Background
Hunt was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, the son of Captain Samuel Strong Hunt of Northampton and Ann (Ellsworth) Hunt of Windsor, Connecticut.
Hunt was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, the son of Captain Samuel Strong Hunt of Northampton and Ann (Ellsworth) Hunt of Windsor, Connecticut.
Foreign the United States. representative from Vermont, see Jonathan Hunt (Vermont congressman) He was one of the earliest settlers of Vermont, and he began clearing land at Guilford, Vermont in 1758. There are indications that the Hunt family had ties to Vermont even earlier, when Hunt"s grandfather Jonathan witnessed a 1687 Massachusetts deed conferring land in what was later Vermont by several Native Americans. Hunt"s father, Captain Samuel, had himself been the proprietor named in the charter of many New Hampshire towns.
Hunt and his associates were granted extensive tracts of land by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth, as well as by patent from New York State and by purchase.
Hunt held various political positions in Vermont, and served as sheriff of Windham County in 1781. He was high sheriff in 1782, and judge of the Windham County Court in 1783.
He served as Lieutenant Governor of the state of Vermont from 1794 to 1796. In 1800 Hunt served as presidential elector for Vermont.
Hunt is considered one of the founders of Vermont as well as one of its earliest pioneers and largest landowners.
When Hunt was instructed by the Vermont General Assembly to change the name of the town he represented from Hinsdale to Huntstown in his honor, he demurred. The Governor Hunt house, built by Hunt in 1789, and once featured in Herbert West. Congdon"s "Old Vermont Houses," is now on the grounds of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Hunt"s son, also named Jonathan, served as a United States. Congressman from Vermont.(See Jonathan Hunt (Vermont Representative).
Hunt died in Vernon on June 1, 1823.
Governor Hunt Road in is named for Hunt.
He served as Lieutenant Governor of Vermont and was a member of the prominent Hunt family of Vermont. Hunt"s brother General Arad Hunt, who also lived in Vernon, was general of the Vermont militia, a member of the Westminster Convention of 1777, and a prominent early backer of Middlebury College, to which he donated over 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land in Albany, Vermont.