Jane Clothier Hunt or Jane Clothier Master (26 June 1812 – 28 November 1889) was an American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

who hosted the Seneca Falls meeting of

Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...

and

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...

Life

Hunt was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1812 to William and Mary Master. She moved to Waterloo in New York in 1845 when she married fellow Quaker Richard Pell Hunt, a prominent local businessman and landowner. As progressive Quakers, Hunt and her husband were believers in social reform and humanitarian causes. They were both active supporters of abolitionism and the women's rights movement. Hunt's home in Waterloo is thought to have functioned as a station of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

, with a carriage house that was converted to a way station for fugitive slaves. Women's membership and role was an important topic of discussion in Hunt's Quaker community, and she worked actively to improve women's position in the church. Hunt was one of the members of a local Quaker

monthly meeting In the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), a monthly meeting or area meeting is the basic governing body, a congregation which holds regular meetings for business for Quakers in a given area. The monthly meeting is responsible for the administr ...

which proposed removing the official inequality between men's and women's meetings described in the book of discipline; this proposal was adopted at a regional level at the Genesee

Yearly Meeting Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of constituent meetings or churches within a geographical area. The constituent meetings are called Monthly Meetings in ...

in 1838. Hunt had four children with her husband (one died at childbirth), and was step-mother to Richard's three children from a previous marriage. Richard Hunt died on November 7, 1856. After his death, Hunt continued to live in the family home.

The Seneca Falls Convention

In 1848, Jane Hunt was part of a group of women who invited the reformer

to visit New York, with Hunt offering to host the gathering at her home. Mott stayed with her pregnant sister, Martha Wright, who lived in the area.Martha C Wright
nps.gov; retrieved 16 August 2016. Hunt invited a number of Quaker women including

Mary Ann M'Clintock Mary Ann M'Clintock or ''Mary Ann McClintock'' (1800-1884) is best known for her role in the formation of the women's suffrage movement, as well as abolitionism. Life M'Clintock was born on February 20, 1800 in Burlington, New Jersey. She was mar ...

as well as

, who was not a Quaker. The day at Hunt's home was an important re-meeting between Mott and Stanton, who had met eight years before at the

World Anti-Slavery Convention The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The ex ...

in London. They had both been invited to the convention but they had to suffer the indignity of sitting separately and not being allowed to speak because they were women. As a result of the meeting at Hunt's home on July 9, it was agreed to arrange an open meeting at Seneca Falls later in the month. Hunt and the other women present drafted a call for attendees that was published in the ''Seneca County Courier'' on July 14. The assembly that would come to be known as the

Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".Wellman, 2004, p. 189 Held in the Wesleyan Methodist Church ...

is considered to be the first organized meeting about women's rights.Judith Wellman
"Jane Hunt"
''Historical New York'', National Park Service, Retrieved 16 August 2016 Hunt and her husband were both signatories to the

Declaration of Sentiments The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention to be organized by women. Held in Sen ...

and attended the Convention.

Death

Hunt died in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1889; her body was buried in Waterloo beside her husband.

Legacy

Hunt's philanthropy after her husband's death included funding land for a chapel for Saint Paul's Church in Waterloo. The

Hunt House Hunt House or Hunt Farm may refer to: ;in Canada * Hunt House, Calgary, in Alberta ;in the United States (by state) * Hunt Bass Hatchery Caretaker's House, Phoenix, Arizona, listed on the NRHP in Phoenix, Arizona * Thomas Hunt House, Plainview, ...

is a registered historic site.

References

External links