William H. Hunt - Wikipedia

American judge (1823–1884) For the United States District Judge of the same name, see William Henry Hunt (judge).

William H. Hunt
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Russian Empire
In officeAugust 23, 1882 – February 27, 1884
President	Chester A. Arthur
Preceded by	John W. Foster
Succeeded by	Alphonso Taft
29th United States Secretary of the Navy
In officeMarch 7, 1881 – April 16, 1882
President	James A. GarfieldChester A. Arthur
Preceded by	Nathan Goff Jr.
Succeeded by	William E. Chandler
Judge of the Court of Claims
In officeMay 15, 1878 – March 11, 1881
Appointed by	Rutherford B. Hayes
Preceded by	Ebenezer Peck
Succeeded by	Glenni William Scofield
Attorney General of Louisiana
In office1876
Governor	William Pitt Kellogg
Preceded by	Alexander Pope Field
Succeeded by	Hiram R. Steele
Personal details
Born	William Henry Hunt(1823-06-12)June 12, 1823Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	February 27, 1884(1884-02-27) (aged 60)Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Resting place	Oak Hill CemeteryWashington, D.C., U.S.
Alma mater	Yale UniversityYale Law School

William Henry Hunt (June 12, 1823 – February 27, 1884) was the 29th United States Secretary of the Navy, Minister to the Russian Empire and a judge of the Court of Claims.

Early life

[edit]

Hunt was born on June 12, 1823, in Charleston, South Carolina,[1] He was the youngest of five sons born to Louisa (née Gaillard) Hunt (1786–1850), sister of U.S. Senator John Gaillard, and Thomas Hunt (1780–1830), who had been born in Nassau, Bahamas where his grandfather Robert Hunt held the position of Governor-General of the Bahamas for many years. His father was a member of the Louisiana State Legislature, a prominent lawyer, and a successful planter.[2] Among his siblings was Theodore Gaillard Hunt, a U.S. Representative from Louisiana, Randell Hunt, a Louisiana State Senator, Dr. Thomas Hunt Jr., a founder of the Medical College of Louisiana and president of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University).

He attended Yale University and Yale Law School, then read law with Theodore Hunt and Randell Hunt in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1]

Career

[edit]

He entered private practice in New Orleans from 1844 to 1878.[1] He served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army in 1862.[1] He was an acting professor of civil law for the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) in 1866.[1] He was Attorney General of Louisiana from 1876 to 1877.[1]

Federal judicial service

[edit]

Hunt was nominated by President Rutherford B. Hayes on April 18, 1878, to a seat on the Court of Claims (later the United States Court of Claims) vacated by Judge Ebenezer Peck.[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 15, 1878, and received his commission the same day.[1] His service terminated on March 11, 1881, due to his resignation.[1][3]

Secretary of the Navy

[edit]

Hunt served as United States Secretary of the Navy from 1881 to 1882, in the cabinets of President James A. Garfield and President Chester A. Arthur.[1]

Minister to Russia

[edit]

Hunt served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Russian Empire for the United States Department of State from 1882 to 1884.[1]

Personal life

[edit]

Hunt was married to Elizabeth Ridgely Hunt (d. 1864), daughter of Commandant Charles Goodwin Ridgely and the former Cornelia Louisiana Livingston (a granddaughter of Walter Livingston and Chancellor Robert R. Livingston). Together, Elizabeth and William were the parents of seven children, six sons and one daughter, including:[4]

• Ridgely Hunt (1854–1916), a Lt. in the U.S. Navy.[5]
• Thomas Hunt (1855–1933), who married Helen Jewett, a daughter of U.S. Representative Hugh Judge Jewett, in 1888.[6][7]
• Randell Hunt (1856–1898)
• William Henry Hunt Jr. (1857–1949), the Attorney General of Montana, Governor of Puerto Rico and Federal judge.[8]
• Livingston Hunt (1859–1943),[9] a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy who married Catharine Howland Hunt (1868–1963), a daughter of architect Richard Morris Hunt.[10][11]
• Cornelia Ridgely Hunt (1861–1930), who married Dr. William Kelly Newton (1850–1909) in 1905.[12]
• Gaillard Hunt (1862–1924), a historian who married Mary Goodfellow.[13]

