Hunter

Apr. 1927; W. G. Goddard, "Biographical Notices of
Early Graduates at Brown University," Am. Quart.
Reg., May 1839; Providence Daily Jour., Dec. n,
1849; Newport Mercury, Dec. 8, 1849.] E.R.B.

HUNTER, WILLIAM C. (iSi2~June 25,
1891), China merchant and writer, was born in
Kentucky. When he was not yet thirteen years
of age, he managed to secure engagement as an
apprentice to the Canton (China) agency of
Thomas H. Smith & Son of New York Sailing
from the latter port on Oct. 9, 1824, in the ves-
sel Citizen, he reached Canton after a voyage of
125 days. In preparation for his work in the
Far East, he spent eighteen months studying
Chinese in the Anglo-Chinese College at Ma-
lacca. Upon his return to Canton, he continued
these studies under the guidance of the eminent
Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison, thus
earning the distinction of being, perhaps, the
first American to devote himself to a systematic
study of the spoken and written language. This
interest he continued to cultivate throughout his
life in the Factories (1825-44), occasionally
contributing articles of sinological interest to
local English-language publications—such as
the Canton Register and the Chinese Reposi-
tory. The failure, in 1827, of Smith & Company
necessitated a brief trip to New York, but by
1829 he was again in Canton as a clerk in the
firm of Russell & Company, of which he ulti-
mately became a member. After the Anglo-
Chinese War (1842) and the destruction of the
Factories, he spent his life in virtual retirement
at Macao, or in looking after his business inter-
ests. He was part owner of the first American
steamship to ply in Chinese waters—the Midas,
which sailed from New York Nov. 4, 1844,
reaching Hongkong, via Cape of Good Hope,
May 14, 1845. His chief claim to distinction is
the publication in London, in 1882 and 1885 re-
spectively, of The 'Fan Kwae* at Canton Before
Treaty Days, 1825-1844, by an Old Resident
(fan kwae being Chinese for "foreign devils")*
and Bits of Old China—both written with the
encouragement of a former chief of Russell &
Company, Robert B. Forbes of Boston. They
constitute the most intimate and readable ac-
count that has come down to us of the circum-
scribed life in the Canton Factories which for
more than a century were almost the sole win-
dow through which the West obtained a glimpse
of the Middle Kingdom. Writing some decades
after the events, he did so with a detachment and
a fairness, to both the Chinese and Western
viewpoints, that is unusual in the narratives
dealing with that period, He died in Nice,

Huntington

[In addition to Hunter's own writings, see R. B.
Forbes, Personal Reminiscences (1876); the files of
the Chinese Repository, and the Canton Register-, H. B.
Morse, The International Relations of the Chinese
Empire (1910), Chronicles of the East India Co. Trad-
ing to China, 1635-1834, vol. IV (1926), and The
Gilds of China (1909) ; Samuel Couling, Encyc. Sinica
(Shanghai, 1917)-] A.W.H.
HUNTINGTON, COLLIS POTTER (Oct.
22, i82i-Aug. 13, 1900), railroad magnate and
capitalist, was born at Harwinton, Conn. His
parents were Elizabeth Vincent and William
Huntington, both members of English families
which had emigrated to America in the seven-
teenth century. Collis was the fifth of nine chil-
dren. He later declared that he started in life
and business with advantages, for he had not a
liberal education and had no money, while many
of his boy neighbors had both, a circumstance,
Huntington said, that prevented them from do-
ing the hard and homely work which was near-
est to them (San Francisco Examiner, Apr. 24,
1892). His early years were certainly devoid
of luxury. He began to support himself at the
age of fourteen, when he worked for a neighbor
for seven dollars a month and board. This was
at the same time the end of his formal schooling1.
In September 1836 he went to New York, and
soon afterward he began peddling merchandise,
principally watches and watch findings, through-
out the Southern states. During the six years
that followed he accumulated some capital, and
used it to establish himself at Oneonta, Otsego
County, N. Y., in 1842. The store at Oneonta
was conducted jointly by him and his brother
Solon, and was said to do the largest business
in the county.
In 1849 the young merchant left for Califor-
nia with a stock of goods purchased for trade.
He arrived safely at San Francisco after a some-
what eventful voyage via the Isthmus of Pan-
ama, shipped in a schooner to Sacramento, and
from there went into the mountains to try his
hand at mining. One day's work convinced him
that mining was not for him. He therefore re-
turned to Sacramento and set up a merchandis-
ing business in miners' supplies. This was the
beginning of the firm which later became pros-
perous and well known under the name of Hunt-
ington & Hopkins. Sacramento was a conven-
ient distributing point from which to furnish the
country merchant, and Huntington seems to
have carried on there a jobbing as well as a re-
tail trade in foodstuffs, powder, hardware~~in
short, in all the necessities of a pioneer commu-
nity. Early California trade was not on a com-
mission basis; it consisted rather in buying and
selling in a highly fluctuating and speculative