John Hunter (August 4, 1778 – September 12, 1852) was an American businessman and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Life

He was born on August 4, 1778, the son of auctioneer Robert Hunter (–1800) and Ruth ( Breck) Hunter (–1840). He had two sisters, Elizabeth ( Hunter) Ludlow (wife of Gabriel Verplank Ludlow, nephew of

George Duncan Ludlow George Duncan Ludlow (29 September 1734 – 13 November 1808) was a lawyer and Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of the British Province of New York in the Thirteen Colonies who became the first Chief Justice of New Brunswick in Canada. Early life ...

) and Ruth ( Hunter) McEvers (wife of James McEvers, business partner of William Bayard Jr.). His father had emigrated from

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

to New York. After his father's death, his mother married Lt. Gov. John Broome (under Governors Morgan Lewis and

Daniel D. Tompkins Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician. He was the fourth Governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, and the sixth Vice President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkin ...

) in 1806. Broome died in 1810. Hunter graduated from Columbia College.

Career

Hunter continued his father's auctioneer and commission business before turning towards politics and selling the auction house at

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

and

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

s in 1810. He was one of the original directors of the

Delaware and Hudson Canal The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeast ...

in 1823 and served as Supervisor of

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

before becoming a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

(2nd D.) in

1823 Events January–March * January 22 – By secret treaty signed at the Congress of Verona, the Quintuple Alliance gives France a mandate to invade Spain for the purpose of restoring Ferdinand VII (who has been captured by armed revoluti ...

. He again served from 1836 to 1843, sitting in the

59th The 59th Quartermaster Company is a bulk petroleum company designed to provide semi-portable storage for of fuel and to provide distribution of fuel to military units within a specified geographic area while deployed overseas. Its secondary missi ...

, 60th, 61st, 62nd,

63rd 63rd may refer to: ;Metro stations *Ashland/63rd (CTA station), on the Green Line *East 63rd-Cottage Grove (CTA), on the Green Line *63rd (CTA Red Line), on the Red Line *63rd Street station (SEPTA Market–Frankford Line) on the Market-Frankford L ...

, 64th, 65th and

66th New York State Legislature The 66th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to April 18, 1843, during the first year of William C. Bouck's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the pro ...

Hunter's Island

Sometime before 1812, he bought "Appleby's Island", which became afterwards known as Hunter's Island, located off the shore of the Town of Pelham, in

, and now part of Orchard Beach in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. Hunter built a large mansion there. Hunter was originally buried on his island estate, but was re-interred in Beechwoods Cemetery in

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

after the estate was sold to Mayor

Ambrose Kingsland Ambrose Cornelius Kingsland (May 24, 1804 – October 13, 1878) was a wealthy sperm oil merchant who served as the 71st mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853. In 1851, he initiated the legislation that eventually led to the construction of Ce ...

in 1866.

Personal life

In 1799, he married Elizabeth Desbrosses (d. 1831), a daughter of Elizabeth ( Butler) Desbrosses and James Desbrosses, considered by to have been the wealthiest man in New York. Following her father's death, Elizabeth and her sister Charlotte (wife of Henry Overing) divided the 60,000 acres their father had acquired from the 2,000,000 acre Hardenburgh Patent. Before her death in February 1831, John and Elizabeth were the parents of: * Elias Desbrosses Hunter (1800–1865), who married Anna Maria Munro, a daughter of Margaret ( White) Munro (a granddaughter of Frederick Van Cortlandt) and diplomat

Peter Jay Munro Peter Jay Munro (January 10, 1767 – September 22, 1833) was an American lawyer and Federalist politician from New York. Early life Munro was born on January 10, 1767, in Rye in the Province of New York in what was then British America. He was t ...

of Manor Park (who was a nephew of

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

), in 1832. Hunter died on September 12, 1852.

Art collection

During his lifetime, Hunter amassed a substantial art collection that was considered "the nation's finest private collection of old master art." After Hunter's death and the death of his son Elias, the family gathered his "extensive collection of ancient and modern pictures removed from his gallery and residence at Hunter's Island" and offered the art for sale at an auction administered by Henry H. Leeds & Miner, Auctioneers in January 1866.

Descendants

Through his son Elias, he was a grandfather of Elias Desbrosses Hunter Jr. (who died young), Elizabeth Desbrosses Hunter (who married William Heathcote DeLancey Jr., son of

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

William Heathcote DeLancey), Anna Maria Hunter (married Peter Jay Munro Van Cortlandt), Adele Hunter (died unmarried), and John Hunter III (1833–1914), who inherited Hunter's Island and sold it to former mayor

in 1866 for $127,501. John Hunter III married Annie Manigault Middleton of

Middleton Place Middleton Place is a Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plantation in Dorchester County, South Carolina, Dorchester County, along the banks of the Ashley River West Ashley, west of the Ashley and about northwest of downtown Cha ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, John 1778 births 1852 deaths Democratic Party New York (state) state senators People from Pelham, New York Columbia College (New York) alumni 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature