Charles Phelps Huntington

Oldest child of Reverend Daniel & Elizabeth W (Phelps) Huntington.

The family moved to Hadley in 1816.

Attended Hopkins Academy, Hadley. Graduated from Harvard College in 1822

Studied at Judge Howe’s Northampton Law School. Admitted to the bar in 1826/7. He practiced in Adams, then moved the practice to Northampton. After 1837, partnered with Isaac Chapman Bates until Mr Bates death in 1845. Partnered with Judge William Allen from 1848 to 1851. Partnered with Judge Charles Forbes as chamber council, or private council, from 1851 to 1855. Appointed by Governor Gardner as Associate Justice to the Superior Court for Suffolk County on October 13 1855. This court existed only for four (4) years.

In 1830, his Fourth of July speech in Northampton was on anti-slavery and abolition. He was a proponent of colonization in Africa.

Register of Deeds in 1833 to fill a vacancy.

Served as the first president of the Northampton Institution for savings from October 1842 until 1850. “That people trusted him and relied on his judgment and his honesty is evidenced by the fact that the last few years of his life were largely occupied in the management of trust estates.” The Northampton bank occupied the east corner of Granite Row (corner of Center and Main Streets), with the law office of C. P. Huntington and William Allen on the second floor, and Judge Forbes on the third floor.

The town of Huntington, Massachusetts was named after him. In the late 1840s, the jurisdictional confusion of three towns' & two counties' boundaries meeting at what was then called Norwich needed to be resolved. The original surveys upon which land had been granted were inaccurate. There was name confusion as the town was called one name and the railroad station and post office another (which duplicated part of the name of the next town west). Law enforcement was difficult because of jurisdictional issues; school districts did not line up with where the children lived. The prevailing view was that Norwich should be dissolved and the land allocated to the surrounding towns. C.P. Huntington arrived at a solution that did not necessitate dissolving Norwich. The citizens voted and the legislature agreed that on incorporation of the "new town" in 1855, they would change the name to honor the man that saved it. Mr. Huntington could not attend the incorporation. He sent a $100 check requesting that a library be established and the town match the amount. He chose the books but the entire collection was destroyed when the library burned down in 1865.

Served as a delegate from Northampton to the Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts which convened on May 4 1853

Judge C. P Huntington Roll of Honor: Pupils of Hopkins Academy who entered the profession of law

7 Children with Helen Sophia Mills: Helen Frances (1831-1903) Charles Whiting (1834-1888) Elijah Hunt Mills (1836-1891) Helen Bethiah (1838-1839) Edward Stanton (1841-1895) Mary Elizabeth (1842-1923) Harriet Mills (1843-1844)

2 Children with Ellen Greenough: Henry Greenough (1848-1926) Laura Curtis (1849- )

10 Siblings: Elizabeth Porter (1803-1864) William Pitkin (1804-1885) Bethia Throop (1805-1879) Edward Phelps (1807-1843) John Whiting (1809-1832) Theophilus Parsons (1811-1862) Theodore Greyson (1813-1865) Mary Dwight (1815-1839) Catherine Carey (1817-1830) Frederick Dan (1819-1904)

Sources: Antiquities, Historicals and Graduates of Northampton, By Rev. Solomon Clark, Plainfield, Mass.; Northampton, Mass.: Steam Press of the Gazette Printing Company, 1882. p 319. Biographical Review, Sketches of The Leading Citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts; Boston, Biographical Review Pub. Co. 1896. Pages 235. Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), Middletown Vital Records 3:17, pp 294-295 History of The Hopkins Fund, Grammar School and Academy, in Hadley, Mass., 1657-1890; The Amherst Record Press, Amherst Mass., 1890. p 149. "History of Huntington", Rev J H Bisbee, 1876, reprinted Stephen W Hamlin and Huntington Planning Board, 2001 "Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings 57" (1924) pp 244-277 contains a transcription of some of his papers from 1831 to 1834 Norfolk Co., MA Probate Index 1793-1900, Charles P. Huntington Year: 1868, Res.: Milton Nature of the Doc.: Will Northampton and the Northampton Institution for Savings 1842-1942; Metcalf Printing & Pub Co., Inc., Northampton, Mass. 1942. Section: "Officers of the NIS 1842-1942." Unpaginated. Reminiscences of Old Northampton 1840-1850, by Henry S. Gere, orig. pub. Hampshire Gazette, 1902. p 49

Many thanks to, Sue Downhill, member #47347066, for providing the additional information and sources for this memorial.

Notes: Handwritten 1830 speech is available on the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum on-line site. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington family papers are located at Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jun 20 2019, 2:12:25 UTC