| Benjamin Huntington | Continental Congress |
| Daniel Huntington | Famed 19th Century Artist |
| Dewitt Clinton Huntington | Noted Preacher |
| Jedidiah Huntington | Revolutionary War General |
| Jedidiah Vincent Huntington | Author |
| Joshua Huntington | Clergyman of Note |
| Samuel Huntington - (in-law) | First President of the United States (Really!) |
Benjamin was graduated at Yale in 1761, was admitted to the bar and practised law in Norwich, Conn. He was appointed a member of the convention held at New Haven for the regulation of the army, by the recommendation of Washington in 1778. He was a delegate from Connecticut to the Continental congress, 1780-84 and 1787-88; mayor of Norwich, 1784-96; a representative in the 1st U.S. congress, 1789-91; state senator, 1781-90 and 1791-93, and judge of the superior court of the state, 1793-98.
He was married, May 5, 1765, to Anna, daughter of Col. Jabez and Sarah (Wetmore) Huntington, and their son Benjamin (1777-1850), married Faith Trumbull, daughter of Gen. Jedidiah Huntington. (q.v.)
He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Dartmouth in 1782 and that of A.M. from Yale in 1787.
He died in Norwich, Conn., Oct. 16, 1800.
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans:
Volume V
See this Bio
of Benjamin Huntington from the Huntington Site.
He was graduated at Hamilton college in 1836, and while an undergraduate he painted his first picture, "Ichabod Crane Flogging a Scholar." He studied art under Prof. S. F. B. Morse at the University of the City of New York and at the National Academy of Design, 1835-36. He spent the summer of 1836 in the highlands of the Hudson; exhibited in the National Academy of Design in 1837, and was made an associate academician in 1839 and an academician in 1840.
He was married, June 16, 1840, to Sophia Richards, of Brooklyn, N.Y. He studied in Paris, Florence and Rome in 1839, and again in 1843-45.
He produced Sibyl, Christian Prisoners and Shepherd Boy (1839); An Old Gentleman Reading, being a portrait of his father, painted in 1837, exhibited at the Academy in 1838, and which attracted much attention, and Mercy's Dream (1841). His visit abroad in 1843-45 re-suited in The Sacred Lesson, The Communion of the Sick, and other notable works in radical contrast to his earliest boyhood efforts, which produced the Bar Room Politician and A Toper Asleep. His visit along the Hudson in 1836 produced several Views near Vetplanck's, and the Dunderburg Mountains. In 1837 he painted the Rondout Creek at Twilight and the Shawangunk Mountain Lake. He was president of the National Academy of Design, 1862-69, and 1877-91; president of the Century association, 1879-95, and vice-president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hamilton college conferred on him the degree of A.M. in 1850 and that of LL.D. in 1869. His more important works not above mentioned include: the Roman Penitents (1844); Christiana and Her Children; Queen Mary Signing the Death Warrant of Lady Jane Grey; Lady Jane Grey and Feckenham in the Tower (18,50); Republican Court (1861); Sowing the Word (1869); St. Jerome(1870); Juliet on the Balcony (1870); The Narrows, Lake George (1871); Titian; Clement VII and Charles V. at Bologna; Philosophy and Christian Art (1878); The Goldsmith's Daughter (1884). His portraits include many of the notable men of his time, including Presidents Van Buren, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Arthur; Gen. John A. Dix, William Cullen Bryant, Chancellor Ferris, James Lenox, Louis Agassiz, Robert C. Winthrop, John Sherman, and Generals Sheridan and Sherman. His later works include the American Projectors of the Atlantic Cable, a group for the Chamber of Commerce; and portraits for the same collection.
