Don't believe all you read. Here are the first HUNTs who came to America. A response to VEDA and others interested as of 1985. If there are more recent discoveries please let me know. ****************************************************************** Rev. Robert Hunt, 1607, Minister of the Jamestown, VA, Colony,memorialized in a monument at the site of old Jamestown as the man who established the first English Church and English civilization in America. He was previously Vicar in the Parish of Smithfield in the County of Sussex, Eng., made his Will 20 Dec 1606 in anticipation of his embarkment on the voyage to Virginia, died in Jamestown in the first year of that colony's existence, His Will proved 14 July 1608, mentioning a brother Stephen, a wife Elizabeth, son Thomas who was not yet 21, and a dau.Elizabeth who was not yet 18. Several genealogical works have been noted where people claimed descendance from the Rev. Robert Hunt (even with respect to some ministers along the NY-New England borders in the 18th century). Robert Hunt had, as evidenced by his Will, only the one son Thomas and there is no evidence that this Thomas or any of his descendants (if any) ever came to America. John Hunt, 1607, the map-maker of the Popham Beach, ME, settlement in 1607. Little is known of this short-lived settlement on the coast of Maine which lasted less than a year. One John Hunt is listed as the drafter of the only map showing the layout of the settlement, by which it is assumed that John Hunt must have been among the party which attempted to establish a settlement there. The map is called the Spanish Map because it was found in archives in Spain where it was brought by a Spanish ship which presumably captured an English ship bearing the map, either going to or coming from the Popham Colony. Nothing has been learned of this John Hunt. ******************************************************** The next recorded two HUNTs arriving in tghe New England area are as follows: Capt. Thomas Hunt, 1614, was the Captain of one of the ships led by Captain John Smith (of Jamestown Pocahontas Fame who returned to England and devoted his energies to promoting the development of New England, often called the "Admiral of New England") in an exploration of the New England coast in 1614. When Smith started back to England on the return trip he told Hunt to stay behind for awhile and pick up from the Indians a load of fish, skins, and other items to bring back. Hunt went beyond these instructions and lured a number of Indians aboard the ship and sailed with them to Spain where he sold them in the slave market at Malaga. Among the Indians was Squanto, who was later to return to Plymouth Colony and become the "Savior" of the Plymouth Colony in 1621. Nothing further has been learned of Capt. Thomas Hunt, though it is believed that he was discredited in England by his actions in kidnapping the Indians and thereafter had difficulty obtaining commissions. It is nice to romanticize that Capt. Thomas Hunt was the son of the Rev. Robert Hunt of Jamestown, that upon his return to England Capt. John Smith looked up the son of his "old buddy" Robert Hunt and enlisted Thomas in his exploring expedition of the New England Coast. But that is the stuff of the movies and not history or genealogy. The identity of Capt. Thomas Hunt has not been found and there is no evidence that he or descendants (if any) ever settled in America. Edmund Hunt, 1634, is the first known Hunt to settle in the New England colonies, at Cambridge (then called Newtowne) in 1634-5 and removed to Duxbury in 1636-1637 where he died about 1656. Little information has been found on the descendants of Edmund (except through his son Samuel who inherited the Duxbury property) because fires destroyed the early records of Duxbury. An Edward Hunt, presumed son, lived near Edmund on Hounds Ditch in Duxbury, sold land in Duxbury in 1665 (at which time the record shows he was married), and disappears from Duxbury and other records. Edward is presumed to be the father of Edward Hunt of Amesbury, MA, the start of the long line of Amesbury Hunts, which include his grandson Daniel Hunt, the pioneer at Ryegate, VT, and Daniel's brother Jonathan whose descendants were also early settlers in Vermont. ************************************************************ Sandy Hunt in Lubbock Texas from the PREFACE to Mitchell Hunt's VERMONT MS. Its on the HUNT WEBSITE.