Genealogy Express

A Part of Genealogy Express
 

Welcome to
Oneida County, New York
History & Genealogy

JAMES D. HUNT, M. D.
     The ancestry of Dr. James G. Hunt, of Utica, belongs to the "Northampton line" and is traced backward through several generations to Rev. Robert Hunt and Jonathan Hunt, who emigrated to America from Northampton, England, in the year 1660, and settled in Connecticut.  It is claimed by many of the family that there were four (some say three) brothers who came to this country together.  Jonathan afterward settled in what is now Northampton, Mass., and Rev. Robert in the township of New London, Conn.  Among their descendants was Timothy Hunt, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution under General Abercrombie in an attack on Fort Ticonderoga, and who finally located in Tryon county (now Florida, Montgomery county), N. Y., where he died.  During the Revolutionary period Timothy Hunt and his family were among the sufferers by the Tories and Indians under the leadership of William Butler and Joseph Brant, a Mohawk sachem.  On the morning of Nov. 12, 1778, after the Indians had accomplished the destruction of Cherry Valley and the surrounding country, they finally reached the settlement of Chucktenunde Creek, in the town of Florida.  Mr. Hunt's buildings were burned and most of his stock was killed, the remainder escaping to the forest, while himself and family were saved by concealing themselves in a neighboring ravine, closely filled with elders, willows, and thick underbrush.  His wife, Susanna Vermilia, was of French descent, and of their ten children - five sons and five daughters - Isaac, who was born in Florida, Montgomery county, married Polly Kinney, of the same place.  Rev. Robert Hunt, 2d, son of this Isaac and grandfather of Dr. James G., was born in that town Nov. 25, 1792, being one of twelve children.  He married Margaret Johnson of Columbia, Herkimer county, N. Y., and began preaching in the Free Will Baptist denomination as soon as he reached manhood, first in Warren, Herkimer county, and afterward in Columbia, Schuyler Lake, Whitmantown and Southville.  In 1852 he removed to Troy, O., and in 1853 to China, Wyoming county, N. Y., where he remained twelve years.  His health failed and he subsequently made his home in Hudson, Mich.  In 1871 he came to the home of his son, Dr. Isaac J. Hunt, of Utica, where he died Dec. 7, 1872.  Rev. Robert Hunt had ten children, five of whom were sons, and all of them became physicians.  One of these, Dr. Isaac J. Hunt, father of Dr. James G., was born in Warren, Herkimer county, N. Y., Mar. 27, 1820, and married Mary, daughter of John Ingersoll, a farmer and manufacturer of Ilion, Herkimer county, N. Y.  He was graduated from the Castleton (Vt.) Medical College, became a successful physician, and practiced his profession for nearly thirty years in the city of Utica, where he died Jan. 25, 1875.  He had two sons: Dr. James G., the subject of this sketch, and Loton S., who was born in Utica in 18542, read law and was admitted to the bar, and was appointed by President Harrison United States consul to Guelph, Canada, whence he was subsequently transferred to Palmerston, Ontario, Canada, where he still resides and officiates in that capacity.
     Dr. James G. Hunt was born in Litchfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., on the 21st of June, 1845.  His boyhood experience was not materially different from that of a large majority of American youths, though he was fortunate in being able to devote nearly the whole of  his early life to study.  Beginning with the district school he continued until he was graduated from the Utica Free Academy at a comparatively early age.  Shortly afterward he became assistant bookkeeper in the Ilion Bank at Ilion, N. Y., and remained there for a year or more, until 1866, when he accepted a desirable position in the Utica post-office.  In1 867 he went to Buffalo as bookkeeper for Andrews & Whitney, with whom he remained one year.  Returning to Utica in 1868 he began preparation in his father's office for the profession that was to be his life work.  Indeed it may be said that he grew up surrounded by the atmosphere of the medical profession.  After about four years of industrious study under the careful instruction of his father he entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he took two courses of lectures and a course in the laboratory of analytical and applied chemistry.  These were followed by a third course in the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, from which he was graduated on the 13th of March, 1871.  At the time of his graduation one of the daily papers spoke of him as follows.  "He received the largest number of diplomas for clinical instruction in medicine and surgery from the Quiz Association connected with Jefferson Medical College of any one oin his class."  During the same year (1871) he attended a course of clinical lectures in the Philadelphia Hospital (Blockley), and also a course of lectures in anatomy, operative surgery, bandaging, and fractures in the Philadelphia School of Anatomy.
     Returning to Utica Dr. Hunt entered immediately into practice in association with his father.  This partnership continued until 1874, since which time he has practiced alone, meeting with an unusual degree of success.  In attempting to note the elements of this success it may, perhaps, be justly said that they consist chiefly of a thorough knowledge of his profession, gained by persistent and judicious study, supplemented by constant reading of the later developments that have been recorded throughout the range of medical literature, coupled with a temperament and manner which happily fit him for his work.  His capacity for professional labor is almost unbounded, and he never spares his energies in his devotion to his duties.
