John Wesley Hunt

Encyclopedia : J : JO : JOH : John Wesley Hunt

John Wesley Hunt (1773-1849) was a prominent businessman and early civic leader in Lexington, Kentucky. He was one of the first millionaires west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Moving to Lexington in 1795, Hunt became a merchant, horsebreeder, hemp manufacturer, and banker. In 1799, President John Adams named Hunt as postmaster of Lexington. In 1814, Hunt built a two-story brick mansion known as "Hopemont" (today known as The Hunt-Morgan House) for he and his wife Catherine. His son Charlton Hunt became the first mayor of Lexington. In the winter of 1839-1840, Hunt introduced the Messenger strain to Kentucky.

John Wesley Hunt's grandson, John Hunt Morgan, was a famous Confederate general during the American Civil War. A great-grandson, Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan, was the first Kentuckian to win a Nobel Prize.

Hunt is buried in the family plot in the Lexington Cemetery.

References

Ramage, James A., John Wesley Hunt, Pioneer Merchant, Manufacturer, & Financier, Lexington, Kentucky, University Press of Kentucky, 1974. ISBN 0813102049.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.