Augustus Pingry Hunton (February 23, 1816 – June 20, 1911) was a

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

lawyer and Senator. He served in the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4 ...

including three years as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

. In addition, he served as

President pro tempore of the Vermont State Senate The President ''pro tempore'' of the Vermont Senate presides over the Senate of the U.S. state of Vermont in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor. The President ''pro tempore'' also sets the policy priorities and legislative agenda for the Senate. ...

Early life

Augustus Pingry Hunton was born in

Groton, New Hampshire Groton is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 569 at the 2020 census. History It was originally named "Cockermouth" in honor of Charles Wyndham, Baron Cockermouth and Earl of Egremont, who was Great Brit ...

, on February 23, 1816. He was raised in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austr ...

and

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

, Vermont, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1837.Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography
edited by Prentiss Cutler Dodge, 1912, page 232 Hunton practiced in Stockbridge,

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite san ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

before settling permanently in Bethel in 1848. Hunton usually practiced in conjunction with one other attorney, and one of his early partners was

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

Julius Converse. In addition, Hunton was a relative of Lt. Col.

Samuel Pingree Samuel Everett Pingree (August 2, 1832June 1, 1922) was a lawyer, a U.S. politician of the Republican Party, and an American Civil War veteran who received the Medal of Honor. Early life Pingree was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, the son of ...

, later Governor of Vermont, and Samuel's brother Stephen M. Pingree, both of whom studied law with Hunton before forming the

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

firm of Pingree and Pingree.

Political career

Originally a

Whig Whig or Whigs may refer to: Parties and factions In the British Isles * Whigs (British political party), one of two political parties in England, Great Britain, Ireland, and later the United Kingdom, from the 17th to 19th centuries ** Whiggism ...

, he became a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

when the party was organized in the mid-1850s. Hunton represented Bethel in the Vermont House of Representatives In 1849, 1854, and 1859 to 1862. From 1860 to 1862 Hunton served as Speaker. From 1856 to 1857 Hunton represented

Windsor County Windsor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,753. The shire town (county seat) is the town of Woodstock. The county's largest municipality is the town of Hartford. History Wind ...

in the

Vermont Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members. Senate districting divides the 30 members into three single-member districts, six two-me ...

, and in 1857 he served as the Senate's

President pro tem A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being" ...

. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 polic ...

Hunton was superintendent of

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

recruiting for Windsor County. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. After the war Hunton was a U.S. Pension Notary, responsible for verifying the documents presented by claimants before they were delivered to Vermont's U.S. Pension Agents.

Other activities

Hunton was a trustee of

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-cam ...

from 1862 to 1867. He was the recipient of honorary master's degrees from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

in 1847 and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1859.

Death and burial

Hunton died in Bethel on June 20, 1911. He was buried in Bethel's Cherry Hill Cemetery, of which he was an original incorporator. Hunton was married to Caroline Paige of Bethel, and had two children, Mary and Albert. His granddaughter Mary Stickney married State attorney Robert Ashton Lawrence, family member of Capt.

Elihu Yale Elihu Yale (5 April 1649 – 8 July 1721) was a British-American colonial administrator and philanthropist. Although born in Boston, Massachusetts, he only lived in America as a child, spending the rest of his life in England, Wales and In ...

of the

Yale family Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

.Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography
edited by Prentiss Cutler Dodge, 1912, p. 232-323The Burlington Free Press
Burlington, Vermont, Mon, Mar 11, 1912, Page 1

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunton, Augustus P. 1816 births 1911 deaths Yale family People from Bethel, Vermont People of Vermont in the American Civil War Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Vermont lawyers Speakers of the Vermont House of Representatives Republican Party Vermont state senators Presidents pro tempore of the Vermont Senate Norwich University 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the Vermont General Assembly