Norfolk County MA Archives Biographies.....Hunt, Joel 1782 - 1852
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Author: E. O. Jameson (1886)

JOEL HUNT, ESQ.

   JOEL HUNT, a young merchant, removed to Medway in 1811, and in connection
with his father-in-law, Maj. Luther Metcalf, purchased what was called the
"Garnsy farm" in the west precinct, consisting of eighty acres lying northerly
of Charles River and west of Chicken Brook. They subsequently purchased the
Richardson farm, easterly of Chicken Brook, and both sides of Charles River.
Maj. Luther Metcalf, Joel Hunt, and Luther Metcalf, Jr., under the firm name of
Metcalf, Hunt & Company, built in 1813, a factory on the site now occupied by
Campbell's paper mill, and were early manufacturers of machinery and cotton
goods. Some of the first machinery put in operation at Amoskeag Mills,
Manchester, N. H., was built at this factory. The town and parish records for
nearly forty years indicate Mr. Hunt to have been almost continuously in active
office of selectman, assessor, overseer of the poor, etc. In 1843 he was elected
to the Legislature and served the session of Governor Marcus Morton. He was an
ardent Jeffersonian Democrat, and one of the only seven in town who cast a vote
for Andrew Jackson. We append the following obituary, written by the Rev. Dr.
Ide soon after his decease:

   "JOEL HUNT, ESQ., died Sept. 1, 1852, aged seventy. He left behind him to
mourn his loss, a wife and ten children. He was a kind husband and an
affectionate and indulgent father. Few men would be more missed in their
families than he. His good sense, his kind heart and social nature, made him a
pleasant companion everywhere. A man of native talent, an independent thinker, a
shrewd observer of the world, he had acquired a rich fund of practical
information, which often served to render his conversation both instructive and
entertaining. His store of anecdotes was inexhaustible. Something appropriate
and striking from this source seemed instantly to occur to his mind on every
subject and occasion on which he chose to speak. In this way, he could at
pleasure excite a smile or draw a tear, illustrate a truth, or administer a
reproof; compliment a friend, or retort upon an adversary. He was a useful
citizen, much engaged in the business of the town, and of individuals who sought
his counsel and his aid; and his accommodating spirit often led him to neglect
his own business for the sake of giving aid to others. He was frequently elected
to some of the most important offices in the gift of the town, and discharged
the duties of these stations with credit to himself and satisfaction to his
friends. He was good to the poor and afflicted; always on hand in the day of
trouble. A friend to law and order and good morals, he exerted himself for the
promotion of these in the community in which he lived. He was a cheerful
supporter of the Gospel, and a regular attendant upon its institutions. He spoke
freely, especially in his last illness, of the sanctity of the Sabbath, the
value of the Bible as the word of God, and of the truth and importance of that
religion which it inculcates. His death is deeply lamented, not only by his
bereaved family and the religious society of which he had been a fast and active
friend for forty years, but with sorrow by all who knew him." Vid. The Hunt
Genealogy.


Additional Comments:
THE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT PERSONS,
AND
The Genealogical Records
OF
MANY EARLY AND OTHER FAMILIES
IN
MEDWAY, MASS. 1713-1886.
Illustrated
WITH NUMEROUS STEEL AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
BY
E. O. JAMESON,
THE AUTHOR OK "THE COGSWELLS IN AMERICA," "THE HISTORY OF MEDWAY, MASS." ETC.
MILLIS, MASS. 1886.

Copyright, 1886.
E. O. JAMESON, MILLIS, MASS.
All Rights Reserved.

J. A. & R. A. REID, PRINTERS, PROVIDENCE, R. I.


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