Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/354

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HUNTINGTON
HUNTINGTON

He was judge of probate in his district in 1813. During the Revolution he was a commissary of brigade, and untiring in his exertions to procure supplies for the army. — Another son, Joshua, soldier, b. in Norwich, Conn., 16 Aug., 1751, began business with his father. After the battle of Lexington he commanded a hundred boys of the town, and joined Putnam's brigade. Subsequently he was ordered by the Continental congress to build a frigate of thirty-six guns, which was constructed in the Thames at Gale's Ferry in 1777. — Another son, Ebenezer, soldier, b. in Norwich, Conn., 26 Dec., 1754; d. there, 17 June, 1834, entered Yale in 1771, but left to join the army, and afterward was given his degree. He served first as a lieutenant in Col. Samuel Wyllis's regiment, and was made captain in June, 1776. Afterward he became brigade-major under Gen. Parsons, and deputy adjutant-general to Gen. Heath on the Hudson river. In 1777 he was a major in Col. Webb's regiment, which he commanded in Rhode Island in 1778. In that year he became lieutenant-colonel, and commanded a battalion of light troops at Yorktown, afterward serving as volunteer aide to Gen. Lincoln till the close of the war. He retired to private life in 1783, and in 1792 was made a general of state militia. He was named a brigadier-general by Gen. Washington in 1799 when war with France was threatened. He served in congress in 1810-'11 and in 1817-'19, and was also a member of the legislature. Gen. Huntingdon was considered one of the best disciplinarians in the army. — Jedidiah's son, Joshua, clergyman, b. in Norwich, Conn., 31 Jan., 1786; d. in Groton, Mass., 11 Sept., 1819, was graduated at Yale in 1804. He was licensed to preach by the New London association in September, 1806, and ordained pastor of the Old South church, Boston, on 18 May, 1808, which charge he held till his death. He was one of the founders of the American educational society in 1815, and was president of the Boston society for the religious and moral instruction of the poor, which was founded in 1816. He was the author of the “Life of Abigail Waters” (1817). — His wife, Susan Mansfield, author, b. 27 Jan., 1791; d. in 1823, wrote a story entitled “Little Lucy.” Her memoirs, with her letters, journal, and poetry, were published by Benjamin B. Wisner (Boston, 1829; republished in Scotland). — Jedidiah's second son, Daniel, clergyman, b. in Norwich, Conn., 17 Oct., 1788; d. in New London, Conn., 21 May, 1858, studied in Brown, but was graduated at Yale in 1807. He was pastor of the Congregational church in North Bridgewater, Mass., from 1812 till 1832. He then taught a young ladies' school in New London, but in 1841 resumed his pastoral charge in North Bridgewater. He was the author of “Religion,” a poem delivered at Brown, 31 Aug., 1819; “Triumphs of Faith,” delivered at Andover seminary, 21 Sept., 1830; and a “Memorial” of his daughter, Mary Hallam. — Jedidiah's nephew, Jabez Williams, jurist, b. in Norwich, Conn., 8 Nov., 1788; d. there, 1 Nov., 1847, was the son of Zachariah Huntingdon. He was graduated at Yale in 1806, studied in the Litchfield law-school, and practised in that town for thirty years. He was a member of the assembly in 1829, and a representative in congress from 1829 till 1834, when he removed to Norwich, became judge of the superior court the same year, and also of the supreme court of errors. He was elected to the U. S. senate as a Whig in place of Thaddeus Betts, serving from 1840 till his death.


HUNTINGTON, Lucius Seth, Canadian states- man, b. in Compton, Quebec, 26 May, 1827 ; d. in New York city, 19 May, 1886. He was the grand- son of a New England loyalist who removed to Canada and settled at Compton toward the end of the 18th century. He was educated at Sherbrooke, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in 1853, and appointed queen's coun- sel in 1863. He contested Shefford for the Canada assembly in 1860, when there was no return, repre- senting that constituency from the general election of 1861 till the union, and in the Dominion parlia- ment from 1867 till 1882, when he was defeated. He was a member of the executive council of Canada, and solicitor-general of Lower Canada from May, 1863, till March, 1864, when the Sand- field Macdonald-Dorion government resigned. He became a member of the privy council of Canada, 29 Jan., 1874, and was president of that body from that time until appointed postmaster-general, 9 Oct., 1875, which portfolio he held until the resig- nation of the government in October, 1878. Dur- ing the absence of the premier, Alexander Mac- Kenzie, in England in 1875, Mr. Huntington acted as minister of public works. He took an active part in prosecuting the inquiry relative to the Canadian Pacific railway scandal, which resulted in the fall of the Conservative government in Oc- tober, 1873. He was largely interested in mining industries, and had for years been engaged in de- veloping those of the province of Quebec. For three years before his death he resided in New York city, undergoing treatment for a malady that at last proved fatal. He was regarded in Canada as a pronounced annexationist, and some of his politi- cal titterances in favor of this project tended to render him unpopular toward the close of his po- litical career. He was the author of a novel, " Pro- fessor Conant " (New York, 1884).


HUNTINGTON, Samuel, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Windham, Conn., 3 July, 1731; d. in Norwich, Conn., 5 Jan., 1796. His education was limited, and he learned the trade of a cooper, also working on his father's farm, and devoting his liesure to study till he was twenty-two, when he turned his attention to law. He settled in Norwich about 1758, which town he represented in the general assembly in 1764. He received the office of king's attorney in 1765, and in 1775 sat in the upper house of the Connecticut assembly. He was a member of the Continental congress from 1776 till 1783, and served as president of this body from 28 Sept., 1779 till 6 July, 1781, when he retired, receiving the thanks of congress “in testimony of appreciation of his conduct in the chair and in the execution of public business.” From 1774 till 1784 he was a judge of the supreme court of Connecticut, and was chief justice in 1784. In 1785 he was lieutenant-governor, and he was governor of Connecticut from 1786 till 1796. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Dartmouth in 1785, and by Yale in 1787. - His brother, Joseph, clergyman, b. in Windham county, Conn., 5 May, 1735; d. in Coventry, Conn., 25 Dec., 1794, was compelled by his father to be a clothier, but when he was of age he went to Yale, where he was gradu-