EPHRAIM HUNT 1610-1686

[Ancestral Link: Lura Minnie Parker (Stagge), daughter of Minnie May Elmer (Parker), daughter of Mark Alfred Elmer, son of William Elmer, son of Sarah Peak (Elmer), daughter of Joanna Ellingwood (Peake), daughter of Joanna Hunt (Ellingwood), daughter of Ephraim Hunt, son of Thomas Hunt, son of Ephraim Hunt.]

Ephraim Hunt - grave 1686 10 May 2008, North Weymouth Cemetery, Weymouth, Massachusetts Photo of Ephraim Hunt's grave - died 1686
Photo from website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25850135@N02/

North Weymouth Cemetery
Birth: 1610, Buckinghamshire, England
Death: February 29, 1687, Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Here Layeth Buried y Body of Ephrain HuntAged About 77 years.
Deceased y 22nd of December 1682
Weymouth death record:Ephraim Hunt: February 29(sic), 1686/7 at 77 years (G.R.14)
Burial: North Weymouth Cemetery, Weymouth, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Find A Grave Memorial# 40999544
found on findagrave.com

Captain was a blacksmith
Captain Ephraim Hunt
Male, born circa 1610, died 22 February 1686/87

Captain Ephraim Hunt was a blacksmith.1 He was born circa 1610 at Parish of Lee, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire, England.1 He was the son of Enoch Hunt. Captain Ephraim Hunt married Anna Richards, daughter of Thomas Richards and Wealthan Loring, circa 1645.1 Captain Ephraim Hunt died on 22 February 1686/87 at Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts.1 He was buried on 24 February 1687 at Old North Cemetery.1

Child of Captain Ephraim Hunt and Anna Richards
Major Ephraim Hunt+ born 1650, died 26 June 1713

Citations
[S7] George Walter Chamberlain, Genealogies of the Early Families of Weymouth, p. 313.
found on ancestry.com

Ephraim's Story
(II) Ephraim, son of Enoch Hunt, was born in England, about 1610, and came to Rhode Island and later to Weymouth with his father. He was a blacksmith by trade. He gave a letter of attorney, December 5, 1646, for the collection of property in Beaconsfield, Buckshire, England, formerly of John Hunt, of Winchmore Hill, in Agmondsham parish. Perhaps this John Hunt was his grandfather. Ephraim settled at Weymouth, and married Anna, daughter of Thomas and Welthea Richards, of Ebbett Brinsmead, England. She was a sister of William Richards, of Weymouth. Her will dated April 23, 1708, proved September 9, 1712, mentions her son William, of Martha 's Vineyard; son Joseph, with whom she lived for many years, and others. She died September 9, 1711. Edmund Soper Hunt, in his "Reminiscences", says that Ephraim Hunt was a knighted cavalier of Prince Rupert's troops and that his real name was Colonel Sir William Hunt. He was a refugee from the disastrous field of Marston Moor, and changed his name to avoid detection. He received his knighthood after the siege of York, in which he distinguished himself. He died February 22, 1686-87, and is buried near the Soldier's monument in Weymouth, on Burying Hill.

Children:

John, born 1646;

Thomas, 1648;

Ephraim, 1650;

William, 1655;

Enoch, 1658;

Joseph,1661.
found on ancestry.com

Story backing up Ephraim AKA William Hunt

Thanks to Mr. Kelly Garnett for sharing this old article from the Centralia Guard Newspaper.

"On May 21, 1838, Enoch Hunt VII, his wife (Harriet Newell Cooke) and their children had their covered wagon and oxen loaded on a flat boat at the river front at Hannibal, Missouri and crossed the Mississippi River going to their new home in Monroe County, Missouri. The children with them were Lewis Augustus Fidelia Loraine, Henry Keith, Zachariah Bates and Erastus.
Enoch Hunt VII and his family left Weymouth, Massachusetts in the late summer of 1837 but spent the winter months with relatives living in New York State. They continued on to Monroe County, Missouri as soon as the spring weather permitted them to travel. They journeyed along until they reached the Strother area in Monroe county where they were in the process of buying farm land. The children born to this couple after they came to Monroe County were Hiram Cooke, Aurelia Torrey, Angeline Matilda, Enoch Jr. and Adresia.

Enoch Hunt, Mrs. Harriet Hunt and Augustus Hunt became charter members of the Presbyterian Church in the Strother Community.

Enoch Hunt VII was a descendant of Sir Anthony Hunt of Titenden, Lee Parish, Buckinghamshire, England. Sir Anthony never came to America but his son, Enoch Hunt (1st) was the first of his family to come to the New World. Rev. Joseph Hull, an Episcopal clergyman of Somersetshire, England sailed from Weymouth in Dorset, England, March 20, 1635. They landed at Dorchester, Massachusetts on June 7, 1635 and went directly to Weymouth, Massachusetts. Many ministers from Europe brought their followers to this country and settled along the New England coast. Enoch Hunt (1st) and his son, Ephriam, came in 1639 to Weymouth and joined Rev. Hull. The father soon returned to England.

Ephriam was an assumed name as he really was Col. Sir William Hunt in England but since he was a refugee from the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Marston Moor, he was constantly being hunted by Cromwell. At the siege of York, Col. Hunt became the hero of the day and the dignity of Knighthood was conferred upon him by Prince Rupert. After the defeat, Colonel Hunt fled to America. Quite a contrast to the once artillery officer and dashing Tory. He became a quiet citizen of the new country. He cropped his long hair and laid aside his fine dress as well as his title. He took the assumed name of Ephriam which really belonged to his cousin. Ephriam's lineage descendants were Captain Ephriam Hunt, Captain Ebenezer Hunt (Revolutionary Soldier), Enoch Hunt V, Asa Hunt, and then Enoch Hunt VII in the descendants of Sir Anthony Hunt. This last Enoch was the one who crossed the Mississippi River on May 21, 1838 with his family in the covered wagon drawn by four oxen. Enoch Hunt VII's youngest son., Enoch Hunt Jr. was in the Battle of Centralia (Civil War), Fought September 29, 1864. He fought with the Federal Soldiers, There is a letter from him encased under glass in a descendant's home near Mexico, Missouri which reads:

Dear Ones at home,
We had a fight at Centralia yesterday, with Anderson and we all got killed except 15. That we know of. We run to Sturgeon. We had 150 killed. They scalped all the officers. You may think that I want to get home but I do not care. I am doing well. I stopped at Mr. Conger's as we came up there and all the folks was well. The rebels was at there house the night before. I have seen more dead men than a few. I was not afraid even when I saw the men failing. I am in a hurry to help tend to things. I suppose that you had heard of it. I thought that you all fretting about me and so I thought I would write to let you know whether I was killed or not. You must excuse my bad writing. I must close so goodbye.

This from
Enoch, Jr.

Enoch Jr. returned home to Monroe County and later moved to Centralia. He became a part-time Holiness minister.

During the Civil War the older men who sympathized with the Federal side had to leave home and hide out because Anderson's men were prowling about hunting for these old men to kill them and also burning many of their homes. Anderson's men took all food they could find. Harriet and the girls stayed home to protect it. They worried about Enoch as he was about 65 years old and he had to hide out. They would not see him nor hear from him for months. It was a trying time for the families. Harriet wrote her husband about the different neighbors who were hiding too.

Harriet Newell Cooke Hunt has a distinguished background of ancestors. Her lineage went back to the Mayflower. Thirteen people, including the men, women and children who came on that boat were her ancestors. All of the seven men were signers of the Mayflower Compact. They were Francis Cooke, Stephen Hopkins, James Chilton, Richard Warren, Myles Standish, John Alden and William Mullins. Robert Crump Fields Jr., Attorney at Springfield, Missouri is a member of the Mayflower Society and has all this lineage certified.

Enoch Hunt VII, died in 1876 at Strother Monroe County, Missouri and was buried in the New Hope Cemetery there. Harriet, his wife, went to live with her youngest son, Enoch Jr. in Centralia. She died in 1896 there and was buried in the Centralia City Cemetery. In those days embalming was not known and so they were buried wherever they died. Her stone is also the marker for their eldest son, Lewis Augustus Hunt, who owned a flour mill in Centralia when he lived there.

