Private in the Revolutionary War. He married Margaret Wilson in 1774 and they had eight children.

6. Wilson Hunt (1754-1833) was born 16 January 1754 and died 28 January 1833 in Fayette County, Kentucky. He was a Revolutionary War veteran.

7. Agnes Hunt (1757-1782) was born 12 March 1757 and died 27 Oct 1782. She is not usually listed in genealogies, but Col. Jonathan Hunt is the only one in the area who would have a daughter with these dates, and she is buried near him in the Eaton Baptist Cemetery. From the birth date she would have been a twin of Levi Hunt.

8. Levi Hunt (1757-1830) was born 12 March 1757 and died 14 July 1830. He married Rachel Dean on 11 Dec 1784. They had five children.

On 23 March 1757, Mary (Smith) Hunt dies leaving behind 8 children including 2 newborns. Between Mary's death and 10 November 1758, Jonathan Hunt marries Isabel Hampton. They had two children:

9. Mary Hunt (1759-1842) was born 9 April 1759 in Rowan County, North Carolina and died 9 August 1842 in Marion County, Indiana. She married Samuel Bryan and they moved to Bryan's Station in Kentucky. They had eleven children.

10. George Hunt (c1759-1833). He is believed to be a son of Jonathan and Isabel based upon Jonathan listing his sons in his will in birth order, after Levi and before Daniel. George's son, Gavin Drummond Hunt wrote that his father was a twin. If George was a twin of Mary Hunt, he would have been born 9 April 1759. He died in July 1833.

In 1759/60 Isabel (Hampton) Hunt dies. On 3 January 1761 Jonathan Hunt married Margaret Lowrance (1740 - 1790), daughter of John Lowrence and Mary Perkins, in Rowan County, North Carolina. They had nine children as identified by Daniel Hunt in his the family bible: ^[5]

11. Daniel Hunt (1761-1837) was born 17 October 1761 in Rowan County, North Carolina and died 13 February 1837 at Jonesville, Surry County, North Carolina.

12. Elizabeth Hunt (1763-1829) was born 1 January 1763 and died 15 February 1829. She married Joseph Pugh.

13. Gersham Hunt (1765-1838) was born 10 July 1756 and died 16 November 1838. He married Sarah Orton.

14. Catherine Hunt (1766-?) was born October 26, 1766. No further information.

15. Enoch Hunt (1768-1815) was born 19 July 19 1768 and died 22 November 1815. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Chaffin.

16. Susanna Hunt (1771-?) was born 10 June 1771. No further information.

17. Margaret Hunt (1773-?) was born 18 October 18 1773. No further information.

18. Noah Hunt (1775-1856) was born 1 October 1775 and died 18 August 1856.

19. Cynthia Hunt (1780-?) was born 16 May 1780. No further information.

Jonathan Hunt died on 5 September 1782 at his farm on Cedar Creek in Rowan County (now Davie County), North Carolina at the age of 66 ("in the 67th year of his age" per his gravestone in the Eaton Baptist Church Cemetery in Mocksville, North Carolina.

Timeline of Jonathan Hunt's Life

Will of Colonel Jonathan Hunt

Jonathan Hunt wrote his will on 19 June 19 1782. On 6 May 1783 a Rowan County Court ordered that sons Andrew and Charles and "William Hill of Surrey County" be summoned to prove the last Will of Jonathan Hunt. On 5 August 1783 Andrew Hunt appeared in answer to the summons and resigned his appointment as executor. On 6 November 1783 the Will was proved in court by oath of David and Elizabeth Crawford, with Abran Lorance as security. And on 8 Feb 1785 an inventory of the Estate was filed in Rowan County Court.

Jonathan's Will includes the following heirs:

• wife Margaret
• sons, Andrew Hunt, Charles Hunt, Wilson Hunt, Levi Hunt and George Hunt
• son John Hunt
• sons Daniel Hunt, Gersham Hunt, Enoch Hunt and Noah Hunt
• daughters Elizabeth, Catherine Hunt, Susannah Hunt and Margaret Hunt

The Will names only 14 children. Missing children are: Jonathan Hunt, Jr., Sarah (Hunt) Bryan, Mary (Hunt) Bryan, Anges Hunt, and Cynthia Hunt.

Note that some previous transcriptions list only five sons (Andrew, Charles, Wilson, Levi and George) under the second bequest even though the bequest states the land is "to be equally divided amongst the six". The names between Charles Hunt and George Hunt are difficult to read, but appears to be "John Hunt [illegible] Hunt Levi Hunt". The "illegible Hunt" is presumed to be Wilson Hunt, but it was indexed as "Wm Hunt" in the record on Ancestry.com.

The Coxe Affair

In 1731, calamity befell the honest and hard working settlers of Hopewell New Jersey in what is known as "The Coxe Affair". Their Land purchases had been made through the West Jersey Society, but through an oversight or mismanagement, the deeds had never been recorded. Colonel Coxe learned of this through insider information and Col. Coxe and other heirs of the late Dr. Coxe" declared that most of Hopewell belonged to them, a claim without an honest basis, e.g., improper surveys or failure to pay -- but the West Jersey Society lacked a court record proving Dr. Coxe's transfer to them. His heir, Col. Coxe, had enough political clout to induce Hunterdon's Supreme Court to order High Sheriff Bennett Bard to serve perhaps a hundred or more Hopewell residents with Writs ordering them to "Pay" for their land a second time or "Quit." Those who failed to repurchase their own farms then received "Writs of Ejectment" which called them "Tenants" and "Tresspassers" on Coxe's land!) The injustice was perpetrated thorough corroption at the highest levels, The land was transfered to Col. Coxes relative whom was the personal physcian of Queen Anne, and when the case came before the supreme court of New Jersey, Col. Coxe had become the Chief Justice. After years of fighting, the residents of Hopewell were finally forced out, loosing everything. Eventually, an agent was sent to find a tract of land for the victims to move to, and thus was born The "Jersey Settlement" in North Carolina. By May 1741, Bladen County issued deeds on the Great Peedee (Yadkin). It was no accident that the Hopewell group chose its north bank, an area described as: "Ten square miles of the best wheat land in the south, located in (modern) Davidson County, near Linwood. It was composed of many people from New Jersey who had sent an agent there to locate and enter the best land still open to settlement." [John Preston Arthur, A History of Watauga County, N. C., (1915) p.88].) The earliest families of Jersey Settlement came from Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where some had been members of Pennington's Presbyterian Church, and others were Quakers and Baptists who baptized their children in St. Mary's Episcopal church for practical, political reasons. The earliest families identified in Jersey Settlement c1745 were those of Jonathan Hunt, (Charles' father), Thomas and Rebecca (Anderson) Smith, Robert Heaton, and John Titus. (Hunt and Titus were married to Smith's nieces.))^[8]

Revolutionary War Service

Service: NORTH CAROLINA^[9]

Service Source: WALL, HIST OF DAVIE CO IN THE FORKS OF THE YADKIN, P 58; WHEELER, HIST SKETCHES OF NC 1584-1851, P 369; PENSION OF SON DANIEL HUNT *S7049^[10]

Service Description: 1) MEMBER OF COMMITTEE OF SAFETY; 2) TAKEN PRISONER. From Daniel Hunt's Pension Application. ^[11]

• And the said Daniel Hunt further states that when the British under Cornwallis were passing through North Carolina, they came to his Father's house, and killed or destroyed all the property of his said Father except the dwelling House; that at this time he the said Daniel on was in the Army commanded [by] General Rutherford; That his Father Jonathan Hunt was taken a prisoner by the British who being an old and infirm man and unable to travel as the enemies [enemy's] prisoner, was discharged by them in the course of one or two days; that in consequence of the distress and losses of his father, the said Daniel Hunt was permitted to return home as above stated, having been in service from the year 1779 to March 1781...

Research Notes

Date of Birth

The inscription on Jonathan Hunt's gravestone reads that he died 5 Sept 1782 "in the 67th year of his age." Dying at the age of 66 years places his date of birth between 6 Sep 1715 and 4 Sep 1716.

The unsourced birth date of 12 Oct 1715 is given in many genealogies. While the date of 12 Oct 1715 is a possible birth date, no evidence is given of the source for this birth date.

Jonathan's date of birth without additional evidence should be 1715/6 or circa 1716.

Children and Wives of Colonel Jonathan Hunt

Possible explanation for the Will not naming five children of Jonathon Hunt. His daughters Sarah (Hunt) Bryan' and Mary (Hunt) Bryan were married, and may have received dowries. His son Jonathan Hunt, Jr. was deceased, dying in 1775. His daughter Cynthia Hunt was identified in the family bible of his son Daniel Hunt, but would have only been two years old when he wrote his Will. Daughter Agnes Hunt would have been 23 years old when he wrote his Will...perhaps Agnes was ill since she died a few weeks after her father. Or maybe Agnes married a cousin with the same surname Hunt and she had already received a dowry like her sisters Sarah and Mary. Or Agnes was never a daughter of Jonathan Hunt since her headstone and grave location near Jonathan is the only evidence of a father-daughter relationship (which no photo exists on Find-a-Grave). William has been identified as a son of Jonathan Hunt with the source as Jonathan's Will per indexed record at Ancestry.com. A possible explanation [[[Gressley-41|Gressley-41]]]

The following is taken almost verbatim from Mitchell J. Hunt's "A corrected genealogy of Col. Jonathan Hunt (1716-1782)":

There are many contradictory versions on the number and names of the children of Jonathan Hunt, and of the order of birth. There is family legend in different branches of his descendants that he had 19 children by three wives, including three sets of twins. The nine children of his third wife are listed with birth dates in the family Bible of Daniel, the eldest of the nine.

