John Hunn (June 25, 1818 – July 6, 1894) was an American

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

who was a "station master" of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

in Delaware, the southernmost stationmaster and responsible for slaves escaping up the

Delmarva Peninsula The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Eastern Shore of Virginia. The peninsula is l ...

.Final master nomination
del.edu

Early life and family

Hunn was born June 25, 1818, on Wildcat Manor near

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, at the mouth of Tidbury branch in

Kent County, Delaware Kent County is a County (United States), county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 181,851, making it the least populous county in Delaware. The county ...

. He was the son of Ezekiel Hunn (1774–1821) and the former Hannah Alston. His father was an abolitionist and a member of

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

or Quakers, but died (as did his wife) when this John Hunn was a boy. The young orphan and his siblings were raised by relatives, and his sister later convinced him to become a minister.Berry p. His half-brother Ezekiel Hunn Jr. would be apprenticed to Philadelphia Quaker merchant Townsend Sharpless, whose daughter he would marry and who would later donate some papers to

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

. Meanwhile, John Hunn decided to marry Mary Swallow, who was not a Quaker, and was accordingly expelled from his

Camden, Delaware Camden is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover metropolitan area. The population was 3,715 in 2020. History Camden was established in 1783 as a community originally known as Mifflin's Crossroads. The community ...

, meeting, although the Quakers relented and Mary converted to the faith, so they were allowed to transfer their membership to another meeting near their farm, "Happy Valley," near Middletown in Kent County. Their marriage survived until her death, and they had several children, as well as became stalwarts of the Appoquinimink meeting. Among their children was John Jr., later the

Governor of Delaware A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. After Mary's death, Hunn remarried, to Anne Jenkins.

Abolitionist

Assisted by his relative John Alston and Daniel Corbit of the rural area encompassing Middletown, in Kent County and

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

New Castle County, Delaware New Castle County is the northernmost of the three List of counties in Delaware, counties of the U.S. state of Delaware (New Castle, Kent County, Delaware, Kent, and Sussex County, Delaware, Sussex). As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, as well as by

Thomas Garrett Thomas Garrett (August 21, 1789 – January 25, 1871) was an American abolitionist and assisted in the Underground Railroad movement before the American Civil War. He helped more than 2,500 African Americans escape slavery. For his effort ...

and others in Wilmington further north in New Castle County, Hunn was responsible for a portion of the

network that transported thousands of escapees up the

to Wilmington and thence to Pennsylvania and freedom. In December 1845 he helped freedman Samuel Hawkins escape with his enslaved family of seven (owned by 2 masters) from slavery in Maryland. Although the slavecatchers caught the family on Hunn's farm, the local sheriff noticed a defect in the paperwork, and early in 1846 Delaware Supreme Court justice James Booth Jr. freed them based on a writ of habeas corpus sought by a fellow abolitionist (and lawyer) James Wales, and Thomas Garrett quickly called a coach to take them across the border into Pennsylvania. The displeased slaveholders then sued Hunn and Garrett for violating the

Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

in the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

in the New Castle Court House. After a trial presided over by

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

Chief Justice

Roger B. Taney Roger Brooke Taney ( ; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 186 ...

and District Judge

Willard Hall Willard Hall (December 24, 1780 – May 10, 1875), was a Delaware Attorneys in the United States, attorney and politician from Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington in New Castle County, Delaware, New Castle County. He was a member of the Democratic- ...

, both Hunn and Garrett were convicted and fined heavily. Prosecutor James A. Bayard Jr. reportedly told Hunn the fines would not be imposed if he would promise not to continue his efforts to aid fugitives escaping from slavery, but Hunn "vowed never to withhold a helping hand from the down-trodden in their hour of distress." His land holdings and all his possessions were sold at sheriff's sale in mid-1848. Although his family was left utterly destitute, Hunn continued his efforts to abolish slavery. Following this eviction, he lived for a time with relatives in

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

in Kent County. During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Hunn could not serve in the military because of his faith, but afterward moved with his family to the Sea Islands of South Carolina to work with the

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area. Port Royal is home to Marine Corps R ...

, and as a customs officer in

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , different from that of Beaufort, North Carolina) is a city in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, South Carolina ...

Death and legacy

Hunn died July 6, 1894, at Camden in Kent County, where he was living with his son John Hunn Jr. (who had moved back to Delaware in 1876 and later became Delaware's governor) and is buried at the

Camden Friends Meetinghouse Camden Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Quaker meeting house located on Delaware Route 10 (Camden Wyoming Avenue) in Camden, Kent County, Delaware. It was built in 1805, and was still in operation as a Quaker meeting house when it was listed ...

. Because of his modesty, or to protect others from possible retaliation as interracial tensions remained high, on his deathbed Hunn asked his son John to burn his papers. Some were retained by other correspondents, including

William Still William Still (October 7, 1819 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and was responsible for aiding and assisting at least 649 slaves to freedom ...

in Philadelphia, who published an account of some of Hunn's activities. The ancestral Hunn home, Wildcat Manor, is now part of a mostly-nature park ("Hunn Park") administered by Kent County Parks and Recreation. A loop of the federal Underground Railroad historic trail in Delaware visits sites associated with Hunn and his father (who assisted

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

). Delaware has erected a historical marker honoring Hunn in Camden near his grave site.

References

* The Harriet Tubman Historical Society (2005)
Camden Friends Meeting
* Friends Intelligencer (1898)

.

Early life and family

Abolitionist

Death and legacy

References

Further reading

External links