BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW                         551

    HENRY W. HUNT, a popular resident of Hancock, N.Y., was born in Thompson, Sullivan County, December 19, 1828. His grandfather, John Hunt, who was of Irish descent on the paternal side, and Dutch on the maternal, was born in Woodstock, Ulster County, where the family were early pioneers. He married a daughter of Captain Cortright, one of the most prominent men in Ulster County, who commanded the company in the Revolutionary War in which Henry Hunt's great-grandfather served. John Hunt resided at Woodstock when the Indians and Tories raided that section of the country, leaving desolation and ruin behind. The family had just time to flee to the block-house in the village before their house was destroyed. At the close of the war John Hunt resumed his former occupation of farming in his native town, remaining there until the latter part of the century, when he removed to Sullivan County and became a pioneer settler of Thompson, dying there at an advanced age. He was a stanch Whig. His wife lived to be over ninety years of age, retaining all her faculties until the last, and remembering many interesting anecdotes of the Indian wars, which she related to her children and grandchildren.
    Jacob Hunt, son of John and father of the subject of this biography, was also born in Woodstock, the date of his birth being February 1, 1802. He was but seven years of age when he removed with his parents to Sullivan County, where he assisted his parents on the home farm. There were four children, of whom he was the eldest, namely: Jacob; Abraham; Allsop; and Jane, who married a German miller, Henry Dalmetch, of Bingham-

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ton. Jacob Hunt was a carpenter and farmer, and married Nellie Wynkoop, who was descended from an old Dutch family of New York State, and owned a farm in Sullivan County adjoining that of John Hunt. Jacob Hunt was a large man of wonderful strength and indomitable courage, who was always called upon to settle disputes in the town where he was a prominent and much respected citizen. He later purchased a farm in Galilee, Pa., and there passed his last days, dying when over eighty years of age. He was three times married, the result of his first union being eleven children, as follows: Henry, David, Hulda, Mary, Ennace, Nancy J., Jacob, John, Abraham, Reuben, and Francis--all of whom are now living except David, who died in 1884 in Wisconsin. Hulda married Addison Pullis, a lumberman of Galilee, Pa.; Mary is the wife of George Ralston, a farmer in Jackson County, Wis.; Ennace married Wesley Wilcox, of Galilee; and Nancy is the wife of Charles Weeks, of Thompson, Sullivan County.
    Henry W. Hunt was educated in his native town, and learned the blacksmith's and carpenter's trades, which he followed for fifteen years. August 12, 1855, he married Rachel Tyler, daughter of Smith and Polly (Baxter) Tyler. The Tyler family was one of the first to settle in Hancock, and gave the name to several localities of this section. The Baxters were also pioneers here, Jesse Baxter, grandfather of Mrs. Hunt, being one of the original settlers of Harvard in the town of Hancock. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have had four children, namely: Ophelia, born June 28, 1856, who died May 29, 1858; Polly E., who was born March 1, 1858, married George W. Pine, of Thompson, Sullivan County, and was the mother of three children--Blanche, Frederick M., and Floy L.; Marshall, born February 27, 1860, a contractor in New York City; and Carrie, who was born December 13, 1866, and married Frank Verdon, a telegraph operator at Maybrook, Orange County.
    Mr. Hunt was justice of the Peace for two terms in Thompson, and is a member of the East Branch Camache Tribe of Red Men. He is a Republican in politics, having cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, and has supported the party since that time. Mrs. Hunt is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the family is universally esteemed throughout the town where they reside.

Source:

Biographical Review: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of the Leading Citizens of Delaware County, New York, Boston, Biographical Review Pub. Co., 1895, pp. 551-552.