ENOCH HUNT

• Death Notes
  • Enoch Hunt
    Born:  1554
    Titenden Parish, Lee, Buckinghamshire, England  
    Died:  18 Nov 1653
    Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA 
    

• General Notes
  • Enoch Hunt
    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, RI, and Weymouth, MA, 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 m. at Weymouth the Widow Dorothy Barker and by her had a dau. Sarah b. 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, ENG, records show the m. in 1609 at Little Baddow, a Parish near Lee, of Enoch Hunt and Sarah Palmer. A son Ephraim was b. abt 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, RI, in 1638 (bit of a puzzle because Newport was not organized until 1639) and then moving to Weymouth, MA, where (presumably) a dau. Sarah by the widow Barker was conceived abt Nov 1639 and born 4 July 1640. Skipping now to 1884, a desc. of Enoch's alleged son Ephraim (Mrs. J. A. Weisse of NY 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, ENG, 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, RI. He and "Ephraim" boarded that ship and set sail for RI 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 RI 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 m. 1st at Weymouth abt 1645 Anna Richards by whom he had children John, Thomas, and Ephraim, b. between 1646 and 1650, Anna died and he m. 2d her friend Ebbett Brimsmead by whom he had children William, Enoch, and Joseph, b. between 1655 and 1670. Ephraim died at Weymouth 22 Feb 1687. After the 1st m. 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, MA, Court in 1652, by which time his alleged 2d wife, the Widow Barker, had already m. 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 Rev. 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.
    Children of Enoch1 Hunt (1) and Sarah Palmer (2) were as follows:
    
    +  2  i.   Ephraim2 Hunt (4) was born in 1610 at England. He married Anna Richards (7), daughter of Thomas Richards (1065) and Welthean (--?--) (1066), circa 1645. He married Ebbett Brimsmead (11) between 1646 and 1650.
    
    +  3  ii.   Peter Hunt (5) was christened on 4 Jul 1619 at Gt. Missenden, England. He married Elizabeth Smith (15), daughter of Henry Smith (484) and Judith ______ (485), on 10 Dec 1645 at Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony.
    
    
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    Enoch HUNT was born about 1554 in Lee, Bucks, Eng. Savage says in Weymouth by 1640, a blacksmith from Lee, a parish in Bucks near Wendover. Was, perhaps, he says, in Newport 1639. Had dau. Sarah b. 4, 1640 in Weymouth, and after some years went home leaving here Ephraim, who 18 Nov. 1652 had admin of estate of his father, prob dec. in England, Savage says. He testified in 1688 in Weymouth, MA.(1479) Peter Hunt the son of Enocke Hunt was borne the 22 of Septemb: 1681