Abraham Hunt

Abraham Hunt (1741–1821) was a wealthy American merchant and farmer in Trenton, New Jersey, first Postmaster of Trenton, and served in the American Revolutionary War as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Hunterton County militia. He was a prominent member of the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton. Early in the revolution he was a member of the Provincial Congress that held some of its sessions in Trenton. He played the host and placated the German Hessian commander Johann Rall before the Battle of Trenton. Suspected of duplicity for his accommodation to the Hessians, Hunt was charged with treason, but was acquitted and went on to serve in the cause for American independence. After the war, Hunt became involved in the politics and business interests of Trenton and New Jersey overall. Early years Hunt was the second oldest among five children of his father, Wilson Hunt (1714–1782), and mother, Susannah Price Hunt (1715–1783). He was born on February 16, 1741, and raised on their farm in Hopewell Township in New Jersey. He married Theodosia Pearson on February 21, 1764, in Hopewell. Their marriage brought all Hunt's four children, Pearson, Wilson, John W., and Theodore Hunt. Sometime after Theodosia died in 1784. Hunt married Mary Dagworthy, the sister of General John Dagworthy, where she taught school in a building on South Broad Street later known as the Eagle Hotel. After the French and Indian War, in 1763, Hunt became a successful merchant and leading citizen of Trenton, NJ. In 1764, at the age of twenty-one, Hunt joined in partnership with Moore Furman and together they established the merchant firm of Furman and Hunt, in Trenton. The firm quickly prospered and came to dominate river trade on the Trenton-Philadelphia. Hunt became a wealthy land owner and the principal merchant in Trenton who conducted a successful business in general merchandise from a shop connected with his home on the corner of King and Second Streets. In 1770 Hunt served as a commissioner for purposes of improving navigation on the Delaware River. As hostilities between the colonists and Britain increased in the early 1770s hunt was active in leading some of the protests. Beginning in 1769, Hunt served on the Board of trusties of the First First Presbyterian Church, in Trenton. The original church was built in 1712. When a new church was built in Trenton, Hunt was one of the largest contributors for the property and its construction. The cornerstone was laid on April 15, 1805.