To complete the lineage, Lewis Augustus Hunt and Susan Mary Crump Hunt's youngest daughter, Emma Amanda, married Thomas Wilson Fields and the lived in the Pleasant Hill area in Monroe county. They had three children, Robert Crump Fields, Mary Edna Fields Francis and Earl Dean Fields. Edna Francis, lives in Independence, Missouri. Earl Dean Fields died in 1942 leaving two daughters, Mrs. Raymond Smith (Emma Jane Fields) and Mrs. Charles Lee Garnett (Bula Dean Fields) living in Paris. Robert Crump Fields was a prominent attorney and businessman in Lebanon, Missouri when he passed away in 1953. He and Frances Reynolds Fields had one son, Robert Crump Fields, Jr. who is an attorney in Springfield, Missouri and was Missouri Department Secretary of State for almost three years. He has two children. Lee and Leslie Fields.

There are many families living in Paris, Mexico and Centralia area who are members of this fine family that settled here early in the history of our country and they should be proud of this heritage."
found on ancestry.com

More history of William Hunt
1644 and on, England and beyond
1. Enoch1 Hunt (1) married Sarah Palmer (2) circa 1609. He married Dorothy _____ (3) before 1639. He died before 1652 at England.

From Mitchell J. Hunt, The Early Hunt Families of Vermont: Enoch Hunt, 1638, of Newport, Rhode Island, and Weymouth, Massachusetts, start of the long so-called Weymouth Line of Hunts. Much on him and his family can be found in Wyman, but there are additional stories which provide a much different perception. In Wyman, he and his alleged son Ephraim were called Blacksmiths. Enoch is said to have married at Weymouth the Widow Dorothy Barker and by her had a daughter Sarah born at Weymouth 4 July 1640 (or presumably conceived late in 1639). According to Wyman, after the birth of daughter Sarah, Enoch returned to England alone and died there, power of administration of his estate, "not yet administered," granted to his son Ephraim in Boston Court 18, 9, 1652, OS.Buckinghamshire, England, records show the marriage in 1609 at Little Baddow, a Parish near Lee, of Enoch Hunt and Sarah Palmer. A son Ephraim was born about 1610 (no record); a son Peter Hunt was christened at Gt. Missenden 4 July 1619. Back to New England, there is record of Enoch Hunt being admitted to Newport, Rhose Island, in 1638 (bit of a puzzle because Newport was not organized until 1639) and then moving to Weymouth, Massachusetts, where (presumably) a daughter Sarah by the widow Barker was conceived about November 1639 and born 4 July 1640.

Skipping now to 1884, a descendant of Enoch's alleged son Ephraim (Mrs. J. A. Weisse of New York City) published a story (The Refugee--a Story of New England Two Centuries Ago, 38 pages in 5"x 7" print), which appears as an appendix to a History of the Bethune Family published in 1884. This is a romanticized story indeed (includes assumed dialogue between a number of parties, of which there could naturally be no record over 200 years later) and some of the story reported is inconsistent with the pivotal known date (Battle of Marston Moor, July 2, 1644). In any event, here is the gist of the story on Enoch Hunt, start of the Weymouth Line of Hunts and its branch at Rehoboth (and also, it is indicated, the Rhode Island Line of Hunts).