Most genealogies found show only daughter Mary as child of the second wife, but it appears that she was also the mother of a son George and it is possible, given the short life of Isabel Hampton, that George and Mary were twins. George's son Gavin said his father was a twin, although some think all three sets of twins were all by the first wife Mary Smith.

Mary Smith's last children. Agnes and Levi, appear to have been twins as the birth year of Agnes indicated by her gravestone corresponds to the birth of Levi. Agnes is not usually mentioned in compilations of the children of Jonathan, but she is buried near him in the Eaton Baptist Cemetery and there appears to be no one else in the area at the time to be her father.

It is surprising that Agnes was not mentioned in her father's Will as she was living at the time he wrote it. Her sisters Sarah and Mary are also not mentioned in the Will, but they were both married and may have been given dowries.

All the sons of Jonathan are mentioned in his Will (and presumably in order of birth) except for son Jonathan who had died before his father.

The oldest daughter was Sarah and though her birth date is not known, she was one of the oldest children, and maybe the oldest. Some compilations have said that George was the oldest child and was a twin of Sarah, but this is untrue. It is possible that Sarah was a twin of Jonathan, Jr.

In any event, the order of children appears well established except for the placement of Sarah and Jonathan.

Mitchell J. Hunt's Corrected Genealogy

The research of Mitchell J. Hunt needs to be evaluated along with sources in FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/M5YP-F3P. The above children is only a starting point and should be considered unverified. The surnames Bryan and Hunt reuse first name within the same generations and throughout multiple generations, and multiple individuals may be "combined" as the same person.

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave
2. ↑ Corrected genealogy of Col. Jonathan Hunt (1716-1782)
3. ↑ Marriage bond of John Gano and Sarah Hunt Bryan, 1793
4. ↑ Biographical memoirs of the late Rev. John Gano, of Frankfort (Kentucky) : formerly of the city of New York
5. ↑ A corrected genealogy of Col. Jonathan Hunt (1716-1782
6. ↑ Colonial Records of NC, Vol. 5, p. 48
7. ↑ Daniel Hunt's 1832 Rev. War Pension application
8. ↑ Stroupe, Ethel. "[1] Origins of the Jersey Settlement of Rowan County, North Carolina First Families of Jersey Settlement".. Sons of Dewitt Colony. Accsessed 25 Apr, 2021. (Reprinted by permission of the author from vol. 11, no. 1, February 1996, Rowan County Register, PO Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145)).(Reprinted by permission of the author from vol. 11, no. 1, February 1996, Rowan County Register, PO Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145))
9. ↑ Genealogical Society of Iredell County, Inc., NC Revolutionary Soldiers’ Graves – Iredell, Davie & Alexander Co., Iredell County Tracks, Fall 2006
10. ↑ Revolutionary War Pension Application S7049 for Daniel Hunt.
11. ↑ Revolutionary War Pension Application S7049 for Daniel Hunt.

• Hunt, Mitchell J. A corrected genealogy of Col. Jonathan Hunt (1716-1782) and his Rowan Co., North Carolina siblings and their descendants (self published : Willow Grove, PA), 1994; digital images, FamilySearch Library (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/390207-redirection : Accessed 8 March 2023).

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6361305/jonathan-hunt: accessed 08 March 2023), memorial page for Col Jonathan Hunt (12 Oct 1715–5 Sep 1782), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6361305, citing Eatons Baptist Church Cemetery, Mocksville, Davie County, North Carolina, USA; Maintained by Howard Curran (contributor 46533218).

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed May 8th, 2015), "Record of Jonathan Hunt", Ancestor # A060262.
• Spraker, Hazel A., The Boone Family.Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.1922; Reprinted Baltimore, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1993.
• Library of Marilyn Cardwell Larson Address: 5041 Green Grove Lane Roseville, CA 95747 Name: Library of Marilyn Cardwell Larson.

• Space:Iredell County Revolutionary Soldiers for a comprehensive list of Iredell Revolutionary War Veterans.

• Genealogical Society of Iredell County, Inc., NC Revolutionary Soldiers’ Graves – Iredell, Davie & Alexander Co., Iredell County Tracks, Fall 2006." Part 1 and Part 2

See also his son, Daniel's record:

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed Feb 15, 2018), "Record of Daniel Hunt", Ancestor # A060131.

• A Corrected Genealogy of Col. Jonathan Hunt (1716-1782) and His Rowan Co., North Carolina Siblings and Their Descendants by Michael J. Hunt, 1994 (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/390207-a-corrected-genealogy-of-col-jonathan-hunt-1716-1782-and-his-rowan-co-north-carolina-siblings-and-their-descendants?viewer=1&offset=0#page=3&viewer=picture&o=download&n=0&q=)