Simon HUNTINGTON
Biography

Huntington.

The Huntington pedigree offers a good illustration of the uncertainty of tradition, even when the details appear to have been carefully preserved, and the lapse of time is not more than a century. The Rev. Joseph Huntington, of Coventry, Ct., of the fourth generation from the first emigrant, collected and embodied the reminiscences that had been preserved in the family concerning their progenitor, which were in substance these :

That the ancestor of the family, Simon Huntington, was a citizen of Norwich in England, who, during the reign of Charles tho First, (about 1640,) embarked with his wife and three sons for America; that he was a Puritan, suffering from persecution, but had a brother Samuel who was captain of the king's life-guard, and high in the royal favor ; that the said Simon Huntington was nearly fifty years of age, his. wife some years younger, and their three sons, Christopher, Simon, and Samuel, in the bloom of youth; and that they made their course for the mouth of Connecticut river. "But our progenitor, (says the MS.,) being seized with a. violent fever and dysentery, died within sight of the shore ; whither he was brought, and now lies buried, either in Saybrook or Lyme, as both towns were but one at first."

The above statement was long unquestioned, and has been repeated and perpetuated in various narratives and historical annals. It is, however, ascertained from authentic documents that the family arrived at an earlier date and upon a different part of the coast, and the other incidents mentioned have not been substantiated by later inquiries.

The church record at Roxbury, Mass., contains the following entry, in the hand-writing of the Rev. John Eliot, who was then the minister of that place :

"Margaret Huntington, widow, came in 1633. Her husband died by the way, of the small pox. She brought children with her."

The rest is left blank. The name of the husband is not mentioned, nor the names or number of the children, but the record makes it evident that , this emigrant family landed in Massachusetts and not at Saybrook, and if the husband was buried on the coast, it. was more likely to be on Nantasket beach than on the banks of the Connecticut.

The widow Margaret Huntington united with Roxbury church, and is afterward found at Windsor, Ct., as the wife of Thomas Stoughton, the family having removed thither in 1635 or '36.

Tradition is uniform in naming the husband who died on the voyage, Simon, and a letter registered in an ancient volume of Connecticut Records that has been recently brought to light,* enables us to settle some points 'respecting this Huntington family, that were formerly left doubtful; viz., the number of the children, the order of seniority of the souls, and the maiden name of the mother.

This letter, written from Norwich, England, April 20, 1650, and ad dressed to "Cozen Christopher Huntington," acknowledges a letter from him dated at Seabrook, Sept. 20, 1649, and is signed, "Your loving uncle, Peter Baret."

It relates principally to the disposition to be made of certain remittances that had been forwarded by the writer to his brother Stuwton, [Stoughton,] amounting to £140, which he directs to be divided in certain proportions, as his gift, between the three brothers and their sister Ann.

We learn from this letter that the children of Margaret Huntington were four in number : three sons, Christopher, Simon, and Thomas, apparently in this order of seniority, and a daughter Ann, whose position in the line is uncertain. The whole group, at the time of their emigration, were probably under eight years of age.

The letter shows also that the mother of the family was originally Margaret Baret, of Norwich, Eng. From Bloomfield's History of that ancient town, we learn that Christopher Baret was Mayor of Norwich in 1634, and again in 1648. It is not unlikely that this Mayor was the father or a near relative of Margaret, and that from him the oft-repeated name of Christopher first crept into the Huntington nomenclature.

Of the daughter, Ann, nothing further is known. We may presume that her uncle's marriage dowry of £27 would assist in settling her eligibly in life, and we may yet obtain some fortunate hint that will show into what family she was ingrafted.

Thomas Huntington, though apparently the youngest of the brothers, was the first admitted to political privileges. He was made a freeman by the General Court at Hartford in May, 1657 ; Christopher in May, 1658 ; Simon, not till after his settlement in Norwich, 1663.

Thomas Huntington was one of the company that first purchased and settled Newark in New Jersey. This company was gathered from the towns on the southern coast of Connecticut, from Milford to New London inclusive, and had the Rev. Abraham Pierson for their spiritual guide. Previous to their departure from Connecticut, a body of the planters met at Bradford, and adopted, Oct. 30, 1660, certain "fundamental agreements touching their intended design." This was signed by twenty-three "heads of families," of whom Thomas Huntington was one.

He is subsequently traced at Newark, as sergeant of the train-band in 167",; afterward, as one of the seven townsmen to whom the municipal affairs of the plantation were intrusted, and finally as deputy to the Assembly in 1658. He had a son, Samuel, who continued the line in New Jersey.

History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession by the Indians to the Year 1866 Author Frances Manwaring Caulkins Publisher By H.P. Haven, 1874

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