     Dr. Hunt's professional standing as well as the position he occupies in the community, may be judged to a certain extent by the various calls that have been made upon him to stations of honor and responsibility.  He is a member of the Delta Phi Society, Iota Chapter of the University of Michigan, 1869, and of the Jefferson Medical College Alumni Association, 1871; was made a member of the Oneida County Medical Society on Oct. 7, 1872; is a member of the Utica Medical Library Association and was its president in 1886; was elected a member of the Oneida County Microscopical Society on June 19, 1881; is a member of the American Medical Association and the New York State Medical Association, and was chosen a member of the American Public Health Association on Dec. 7, 1880; was appointed by Gov. A. B. Cornell as commissioner of the State Board of Health and served from 1880 to 1885; is physician to and one of the incorporators of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, organized Feb. 1, 1881; is a life member and trustee of the Utica Mechanics Association; was appointed surgeon of the Board of United States Pension Examiners on Mar. 30, 1889; was made a trustee of the Utica Female Academy on Feb. 6, 1888, and still holds that position; and is a director of teh Globe Woolen Mills.  Dr. Hunt has also taken a deep interest in fraternal organizations and is prominent as a mason, having taken the 32, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine, and an Odd Fellow.  It is much to his professional credit that he was chosen a surgeon for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company in 185, The New York, Ontario and Western Railway in 1886, and is acting in that capacity at the present time; he also held a similar position on the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad from 1886 to 1889.  On May 2, 1891, eh was elected a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons and on Mar. 8, 1892, a member of the New York State Association of Railway Surgeons.  He was physician and surgeon in charge of the Masonic Home at Utica from its opening until two years ago, when a medical staff was formed, since which time he has been chairman of the executive committee of the staff.  He has also filled the posts of chief surgeon in Faxton Hospital (1880 to 1886) and surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital (1883 to 1893) and St. Elizabeth's Hospital (1888 to 1894), and is now surgeon on the staff of Faxton Hospital.  He has held the rank of first lieutenant in the 44th Separate Company National Guard and assistant surgeon of that organization, and was president of the Utica Citizens Corps in 1886, 1887, and 1888.  It is just to say that in all these various positions Dr. Hunt has shown his fitness and capacity for the capable discharge of their duties and earned the respect and esteem of those with whom he has been associated.
     In politics Dr. Hunt is a Republican.  In November, 1873, he was appointed, by Gov. John A. Dix, coroner of Oneida county to fill a vacancy and was elected to that office three consecutive terms, serving in all nearly ten years.  On June 12, 1874, he was appointed health officer of the city of Utica, in which capacity he served most efficiently for nearly twenty years.  In passing the Civil Service examination for that position the Albany Evening Argus of Aug. 18, 1885, said: "Health officer Hunt, of Utica, was one of the three highest who passed the Civil Service examination, his standing being 92 9-10 out of a possible 100.  The doctor is an adept at determining knotty questions, and his brilliant record is no more than might be expected."
     Other newspapers, in commencing at length upon his record as a health officer, etc., said:
     "As health officer he ranks among the first in the State of New York."
     "He has also contributed largely to the annual reports of the State Board of Health articles of great interest  on public matters.  Among his best efforts in this respect is his report as chairman of the Committee on Public Institutions in the first annual report of the State Board of Health of New York for the year 1880.  This is a very lengthy report, and the doctor presents the results attained in one of the largest and most useful public buildings, the New York State Hospital, in a very able and scientific manner, touching upon the system of ventilation, heating, drainage, and water supply."
     In the second annual report of the State Board of Health of New York, for the year 1881, as chairman of the Committee on Public Institutions, Dr. Hunt is thus spoken of in the introduction: "He presents an outline of results of personal inspection and exact inquiry in to the present condition and sanitary wants of school-houses, as shall fitly serve the purposes of the board to institute and induce needed sanitary improvements in our school houses and in the schools themselves, and at the same time to suggest and stimulate local concern in this matter."
     "His lectures to the school of nurses at St. Luke's Hospital, of Utica, for the past number of years have been very instructive to the nurses, and have been read by thousands of those who have made public health a study; he is known far and near throughout the United States on all questions pertaining to public health."
     In 1887, Dr. hunt was strongly urged for the mayoralty of the city of Utica, and received the unanimous nomination of the convention, but for personal reasons was compelled to decline the honor.
     On the 28th of January, 1874, Dr. Hunt was married to Miss Ella R. Middleton, daughter of Robert Middleton, president and superintendent of the Globe Woolen Company of Utica.  They have four children:  Gertrude May, Mabel Lillian, Robert Middleton, and Ella Louisa.
Source:  Our County and It's People - A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York, Edited by Daniel E. Wager, Published by The Boston History Company, 1896 - Part II - Page 18

