HUNTINGTON
HUNTINGTON
ity of Philadelphia, and shared with "Washing-
ton the hardsliips at Valley Forge, 1777-78. In
May, 1780, he was ordered again to the North
river and was an officer of the courts-martial that
tried Gen. Charles Lee in July, and Maj. John
Andre in September. At the close of the year his
was the only Connecticut brigade that remained in
the service. He was bre vetted major-general for
his services in the war of the Revolution and was
one of the four American officei"s aiijiointed to
draft the constitution of the Society of the Cincin-
nati, reported May 13,1783. After the war he was
sheriff, state treasurer, and delegate from Con-
nec;ticut to the convention that adopted the
Federal constitution. He was appointed by
President Washington collector of the port of
New London, and served 1789-1815. He was a
member of the first board of foreign missions.
He entertained Washington, Lafayette, Steuben,
Pulaski and Lauzan. His first wife, Faith, was
a daughter of Governor Trumbull, and his second
wife, Ann, was the daughter of Thomas Moore,
and sister of Bishop Richard Channing Moore, of
Virginia. Stephen Moore, his wife's uncle, was
the owner of West Point, N.Y., and it was
through the recommendation of General Hunt-
ington that the spot was selected for the site of
the U.S. Military academy. He died in New
London, Conn., Sept. 25, 1818.
HUNTINGTON, Joshua, clergyman, was born in Norwich, Conn., Jan. 31, 1786; son of Gen. Jedidiah and Ann (Moore) Huntington and grand- son of Gen. Jabez and Elizabeth (Backus) Hun- tington. He was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1804, A.M., 1807; and studied theology under Dr. Dvvight, the Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Conn., and Dr. Morse, of Charlestown, Mass. He was licensed to preach in September, 1806 ; and preached in various pulpits until he was ordained as colleague pastor of the Old South church, Boston, May 18, 1808, with the Rev. Dr. Joseph Eckley. Dr. Eckley died, April 30, 1811, and Mr. Huntington became sole pastor. He was record- ing secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Intemperance, 1814 ; helped to found the So- ciety for Educating Pious Youth for tlie Gospel Ministry, 1815, which society became known as the American Educational society ; declined an election as resident member of the Massachusetts Historical society in 1816 ; was first president of the Society for the Moral and Religious Instruc- tion of the Poor, founded in 1816 ; and was elected secretary of the Boston Foreign Mission society in 1819. He suffered greatly from ill-health dur- ing the last years of his ministry. He was mar- ried on May 18, 1809, the first anniversary of his ordination, to Susan, daughter of the Rev. Achilles Mansfield, of Killingworth, Conn., and a descendant on her mother's side from John
Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. She wrote
" Little Lucy, or the Careless Child Reformed"
(1820) ; and her memoirs, published after her
death, and containing extracts from her journal
and letters, were prepared by the Rev. Benjamin
B. Wisher, passed through four American edi-
tions and were republished in England and Scot-
land. Mr. Huntington received the honorary
degree of M.A. from Harvard in 1808. He pub-
lished : Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Abigail Waters
(1817). He died at Groton, Mass., Sept. 11, 1819.
HUNTINGTON, Samuel, signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence, was born in Windham,
Scotland county. Conn., July 3, 1731 ; son of
Nathaniel and Mehetabel (Thurston) Huntington ;
grandson of Deacon Joseph and Rebecca (Adgate)
Huntington ; great-
grandson of Deacon
Simon and Sarah
(Clark) Huntington,
and greats-grandson
of Simon and Mar-
garet (Baret) Hunt-
ington, who left Nor-
wich, England, for
Massachusetts Bay in
1633 with their sons,
William, Thomas,
Christopher and Si-
mon, and the father
dying of smallpox at
sea, the mother set-
tled in Roxborough,
Massachusetts Bay colony, and married Thomas
Stoughton, of Dorchester, in 1735-36. Nathaniel
Huntington was a farmer in moderate circum-
stances and Samuel had a limited education,
worked on the farm, and learned the trade of a
cooper. He did not begin serious study till he
was twenty-two years old, wdien he learned to
read the Latin language and studied law. He
settled as a lawyer in Norwich, Conn., about 1758,
and was married, April 17, 1761, to Martha,
daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, pastor
of the church at Windham. They had no children.
He represented the town of Norwich in the gen-
eral assembly in 1764, where he opposed the
stamp act. He was, however, appointed king's
attorney in 1765, and held the office for several
years. He was appointed associate judge of the
superior court of Connecticut, and was a member
of the upper house of the general assembly in
1775. He was a delegate to the Continental con-
gress, 1776-82, signed the Declaration of Independ-
ence of July 4, 1776, and was president of the
body from Sept. 28. 1779, to July 6, 1781. On re-
tiring he received a vote of thanks " in testimony
of appreciation of his conduct in the chair and in
execution of public business." In August, 1781,
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