Benjamin Hunt

Benjamin was born in 1766 and a write of a diary. he married Eleanor Huey from Westtown. He was a storekeeper at Marshallton, Wagontown and West Chester and died at Hamilton Village. (West Philadelphia)

CHESTER COUNTY GENEALOGY:

Benjamin Hunt Diary - 1799 (and intro)

DIARY OF BENJAMIN HUNT

1799-1812

Reprinted from the Daily Local News,

For the Chester County Historical Society, 1898.

[reformatted by Mary Briggeman]

The writer of this diary was the son and youngest child of William ana Sarah (Fred) Hunt, of Westtown township, Chester county, Pa., where he was born 12th-mo. 1st, 1766. The older children were Ann. who married William Sharpless, of West Chester, the grandfather of Philip P. Sharpless; Mary, who married William Seal, of Birmingham, grandfather of Alban Seal; Joshua Hunt, grandfather of the late Joseph Hunt, of West Chester; Rebecca, wife of Titus Taylor and grandmother of Caleb Taylor, of West Chester, and Eli Hunt, of Westtown.

Benj. Hunt married Eleanor (Nelly), daughter of James Huey, of Westtown. She had a sister Mary, who married Thomas Francis and went to Virginia: a sister Elizabeth, who married John McGoodin, and brothers William sand John Huey. who are frequently mentioned in this diary. Among his first cousins were Deborah, wife of Captain James Jefferis, some time of Wilmington, owner of the ship Neptune, who built the mansion at Allerton, in East Bradford, and died there; Hannah, wife of Robert Yearsley, of Westtown: Charity, wife of Joseph Garrett, of East Goshen; Dr. Joseph Moore, of West Chester: also the Mercers and Osbornes, of Westtown.

Of Benjamin's occupation prior to the commencement of the diary we know little. At the beginning of the year 1799 we find him occupying a sawed log house in Marshallton and a new frame store house on another lot, near the Center Tavern, then kept by Abraham Marshall. The property was rented, and his live stock consisted of a horse and a cow. In 1801 he removed to Wagontown, in West Cain township, and keot store there until 1803, when he came to West Chester and engaged in the same business. In 1805 he sold out to Job B. Remington, and the next year he is described as a board yard keeper. In 1809 he removed to Hamilton Village and for a year kept tavern there. His death occurred 10th-mo. 1st, 1812. His three sons were Nathan, who followed the seas for several years; James, who married Anna Markley, and was the father of Daniel Markley Hunt, of Philadelphia, owner of the diary, and through whose Kindness we are able to place it before the public, and William Hunt.

The diary is neatly written and the spelling is good for the time. It is here given in full. To any one as familiar as the writer with the names of those mentioned it is full of interest.

When Benjamin Hunt was at Wagontown John Hughes kept the "Wagon" Tavern and Owen Affiick, the "Hop Vine and Barley Sheaf," succeeding Thomas Evans, whose fleeting (moving) to the 40th mile stone on the turnpike is mentioned. When he came to West Chester the Turk's Head was kept by Benjamin Miller: the Gen. Wayne (White Hall), by Ephraim Buffington: the Bear by James Jackson; the Gen. Washington by Cromwell Pearce, and the Green Tree by Jacob Righter.

Some of these hotels have disappeared so long that many persons are ignorant of their location. The Washington stood where the Meconkey Mansion, now the Assembly Building, stands; the Black Bear where the Farmers Bank is, and the Gen. Wayne where Finegan's store and some others are.

The diary will be followed by a brief genealogy of the Hunt family in the early generations if sufficient records can be obtained.