MYRON W. HUNT, M. D., was born on the family homestead at Lairdsville, in the town of Westmoreland, Oneida county, N. Y., on the 24th of March, 1857. His ancestors were New Englanders, who for several years had exerted a notable influence in the civil and business life of the colonies.  Capt. William Hunt, the grand father of Dr. Hunt, was born in Vermont, but removed in early life to Sharon, Conn., where he followed the trade of tanner and currier. In the winter of 1813-14 he moved with his family to Westmoreland, Oneida county, where he settled upon a farm on which he died in 1843, at the age of seventy-three.  Here he followed both tanning and farming.  Coming here when the country was new he experienced all the privations incident to pioneer life, but he never faltered in the hard work necessary in clearing his farm and prosecuting his trade.  Soon after his arrival he was called with his company to Sackett's Harbor, where he was stationed as captain during the war of 1812-15. The sword he carried on that occasion is now in the possession of his grandson, the subject of this sketch.  Captain Hunt was a man of more than ordinary ability.  Endowed with a rugged constitution he possessed talents of high order and a mind as vigorous as it was broad and comprehensive.  He exerted a large and wholesome influence in the community, where he was highly respected for his many excellent qualities.  Being a member of the Methodist church he took a deep interest in all religious matters and liberally encouraged every movement which advanced the cause.  His home was always open to the old circuit riders those itinerant preachers who formed such an important factor in frontier life three quarters of a century ago.  He married Betsey Calkins, a native of Sharon, Conn., who died on the homestead in 1848, aged seventy-three.  She was a woman richly endowed with the sterling characteristics of New Englanders, and like her husband wielded a marked influence in the community.  Of a lovable disposition, kind, benevolent, and charitable, she was especially the friend of the sick and needy, to whom she ministered with a liberal hand. Their children were William, who died in Kansas; Elijah, a merchant, who died in Lowell, Oneida county; Rev. Isaac L., a prominent Methodist clergyman and presiding elder, who died in Adams, N. Y., at the age of eighty-six; Dr. Jacob, born in Hillsdale, Conn., in 1811, died in Utica in April, 1887; Luther E., father of Dr. Myron W.; Rev. Ward W., a graduate of Hamilton College, class of 1843, and a noted clergyman, who died in Adams, N. Y., at the age of seventy-four; Polly (Mrs. William Potter), who died in Westmoreland; Betsey (Mrs. Joseph Havens), who died in Clinton, N. Y., in 1875, aged seventy seven; Hettie (Mrs. Lowden Brainard), who died at Lairdsville in 1890, aged eighty nine; and Almira (Mrs. George Gardner), who died in Lowell, Oneida county.  Of these Dr. Jacob Hunt became a well known physician and surgeon.  He practiced for twenty years in Lowell, N. Y., and in 1852 settled in Utica.  He was a prominent member of the Oneida County and New York State Medical Societies, a delegate to the American Medical Society, and twice a delegate to the General Conference of the M. E. church.
     Luther E. Hunt, father of Dr. M. W., was born on the homestead at Lairdsville on May 17, 1814, and spent his entire life there, dying April 9, 1895.  He was educated in Cazenovia and Fairfield Seminaries, and when nineteen became principal of the Rochester public school, which position he filled several years.  He held a similar position in Oswego until his health failed, when he returned to Lairdsville and engaged in the manufacture of brooms. He was a staunch Republican, took a deep interest in local affairs, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the entire community. He was one of the oldest members of Hampton Lodge F. & A. M. at the time of his death.  In 1846 he married Harriet M. Warner, of Amsterdam, N. Y., who was born in Cambridge N. Y., May 27, 1821, and who died April 11, 1895, two days after her husband.  She was a prominent member of the M. E. church, a consistent Christian throughout life, and a devoted wife and loving mother.  They had five children, of whom three survived them, viz : Dr. Myron W., of Holland Patent; S. Olin, of Lairdsville; and Minnie L., who was born November 6, 1861, and who died April 16, 1895, making the third death in the family within a period of one week, all of pneumonia.
