Background
Jabez was born on 7 August 1719 in Norwich, Connecticut to Joshua and Hannah (Perkins) Huntington. He was a descendant of Simon Huntington whose widow arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633.
Jabez was born on 7 August 1719 in Norwich, Connecticut to Joshua and Hannah (Perkins) Huntington. He was a descendant of Simon Huntington whose widow arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633.
He graduated from Yale College in 1741.
At Norwich his father had been a successful pioneer merchant. There he united with the church and entered the West India trade.
In the midst of a prosperous commercial career Huntington devoted much of his time to public affairs. He was a justice of the peace for New London County and for many years represented Norwich in the Assembly. In May 1757 he was chosen clerk of the Assembly and in May 1760 he became the speaker of the House of Representatives. In May 1754 he was captain of a troop of horse in the 3rd Regiment and in May 1760 he was made a lieutenant in the first company of the 5th Regiment; four years later he became captain of this company.
In the years immediately preceding the Revolution the Huntingtons were a family of wealth and social prestige. Of the six chaises in Norwich, that of Jabez Huntington was undoubtedly the finest, being studded with brass nails and having a top that could be thrown back. In the early struggles between the Crown and the colonies he supported the colonists. When Gov. Thomas Fitch determined to support the Stamp Act and assembled his council that he might take the oath in their presence, Huntington was one of the seven members who withdrew rather than witness the offensive ceremony. In May 1764 he was chosen assistant by the Assembly and in May of the following year he was made lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Regiment of the colonial militia. He became probate judge for the Norwich district in May 1773 and the next year was chosen moderator of a large meeting assembled in Norwich on June 6 to "take into consideration the melancholy situation of our civil, constitutional Liberties, Rights, and Privileges". In May 1775 he was made a member of the Council of Safety and for four years he served that committee with tireless zeal. In December 1776 he was appointed one of the two major-generals from Connecticut, and when David Wooster died from a wound received during the retreat of the British forces from Danbury in April 1777, Huntington was appointed major-general over the entire militia of Connecticut.
His excessive labors exhausted him and in February 1779 he was seized with a nervous disorder which brought about his death, though he lingered on until October 1786.
On January 20, 1742, he married Elizabeth Backus. She died in 1745 and the following year he married Hannah Williams who survived him twenty-one years.