Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/352

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HUNTINGTON
HUNTINGTON

when he accepted a clerkship in the state depart- ment at Washington. He remained in the govern- ment service till his death, when he held the office of second assistant secretary of state, to which he had been appointed in 1866 by special act of con- gress. His thorough familiarity with all branches of our foreign relations rendered him one of the most efficient servants of the government either at home or abroad. His memory was prodigious, and he was always able to set forth clearly the thread of a protracted by-gone negotiation or the history of a half-forgotten claim. — Another son, Charles, naval officer, b. in Newport, R. I., in 1813 ; d. at sea, 22 Nov., 1873, entered the U. S. navy in 1831, was commissioned 1st lieutenant in 1841, and re- tired at his own request in 1855. When the civil war began he volunteered in the U. S. navy, was commissioned commander, and assigned to the steamer " Montgomery " of the Gulf squadron. In 1862, while in command of this ship, he chased a British blockade runner into Cuban waters, and fired on her. This breach of neutrality was inves- tigated, and Commander Hunter was placed on the retired list. In 1866, by an act of congress, he was made captain on the retired list, and he after- ward resided at Newport, R. I.


HUNTINGTON, Benjamin, jurist, b. in Norwich, Conn., 19 April, 1736; d. there, 16 Oct., 1800. He was graduated at Yale in 1761, practised law in Norwich, and was a member of the Continental congress in 1780-'4 and 1787-'8. In 1789-'91 he served in the 1st congress under the constitution, and in 1781-'91 and 1791-'3 was state senator. In 1793 he became judge of the superior court of the state, which office he held till 1798. From 1784 till 1796 he was mayor of Norwich. Dartmouth gave him the degree of LL. B. in 1782. — His son, Benjamin, b. in 1777; d. 3 Aug., 1850, was a broker of New York city, married the daughter of Gen. Jedediah Huntington. — Their son, Jedediah Vincent, author, b. in New York city, 20 Jan., 1815 ; d. in Pau, France, 10 March, 1862, was graduated at New York university in 1835, and in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1838. He devoted himself to literature, and was professor of mental philosophy in St. Paul's college, near Flushing, L. I., for three years. He was or- dained in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1841, and was rector of a church in Middlebury, Vt. In 1846 he went to Europe, where he remained till 1849, and where he became a Roman Catholic. He edited the " Metropolitan Magazine " in Baltimore from 1853 till 1854, after which he founded the "Leader "in St. Louis, and edited it from 1855 till 1857. He returned to France in 1861. He published " Poems " (New York, 1843) ; " Lady Alice, or The New Una " (3 vols., New York and London, 1849) ; " Alban, or the History of a Young Puritan " (1850 ; 2d ed., 1853) ; "The Pretty Plate " (1852); "The Forest," a sequel (1853) ; "America Discovered " (1853) ; " Blonde and Brunette " (1858) ; and "Rosemary" (1860). Mr. Huntington trans- lated Franchere's " Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in 1811-14" (1854); and Segur's " Short and Familiar Answers to Ob- jections against Religion" (1854). — Another son, Daniel, artist, b. in New York, 14 Oct., 1816, studied at Hamilton college, and while there made the acquaintance of Charles L. Elliott, from whom he imbibed a love of art. In 1835 he studied with Samuel F. B. Morse, who was then president of the National academy of design, and produced " The Bar - Room Politician " and " A Toper Asleep." In 1836 he spent several months in the highlands of the Hudson, and painted views near Verplanck's, the Dunderberg mountain, and Ron- dout creek at twilight and sunset. He went to Europe in 1839, and resided for a time in Koine. On his return to New York he painted portraits, and began to illustrate " Pilgrim's Progress," but his eyesight failed and he returned to Europe in 1844. In 1846 he again returned to New York and devoted himself chiefly to portraits, although he has executed a great number of genre and histori- cal pieces. He be- came an associate of the National academy in 1839, an academician in 1840, and its presi- dent in 1862, hold- ing that office un- til 1869, and being

re-elected in 1877.

His works include "The Florentine Girl" and "Early Christian Prisoners" (1839); "The Shep- herd Boy of the Campagna " (1840) : " The Roman Penitents " (1844) ; " Christiana and her Children," "Queen Mary signing the Death Warrant of Lady Jane Grey," " Lady Jane Grey and Feckenham in the Tower" (1850); "Chocorua" (1860); "Repub- lican Court " (1861) ; " Sowing the Word " (1869) ; " St. Jerome," " Juliet on the Balcony " (1870) ; " The Narrows, Lake George " (1871) ; " Titian," " Clem- ent VII. and Charles V. at Bologna," " Philoso- phy and Christian Art " (1878; : and " Gold- smith's Daughter" (1884). Among his portraits are those of President Lincoln in the Union League club, New York city; Chancellor Ferris, of New York university; Sir Charles Eastlake, and the Earl of Carlisle, owned by the New York historical society ; President Van Buren, in the State library at Albany ; James Lenox, in Lenox library ; Louis Agassiz (1856-'7) ; William Cullen Bryant (1866) ; John A. Dix (1880) ; and John Sherman (1881).


HUNTINGTON, Collis Potter, railroad-builder, b. in Harwinton, Litchfield co.. Conn., 22 Oct., 1821. He was educated in a local school, secured his freedom from his father when fourteen years old by promising to support himself, and, engaging in mercantile business, spent ten years in travelling through the south and west, subsequently settling with an elder brother in Oneonta, Otsego co., N. Y. In October, 1848, the brothers made a shipment of goods to California, which Collis followed in March. After spending three months in trading on the isthmus, he began business in a tent in Sacramento, dealing in the various articles that are required in mining life. He afterward opened a large hardware-store in the city, became associated in business with Mark Hopkins, and in 1860 matured a scheme for a transcontinental railroad, Le- land Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mr. Hopkins having united with him in paying the expenses of a survey across the Sierra Nevada mountains. Five men organized the Central Pacific railroad company, of which Mr. Stanford was elected president, Mr. Huntington, vice-president, and Mr. Hopkins, treasurer. After congress had agreed to aid the enterprise by an issue of bonds, Mr. Huntington and his associates carried on the construction of the railroad out of their private means until the bonds became available by the comple-