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume V, page 445
Dewitt Clinton Huntington - Preacher
He attended the schools of his native town, and afterward took a course in ancient and modern languages in Rochester, N.Y. He married, May 25, 1853, Mary E. Moore, of Chelsea, Vt. He became a member of the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church by reception into the Vermont conference in 1853; was pastor at Proctorsville, Vt., 1853-55, at Brattleboro, Vt., 1855-57, and was transferred to western New York. He served as pastor at Hornellsville, 1857-59; Trumansburgh, 1859-61; Rochester, N.Y., 1861-71; Syracuse, N.Y., 1873-76; Rochester, N.Y., 1876-79; Bradford, Pa., 1882-85, and 1889-91; Olean, N.Y., 1885-89; Lincoln, Neb., 1891-96.
His wife died in 1865, and be was married in 1868 to Frances H. Davis, of Rochester, N.Y. He was pastor in Rochester, N.Y., thirteen years, serving the Asbury church three pastoral terms. He was presiding elder, 1871-73, 1879-82, and 1896-98; was a member of the general conferences, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1896 and 1900, and of the Methodist Ecumenical conference in London in 1881.
He was a trustee of Syracuse university, 1873-79. In March, 1898, he was elected chancellor of the Nebraska Wesleyan university. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Genesee college in 1868; that of LL.D. from Syracuse university in 1899; and is credited as a graduate alumnus ad eundem of the Syracuse university, D.D., 1874. He is the author of Sin and Holiness (1898), and of several published addresses and sermons."
Jedidiah was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1763; and he received the degree of A.M. from both Harvard and Yale in 1770. He engaged in business with his father; was a Son of Liberty, a member of the committee of correspondence in 1774, and joined the army of Washington at Cambridge with a regiment of militia of which he was colonel, April 20, 1775. He was present at Danbury, Conn., in April, 1776, when he effected a junction with Arnold, and the British were repulsed. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general at Washington's request, May 12, 1777, and in July he joined General Putnam at Peekskill, N.Y., with all the Continental troops he could collect. He was sent to the vicinity of Philadelphia, and shared with Washington the hardships at Valley Forge, 1777-78. In May, 1780, he was ordered again to the North river and was an officer of the courts-martial that tried Gen. Charles Lee in July, and Maj. John André in September. At the close of the year his was the only Connecticut brigade that remained in the service. He was brevetted major-general for his services in the war of the Revolution and was one of the four American officers appointed to draft the constitution of the Society of the Cincinnati, reported May 13,1783. After the war he was sheriff, state treasurer, and delegate from Connecticut to the convention that adopted the Federal constitution. He was appointed by President Washington collector of the port of New London, and served 1789-1815. He was a member of the first board of foreign missions. He entertained Washington, Lafayette, Steuben, Pulaski and Lauzan.
His first wife, Faith, was a daughter of Governor Trumbull, Jr, and his second wife, Ann, was the daughter of Thomas Moore, and sister of Bishop Richard Channing Moore, of Virginia. Stephen Moore, his wife's uncle, was the owner of West Point, N.Y., and it was through the recommendation of General Huntington that the spot was selected for the site of the U.S. Military academy. He died in New London, Conn., Sept. 25, 1818.
The Backus lineage of Jedidiah Huntington is:
He was a student at Yale, but left on account of ill-health, and was graduated at the University of the City of New York, A.B., 1835, A.M., 1838, and at the University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1838. He studied at Union Theological seminary, 1836-37; was professor of mental philosophy, St. Paul's college, Flushing, N.Y., 1838-41, and was ordained deacon in 1841, and priest, Feb. 24, 1842. He was rector of St. Stephen's church, Middlebury, Vt., 1842; travelled in the south and in Europe, 1842-48, and while abroad embraced the Roman Catholic faith.
He was editor of the Metropolitan, Baltimore, Md., 1853-54; founder and editor of the Leader, St. Louis, Mo., 1855-57; and engaged in literary work in New York city, 1857-61. He published: The Northern Dawn and other Poems (1842); Lady Alice, a novel (3 vols., 1849); Alban, or the History of a Young Paritan (1850); The Pretty Plate (1852): The Forest, a sequel to Alban, (1853); Blonde and Brunette (1858); Rosemary (1800).