After the death of his first wife in 1864, he remarried to Sarah Harrison Barker (1819–1908), a daughter of New York merchant John T. Adams, in 1866.[2]

He died on February 27, 1884, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire.[2] His body was returned to the United States and after a funeral at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington.[14][15] He was a member of The Boston Club of New Orleans.[16]

Legacy and honors

[edit]

Two ships in the United States Navy have been named USS Hunt for Hunt.[citation needed]

References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Hunt, William Henry - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
2. ^ a b c "DEATH OF MINISTER HUNT.; HIS CAREER IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE --A MESSAGE FROM THE CZAR". The New York Times. February 28, 1884. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
3. ^ The United States Court of Claims : a history / pt. 1. The judges, 1855-1976 / by Marion T. Bennett / pt. 2. Origin, development, jurisdiction, 1855-1978 / W. Cowen, P. Nichols, M.T. Bennett. Washington, D.C.: Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States. 1976.
4. ^ Du Pont, Samuel Francis (1969). Hayes, John Daniel (ed.). Samuel Francis Du Pont: The repulse: 1863-1865. Samuel Francis Du Pont: A Selection from His Civil War Letters. Vol. 3. Eleutherian Mills Historical Library. p. 48.
5. ^ "Died". The New York Times. February 25, 1916. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
6. ^ "MR. AND MRS.THOMAS HUNT". The New York Times. 15 April 1888. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
7. ^ Jewett, Frederic Clarke (1908). History and Genealogy of the Jewetts of America; a Record of Edward Jewett, of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and of his two emigrant sons, Deacon Maximilian and Joseph Jewett, settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1639; also of Abraham and John Jewett, early settlers of Rowley, and of the Jewetts who have settled in the United States Since the Year 1800. New York: The Grafton Press. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
8. ^ "JUDGE WILLIAM HUNT, PUERTO RICO EX-HEAD". The New York Times. February 5, 1949. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
9. ^ "REAR ADMIRAL HUNT; In Service for 42 Years -- Saw Action in Spanish War". The New York Times. January 19, 1943. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
10. ^ "In Honor of Livingston Hunt". The New York Times. June 23, 1892. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
11. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (February 26, 1953). "LIVINGSTON HUNT JR". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
12. ^ "DR. WM. KELLY NEWTON DEAD. Former Health Officer of This City and Prominent Paterson Physician". The New York Times. December 21, 1909. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
13. ^ "GAILLARD HUNT IS DEAD.; Prepared History of the World War for State Department". The New York Times. March 21, 1924. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
14. ^ "THE LATE MINISTER HUNT'S BURIAL". The New York Times. April 7, 1884. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
15. ^ "Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Van Ness) - Lot 163 East" (PDF). oakhillcemeterydc.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
16. ^ "History of the Boston club, organized in 1841, by Stuart O. Landry".

External links

[edit]

• Media related to William H. Hunt at Wikimedia Commons
• "Hunt, William Henry - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.

Legal offices
Preceded byAlexander Pope Field	Attorney General of Louisiana 1876	Succeeded byHiram R. Steele
Preceded byEbenezer Peck	Judge of the Court of Claims 1878–1881	Succeeded byGlenni William Scofield
Government offices
Preceded byNathan Goff Jr.	29th United States Secretary of the Navy 1881–1882	Succeeded byWilliam E. Chandler
Diplomatic posts
Preceded byJohn W. Foster	Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Russian Empire 1882–1884	Succeeded byAlphonso Taft

v t e United States secretaries of the Navy
Secretaries	Cabinet-level Stoddert Smith Hamilton Jones Crowninshield S Thompson Southard Branch L. Woodbury Dickerson Paulding Badger Upshur Henshaw Gilmer Mason Bancroft Mason Preston Graham Kennedy Dobbin Toucey Welles Borie Robeson R Thompson Goff Hunt Chandler Whitney Tracy Herbert Long Moody Morton Bonaparte Metcalf Newberry Meyer Daniels Denby Wilbur Adams Swanson Edison Knox Forrestal Dept. of Defense Sullivan Matthews Kimball Anderson Thomas T. Gates Franke Connally Korth Nitze Ignatius Chafee Warner Middendorf Claytor Hidalgo Lehman Webb Ball Garrett O'Keefe Dalton Danzig England Winter Mabus Spencer Braithwaite Del Toro
UnderSecretaries	Forrestal Bard A. Gates Sullivan Kenney Kimball Whitehair Thomas T. Gates Franke Bantz Fay BeLieu Baldwin Baird Warner Sanders Middendorf Potter Macdonald Woolsey Murray Goodrich Garrett Howard Danzig Hultin Pirie Livingstone Aviles Work Davidson Modly Raven
AssistantSecretaries	Pre–1954 Fox Faxon Soley McAdoo T. Roosevelt Sr. Allen Hackett Darling Newberry Satterlee Winthrop F. Roosevelt G. Woodbury T. Roosevelt Jr. Robinson Jahncke H. Roosevelt Edison Compton Bard Hensel Kenney Andrews Koehler Askins Fogler Post–1954 Financial Management and Comptroller Energy, Installations and Environment Manpower and Reserve Affairs Research, Development and Acquisitions General Counsel of the Navy defunct: Air Installations and Logistics Material Research and Development Research, Engineering and Systems Shipbuilding and Logistics

v t e Cabinet of President James A. Garfield (1881)
Secretary of State	James G. Blaine (1881)
Secretary of the Treasury	William Windom (1881)
Secretary of War	Robert Todd Lincoln (1881)
Attorney General	Wayne MacVeagh (1881)
Postmaster General	Thomas Lemuel James (1881)
Secretary of the Navy	William H. Hunt (1881)
Secretary of the Interior	Samuel J. Kirkwood (1881)

v t e Cabinet of President Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
Secretary of State	James G. Blaine (1881) Frederick T. Frelinghuysen (1881–1885)
Secretary of the Treasury	William Windom (1881) Charles J. Folger (1881–1884) Walter Q. Gresham (1884) Hugh McCulloch (1884–1885)
Secretary of War	Robert Todd Lincoln (1881–1885)
Attorney General	Wayne MacVeagh (1881) Benjamin H. Brewster (1881–1885)
Postmaster General	Thomas Lemuel James (1881) Timothy O. Howe (1881–1883) Walter Q. Gresham (1883–1884) Frank Hatton (1884–1885)
Secretary of the Navy	William H. Hunt (1881–1882) William E. Chandler (1882–1885)
Secretary of the Interior	Samuel J. Kirkwood (1881–1882) Henry M. Teller (1882–1885)

v t e Attorneys general of Louisiana
Martin Mazureau Moreau-Lislet Robertson Mazureau Preston Morphy Eustis Mazureau Roselius Preston Elmore Johnson Morse Moïse Semmes Goode Herron Lynch Beldon Field Hunt Steele Ogden Egan Cunningham Rogers Cunningham Guion Pleasant Coco Saint Porterlie Ellison Gardiner Stanley LeBlanc Kemp LeBlanc Gremillion Guste Ieyoub Foti Caldwell Landry Murrill

v t e United States ambassadors to Russia
Russian Empire (1780–1917)	Dana Adams Pinkney Campbell Middleton Randolph Buchanan Wilkins J. Clay Dallas Cambreleng Todd Ingersoll Bagby Brown Seymour Pickens Appleton C. Clay Cameron C. Clay Curtin Orr Jewell Boker Stoughton Foster Hunt Taft Lothrop Tree C. Smith White Breckinridge Hitchcock Tower McCormick Meyer Riddle Rockhill Guild Marye Francis
Soviet Union (1933–1991)	Bullitt Davies Steinhardt Standley Harriman W. Smith Kirk Kennan Bohlen Thompson Kohler Thompson Beam Dubs Stoessel Toon Watson Hartman Matlock Strauss
Russian Federation (1991–present)	Strauss Pickering Collins Vershbow Burns Beyrle McFaul Tefft Huntsman Sullivan Tracy

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States
Other	SNAC