At the time of the Civil War in England (the Puritan Rebellion led by Cromwell) Enoch Hunt was the owner of a foundry at Titenden, Parish of Lee, Buckinghamshire, England, which was producing cannon for the Royalist forces. He had in his family there in 1644 a son Ephraim who had been ill for years and was near death. He also had a wife and a daughter who had grown up with his other children and their cousins. He also had a nephew, Sir William Hunt, who was in charge of the Royal Artillery at the Battle of Marston Moor, wounded in the battle, and escaped on horseback, pursued by the victorious forces of Cromwell. He made his way to his Uncle Enoch's house seeking shelter. Enoch's son Ephraim, about the same age and build as William, died that same night and Enoch decided to bury him as Sir William, William assuming the identity of his son Ephraim. Enoch had earlier visited New England, intending to establish his business there, and had a ship loaded ready to embark for Newport, Rhode Island. He and "Ephraim" boarded that ship and set sail for Rhode Island by the time the forces of Cromwell had reached Enoch's home. Cromwell's men were somewhat suspicious of a scam and sent messages to agents in Rhode Island to question Enoch further upon his arrival. According to the story, Enoch had a younger brother Bartholomew already living in Newport. (From the fact that this Bartholomew was married about the same time as Enoch's known children, had children born about the same time, and died in a similar time period, it would appear more likely that Bartholomew was also a son of Enoch rather than a younger brother.) Bartholomew got wind that the agents of Cromwell were waiting to question Enoch, so he intercepted Enoch's ship in the harbor and warned him to board another boat in the harbor and go to Weymouth, which course was followed. At Weymouth Enoch visited with old friends there who he had known in England, he and "son" Ephraim purchased property there and Ephraim married 1st at Weymouth about 1645 Anna Richards by whom he had children John, Thomas, and Ephraim, born between 1646 and 1650, Anna died and he married 2d her friend Ebbett Brimsmead by whom he had children William, Enoch, and Joseph, born between 1655 and 1670. Ephraim died at Weymouth 22 February 1687. After the 1st marriage of Ephraim, Enoch returned to England, intending to settle affairs there and return to Weymouth but he died in England before he could do so. Administration of his estate was granted to his alleged son Ephraim at Boston, Massachusetts, Court in 1652, by which time his alleged 2d wife, the Widow Barker, had already married John King of Weymouth.

With this, we leave the tangled records of the pioneer Enoch Hunt of Weymouth. His alleged son Ephraim (or is it nephew William) produced a long line of Hunts, which Wyman called the Military Line, because it produced a long line of military officers during the Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War, including the Civil War Generals Henry Jackson Hunt and his brother Lewis Cass Hunt and numerous other Civil War officers with names other than Hunt. found on ancestry.com

From Noel D Patterson
1644 and on, England to America

From "Records of traditions and biological sketches of the Hunt family, by J. L. Weisse, privately printed in 1866. "A.D. 1644 Colonel William Hunt was Chief of Artillery in the Royal Army, York, England. He was knighted by Prince Rupert for gallant conduct, in defence of the city of York; he was then 33 years old. After the defeat of the royalists at Martson Moor, he escaped from Cromwell, under the assumed name of a deceased cousin, Ephriam hunt; he came to America and settles in Weymouth Massachusetts. There he married Anna, the only daughter of Thomas and Weltrean Richards; she became the mother of 3 sons, who inherited large estates from their grandfather Richards. After the death of his wife Anna, Colonel Hunt married Ebbett Brimsmead, who bore him three other sons."

This story is as related by Samuel Hunt, born 1689 concerning the activities of his grandfather, Enoch Hunt. This is from the book, "A Hunt Family from 1610 in England via Massachusetts" by Noel D. Patterson.

The activities of his grandfather were very recent for him at the time as the war episodes were only 45 years before his birth.

" Ephriam Hunt's true name was William. He was a Tory Cavalier and was of the artillery in the army of Prince Rupert. Artillery at the time was not so generally understood as it has since become. Colonel Hunt was a very scientific man, of greatest proficiency in his department. The Royal Army lay at York, the city was besieged by insurgents; which such skill did he wield the arm of force with which he was entrusted, that the credit of causing the enemy to raise the siege of York was freely accorded him. The army was flushed with victory and Colonel Hunt was the hero of the day."

"Prince Rupert conferred the dignity of knighthood upon him and directed that his Coat of Arms should bear in a shield and a cannon, in addition to the Wolf's Head, the crest of the Hunt family, this was in 1644."

It is reported that the above was a favorite subject of Samuel Hunt, who was born in 1689. He always related the stories whenever the subject of family descent was discussed.
found on ancestry.com

Captain of the Colonial Army 1690, Canada

*The territory comprising the town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, "was granted to Captain Ephraim Hunt, of Weymouth, as a compensation for services rendered in the Canada expedition of 1690. It was actually conveyed to his heirs forty-six years afterwards, and was settled by a few families in 1742. It was incorporated as a town in 1764; previous to that time it went by the name of Huntstown, from the name of its original proprietor."--Barber's Hist. Coll. Massachusetts, p. 233." From Descendants of Ephram Hunt.
found on ancestry.com