He died in Paris, France, March 10, 1862."
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans:
Volume V
He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1804, A.M., 1807; and studied theology under Dr. Dwight, the Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Conn., and Dr. Morse, of Charlestown, Mass. He was licensed to preach in September, 1806; and preached in various pulpits until he was ordained as colleague pastor of the Old South church, Boston, May 18, 1808, with the Rev. Dr. Joseph Eckley. Dr. Eckley died, April 30, 1811, and Mr. Huntington became sole pastor. He was recording secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Intemperance, 1814; helped to found the Society for Educating Pious Youth for the Gospel Ministry, 1815, which society became known as the American Educational society; declined an election as resident member of the Massachusetts Historical society in 1816; was first president of the Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor, founded in 1816; and was elected secretary of the Boston Foreign Mission society in 1819.
He suffered greatly from ill health during the last years of his ministry. He was married on May 18, 1809, the first anniversary of his ordination, to Susan, daughter of the Rev. Achilles Mansfield, of Killingworth, Conn., and a descendant on her mother's side from John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. She wrote "Little Lucy, or the Careless Child Reformed" (1820); and her memoirs, published after her death, and containing extracts from her journal and letters, were prepared by the Rev. Benjamin B. Wisher, passed through four American editions and were republished in England and Scotland. Mr. Huntington received the honorary degree of M.A. from Harvard in 1808. He published: Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Abigail Waters (1817). He died at Groton, Mass., Sept. 11, 1819.
"HUNTINGTON, Samuel, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Windham, Scotland county, Conn., July 3, 1731; son of Nathaniel and Mehetabel (Thurston) Huntington; grandson of Deacon Joseph and Rebecca (Adgate) Huntington; great grandson of Deacon Simon and Sarah (Clark) Huntington, and great2 grandson of Simon and Margaret (Beret) Huntington, who left Norwich, England, for Massachusetts Bay in 1633 with their sons, William, Thomas Christopher and Simon, and the father dying of smallpox at sea, the mother settled in Roxborough, Massachusetts Bay colony, and married Thomas Stoughton, of Dorchester, in 1735-36.
Nathaniel Huntington was a farmer in moderate circumstances and Samuel had a limited education, worked on the farm, and learned the trade of a cooper. He did not begin serious study till he was twenty-two years old, when he learned to read the Latin language and studied law.
He settled as a lawyer in Norwich, Conn., about 1758, and was married, April 17, 1761, to Martha, daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, pastor of the church at Windham. They had no children.
He represented the town of Norwich in the general assembly in 1764, where he opposed the stamp act. He was, however, appointed king's attorney in 1765, and held the office for several years. He was appointed associate judge of the superior court of Connecticut, and was a member of the upper house of the general assembly in 1775.
He was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1776-82, signed the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, and was president of the body from Sept. 28, 1779, to July 6, 1781.
On retiring he received a vote of thanks "in testimony of appreciation of his conduct in the chair and in execution of public business." In August, 1781, [p.449] he resumed his seat as justice of the superior court of Connecticut and as a member of the council or upper house of the general assembly. He was re-elected a delegate to congress in May, 1782, but did not take his seat owing to the condition of his health. He was again elected in 1783 and took his seat while the congress was assembled at Princeton, N.J., serving from June 30 to November 4, and when the congress adjourned he gave formal notice of his resignation on account of continued illness. He was elected chief justice of the superior court of Connecticut in 1784; deputy-governor in 1785 and governor in 1786. He was continuously re-elected governor at the succeeding yearly elections up to the time of his death. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Yale in 1779 and that of LL.D. from the College of New Jersey in 1780 and from Yale in 1787. He died in Norwich, Conn., Jan. 5, 1796."
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume V. page 449
Links:
As well as The
Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution sketch
of him.
Copyright 1998 Norris Taylor