     Dr. Myron W. Hunt spent his early life on the family homestead and in attending the district schools.  In 1875 he was graduated in the classical course from Whites town Seminary and subsequently pursued his preparatory studies at Fort Edward Collegiate Institute.  Later he entered the class of 1879 of Syracuse University, but did not complete the course, having decided in the mean time to adopt medicine as a profession.  In the fall of 1878 he entered the office of Dr. William M. James, of Whitesboro, where he pursued his studies with that thoroughness which has characterized all his undertakings.  Later he read medicine with Dr. Albert Van Da Veer, a noted surgeon of Albany, and was graduated from the Albany Medical College on March 4, 1882.  He immediately went to Burlington and took the spring course at the University of Vermont, graduating therefrom in June of that year. Afterward he took a special course in diseases of the heart and lungs under Dr. George M. Garland, of Boston.  In the fall of 1883 he began the active practice of his profession in Stittville in the town of Trenton, Oneida county, and in May, 1888, moved thence to the village of Holland Patent, in the same town, where he has since resided.
     Dr. Hunt has successfully built up an extensive general practice and stands well among the leading physicians of Oneida county.  He is a prominent member of the Oneida County Medical Society and out of town physician to Faxton and St. Elizabeth's Hospitals of Utica.  He has also been health officer of the town of Floyd for several years.  In politics he is an ardent and active Republican, and in the councils of his party is one of the recognized local leaders.  In the fall of 1890 he was elected coroner of Oneida county by a majority of 118, and three years later was re-elected to this office, running ahead of the ticket.  During his two terms, or nearly six years, as county coroner he has had much important work, his territorial jurisdiction being the largest in the county.  Dr. Hunt has been a member of the Board of Education of Holland Patent since 1888 and is chairman of the teachers' committee.  He is an honorary member of the 117th regiment N. Y. S. V, a member of Remsen Lodge, No 677, F. & A. M., member of Utica Lodge No. 33, P. B. O. E., and a charter member of Trenton Lodge, No. 577, I. O. O. F., and Holland Patent Lodge, No. 352, K. of M.  He was a charter member and one of the organizers of Holland Patent Lodge, No. 291, K. of P., is district deputy chancellor commander of the 66th district Knights of Pythias, and was the organizer and is past chief councillor of Stittville Council, No. 279, Order of the United Friends.  He also organized Oriskany Council, No. 291, O. U. F., and has taken a deep interest in the advancement of the order.  Dr. Hunt is a public-spirited citizen, active in all worthy enterprises, and is actively identified with the prosperity of his town and county.  He stumped the counties of Herkimer and Oneida in 1892 and has delivered numerous addresses before patriotic and other gatherings.  He has been a delegate to county, district, and State political conventions, and in every capacity has manifested that loyalty and patriotism and public spirit which characterize the respected citizen.  He is vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal church, Holland Patent, and a member of the United Friends Club of New York city.
     On August 7, 1884, Dr. Hunt was married to Miss Frances A., daughter of Joseph D. Newton, of Lowell, Oneida county, and they have two sons: Newton L., born October 20, 1885, and Isaac L., born April 16, 1891.
Source:  Our County and It's People - A Descriptive Work on Oneida County, New York, Edited by Daniel E. Wager, Published by The Boston History Company, 1896 - Part II - Page 157 with portrait.

CLICK HERE to RETURN to
ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK
INDEX PAGE

CLICK HERE to RETURN to
NEW YORK
INDEX PAGE

CLICK HERE to RETURN to
GENEALOGY EXPRESS

GENEALOGY EXPRESS
FREE GENEALOGY RESEARCH is My MISSION
This Webpage has been created by Sharon Wick exclusively for Genealogy Express  ©2008
Submitters retain all copyrights