Elder John Hunting

1597-1689 · England → Dedham MA

Born 1597, England

Died 1689

Children include John

He was one of the founders of the church at Dedham in 1638 and its first RULING ELDER. A ruling elder was not the minister. He was a layman elected to sit with the pastor in governing the congregation, admitting and disciplining members, and in a New England town of the 1640s that made him one of the two or three men whose judgement decided who belonged. He was admitted a freeman in March 1639, the year after the church was gathered.

He brought at least two children out of England, John and Margaret, and had Samuel at Dedham on 22 July 1640 and Nathaniel on 15 December 1643, who died within days. There were other daughters: Mary, Esther who married Nathaniel Fisher in 1649, and one who married John Peck of Rehoboth.

Almost all of that comes not from his own records but from his wife's will, which she made on 4 January 1676 with his consent and which was not proved until 12 February 1685. He outlived the making of it by thirteen years, dying on 12 April 1689. His eldest son John's son Nathaniel became the minister of East Hampton on Long Island and kept its register for fifty four years.

Children

John Huntting 1628-1718

Sources

James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, 1860), vol. II, under HUNTING

T. D. Huntting, The Hunting, or Huntting Family in America (Brooklyn, 1888), entries 1, 2 and 5, read in full text at archive.org, huntingorhunttin00hunt_0

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Cite: Heirology, "Elder John Hunting (1597-1689)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/elder-john-hunting-1597-1689-e19d8f.