EDWARD HUNTINGTON
The first American ancestor of this branch of the Huntington family of which
there is any authentic record was Simon, who spent his youth in Windsor,
Conn., but removed to Norwich in 1600, where he passed the remainder of his
life. Benjamin Huntington, one of his descendants and the grandfather of
the subject of this memoir, was born in Norwich, Conn., April 19, 1736,
graduated from Yale in 1761, and soon became a prominent lawyer in his
native town. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1780-88 and in
1789 was chosen from Connecticut to the first Congress of the United States.
From 1781 to 1790 and from 1791 to 1793 he was a member of the Upper House
of the Connecticut Legislature; in 1784 he became the first mayor of the
city of Norwich, an office he held till he resigned in 1796. In 1793 he was
appointed judge of the Superior Court and served in that capacity until
1798. During the Revolutionary War he rendered valuable service to the
State and was a member of the convention held at New Haven for the
regulation of the Army. On one occasion, in the absence from home of Judge
Huntington, his patriotic wife, in response to a pressing call on the part
of the army, sent all their bedding and available clothing to the heroic
soldiers, supplying their place on the bed by blankets cut from carpets on
the floor. His son, George Huntington, was born June 5, 1770, and was
married May 21, 1794, to Hannah Thomas, of Norwich, Conn. He came to
Whitestown, Oneida county, in 1792, and in 1793 removed to Rome (then Fort
Stanwix), where in partnership with a brother, Henry, he established the
first store at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, opening their goods for sale in the
tavern of John Barnard, which stood just northeast of the present court
house. Both were natives of Connecticut. In 1794 George Huntington built a
frame store and dwelling on Dominick Street and the firm continued
mercantile business till about 1816. He was the first supervisor of the
town of Rome in 1796, and held that office also in 1804, 1814, and 1817. In
1798 he was appointed one of the first side judges of the Common Pleas for
the new county of Oneida, and was reappointed in 1801 and 1804. In 1810 he
was elected to the Assembly and in 1813 defeated for the office of
lieutenant governor on the Federal ticket. In 1815 and again in 1822 he ran
for State senator, but was defeated. He was elected to the assembly in
1818, 1819, 1820, and in 1821, and from 1797 to 1819 officiated as collector
for the Western Inland Canal. He was trustee of Rome village in 1820, 1821,
1822, 1826, and 1827, and died, universally respected and esteemed,
September 23, 1841. He reared a family of eight children, of whom Edward
was the youngest.
Hon. Edward Huntington was born in Rome, June 23, 1817, and died here April 17, 1881. He prepared for college at Oliver C. Grosvenor’s school, but failing health compelled him to abandon the idea of a collegiate training and turn his attention to civil engineering for the sake of outdoor exercise. In this occupation he found an ample field for the development of his talents and the congenial employment of his native energy. He afterward spent some time in Cuba, where, with Benjamin H. Wright, he was engaged on railroad surveys. Returning to Rome he became one of the engineers on the Utica and Schenectady Railroad and in 1839 he was made chief of a corps of engineers employed on the enlargement of the Erie Canal, with headquarters at Fort Plain. Upon the death of his father in 1841 he resigned this position and retuned to Rome to look after the large landed and other property comprising the estate, which with his own interests commanded his attention ever afterward. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846 and rendered valuable service in that important body. He was also for several years president of the village of Rome.
In 1855 Mr. Huntington was elected president of the Rome Savings Bank to succeed the late Hervey Brayton and held that position until he resigned in 1878. Upon the death of Robert B. Doxtater in 1863 he was made president of the Rome Exchange (now the First National) Bank and officiated in that capacity until his decease. He was one of the prime movers in organizing the Rome Iron Works Company in 1866 and served as its president till his death. He was also largely instrumental in forming the Merchants Iron Mil, of which he was continuously a valued trustee. In all benevolent and charitable enterprises Mr. Huntington was ever a foremost participant and in every movement which promised benefit to the community his name was conspicuous. He was one of the moving spirits in founding the Central New York Institution for DeafMutes in Rome in 1875 and was a member of its board of trustees from the organization until his death. He was also a trustee of the Rome Cemetery Association, a director in the Rome & Clinton Railroad Company, and for many years a director and vice-president of the First National Bank of Utica.
Mr. Huntington always manifested a deep interest in educational matters and was especially prominent in establishing the Rome Academy, of which he was long a trustee. He was also influential in organizing the Rome free school system and became a member of the first Board of Education, a position he filled with singular ability and universal satisfaction. He was a faithful friend of and identified with the Young Men’s Christian Association from its inception, being its first president and a member of its board of directors until his death. Throughout his life, he was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church.
Edward Huntington was first a Whig and later a Republican, a man of quiet and retiring disposition, and neither sought nor desired public office, yet he never shirked responsibility. He discharged every duty with an impartiality and fearlessness born of love and right and justice. He was a man of strict integrity, unswerving fidelity, and of great uprightness of character. A devout Christian, a life-long friend of popular education, a staunch supporter of moral and public welfare, he was ever a generous promoter of all projects which promised advancement to the community. He had the best interests of Rome at heart, and contributed of both time and means toward building up the city and furthering its prosperity. He was widely respected and esteemed, and retained the confidence of all with whom he came in to contact. Being heavily interested in real estate and numerous business enterprises he was one of the largest taxpayers and in every capacity his counsel and advice carried the prestige of conviction.
September 4, 1844, Mr. Huntington was married to Miss Antoinette Randall, daughter of William Randall of Cortland, N. Y., who survives him, as do also a son and four daughters.
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