Huntington

his attention to a few fields with extraordinary
results. Hantington was married on Nov. 17,
1873, to Mary Alice Prentice, the sister of Collis
P. Huntington's adopted daughter, from whom
he was divorced in 1906. On July 16, 1913, he
was married to Arabella Duval Huntington, nee
Yarrington, widow of his uncle, who possessed
great wealth in her own right She took special
interest in the development of the botanical gar-
den and in the collection of antique art and fur-
niture. Shortly before his death Huntington
dedicated this section of the gallery to her mem-
ory. His other public benefactions included a
bequest of $2,000,000 to found in Los Angeles
the Collis P. Huntington and Howard Hunting-
ton Memorial Hospital in memory of his uncle
and son; $10,000 each to Occidental College and
to the University of Southern California, in
California, and to the College of William and
Mary in Virginia; and smaller gifts to varous
churches and institutions. He died in Philadel-
phia*

[R. D. Hunt, ed., Cal. and California's (1926), vol.
Ill ; I. F. Marcosson, A Little Known Master of Mil-
lions: the Story of Henry E. Huntington, Construc-
tive^ Capitalist (1914) ; Press Reference Lib., Western
Edition (1913), vol. I; The Huntington Family in
America (1915); Scribner's Mag., July 1927; the
World's Work, Jan. 1925 ; JV. Y. Times > May 24, 27,
1927; Times (Los Angeles), May 24, 25, .27-30, 1927;
Robt. 0. Schad, Henry Edwards Huntington, The
Founder and the Library, Huntington Lib, Bull., no. I,
1931, and separate reprint; materials in the Henry E.
Huntington Library.] a j^ y^

HUNTINGTON, JABEZ (Aug. 7,
5, 1786), merchant, legislator, father of Jede-
diah Huntington [g.^.], was born in Norwich,
Conn., the son of Joshua and Hannah (Perkins)
Huntington and a descendant of Simon Hunt-
ington whose widow arrived in the Massachu-
setts Bay Colony in 1633. He graduated from
Yale College in 1741 and returned to Norwich
where his father had been a successful pioneer
merchant. There he united with the church and
entered the West India trade. On Jan. 20, 1742,
he married Elizabeth Backus. She died in 1745
and the following year he married Hannah Wil-
liams who survived him twenty-one years. In
the midst of a prosperous commercial career
Huntington devoted much of his time to public
affairs. He was a justice of the peace for New
London County and for many years represented
Norwich in the Assembly. In May 1757 he was
chosen clerk of the Assembly and in May 1760
he became the speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives. In May 1754 he was captain of a
troop of horse in the 3rd Regiment and in May
1760 he was made a lieutenant in the first t:om-
paoy of the 5th Regiment; four years later he
beeaaae captain of this company. In the years

Huntington

immediately preceding the Revolution the Hunt-
ingtons were a family of wealth and social pres-
tige. Of the six chaises in Norwich, that of
Jabez Huntington was undoubtedly the finest,
being studded with brass nails and having a top
that could be thrown back. In the early struggles
between the Crown and the colonies he support-
ed the colonists. When Gov. Thomas Fitch de-
termined to support the Stamp Act and assem-
bled his council that he might take the oath in
their presence, Huntington was one of the seven
members who withdrew rather than witness the
offensive ceremony. In May 1764 he was chosen
assistant by the Assembly and in May of the fol-
lowing year he was made lieutenant-colonel of
the 3rd Regiment of the colonial militia. He be-
came probate judge for the Norwich district in
May 1773 and the next year was chosen mod-
erator of a large meeting assembled in Norwich
on June 6 to "take into consideration the mel-
ancholy situation of our civil, constitutional Lib-
erties, Rights, and Privileges" (Caulkins, post,
p. 219). In May 1775 he was made a member of
the Council of Safety and for four years he
served that committee with tireless zeal. In De-
cember 1776 he was appointed one of the two
major-generals from Connecticut, and when
David Wooster died from a wound received dur-
ing the retreat of the British forces from Dan-
bury In April 1777, Huntington was appointed
major-general over the entire militia of Con-
necticut His excessive labors exhausted him
and in February 1779 he was seized with a nerv-
ous disorder which brought about his death,
though he lingered on until October 1786.

IThe Huntington Family in America (1915); F. B.
Dexter, Biog. Sketches of the Grads. of Yale Coll... .
1701-45 (1885); F. M. Caulkins, Hist, of Norwich,
Conn. (1845) ; The Pub. Records of the Colony of
Conn., vols. IX-XV (1876^0) ; The Pub. Records of
the State of Conn. . . . with the Jour, of the Council
of Safety, vols. I-III (1894-1922); Huntington Pa-
pers in the Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls.t vol. XX (1923).]

F.M—n.

HUNTINGTON JEDEDIAH (Aug. 4,1743-
Sept 25, 1818), Revolutionary soldier, born at
Norwich, Conn., was the son of Gen. Jabez
Huntington \_q.v.] by his first wife, Elizabeth
Backus. His father had accumulated a fortune
in the West India trade, and the wealth and so-
cial rank of his family caused his name to be
placed second on the list of his class in the Har-
vard College catalogue and above that of Josiah
Quincy. He graduated in 1763 and settled in
Norwich to assist his father in business. With
the approach of the Revolution he became an ac-
tive Son of Liberty. His military career began
in October 1769, when the Connecticut Assem-
bly appointed him ensign of the first Norwich

416