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Memucan Hunt

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Memucan Hunt
ca. 1759 byCharles Willson Peale,Philadelphia artist, from oil paintings on wood. State Archives of North Carolina
BornAugust 23, 1729
DiedSeptember 1808
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Politician, planter
Known forN.C. Senator, First Treasurer of North Carolina
SpouseMary "Polly" Wade (m. March 19, 1754)
Children10, including Cpt. John Richard Hunt, I, Col. William Hunt, and Dr. Thomas Galatin Hunt, Sr.
RelativesMemucan Hunt, Jr.(grandson)

Memucan Hunt(1729–1808) was an earlyAmericanstatesman, planter, and the first person to hold the position ofNorth Carolina State Treasurerin its current form.[1]

Biography

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Memucan Hunt was born inVirginia Colonyon August 23, 1729. From ca. 1760 he lived atBurnside Plantation House,a two-story, weatherboarded, Federal style dwelling nearWilliamsboro, North Carolina.He owned nearly 16,000 acres (6,500 ha) of land, and considerable assets including 22 slaves, and property in Tennessee.[2]

In 1770, at the age of 41, Hunt was appointed Sergeant-at-Arms of theProvince of North CarolinaHouse of Burgesses, and in 1773 was elected as a Representative to the Assembly from Granville andButeCounties. He co-authored multiple pieces of legislation.[3]

When the spirit of independence began to rise in the colony, Hunt represented Granville County in the five Provincial Congresses. In 1777, with theWar for Independenceunderway, the fiscal needs of the colony were among its greatest concerns. Hunt was appointed Treasurer of the Hillsborough district, one of six district treasurers in the State at that time. He continued to hold office in theNorth Carolina General Assembly,and in 1779 was elected to the State Senate, serving as a member of the Committee of Accounts.[4]

In November 1783, the General Assembly, in session at New Bern, abolished the district treasurer offices and established the singular fiscal position of State Treasurer and elected Hunt to fill the post. He took office on January 1, 1784, at a salary of 500 pounds per year.[5]During his term in office, he unwittingly honored fraudulent claims for military service stemming from the Revolutionary War (paying too generously soldiers who had fought in the Revolutionary War, and in some cases, paying soldiers who had not fought at all). While he was never charged, he was defeated for re-election in 1787 byJohn Haywood.[6]

Hunt retired from politics toGranville County,where he resided at home with his family, became a wealthy planter, and served as Justice of the Peace until 1792. He died at home in North Carolina in September of 1808.[7]He married Mary ( "Polly" ) Wade, a relative of GeneralWade Hampton,on March 19, 1754 and together had ten children.[2]

Legacy

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His grandson,Memucan Hunt, Jr.,was the namesake forHunt County, Texas.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^Samuel A. Ashe, ed.,History of North Carolina,vol. 2 (1925)
  2. ^abPowell, William S.Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. III.Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988, p. 232.
  3. ^E. H. Hummel, comp.,Hicks' History of Granville County,vol. 1 (1965)
  4. ^Lewis, J.D."Royal Colony of North Carolina, 27th House of Burgesses".Carolana.RetrievedOctober 24,2019.
  5. ^Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century, Edward McGrady and Samuel A. Ashe, Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller, 1892.
  6. ^Keeper of the Public Purse, Harlan E. Boyles, Appalachian State University, 1994.
  7. ^Papers relating to the estate of Memucan Hunt and Granville County records (North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh)
  8. ^Ray, Worth Stickley,Austin Colony Pioneers, Including History of Bastrop, Fayette, Grimes, Montgomery and Washington Counties, TexasGenealogical Publishing Company, 1995, p. 147.
  9. ^Handbook of Texas Online - HUNT, MEMUCAN
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