Robert Hastings Hunkins
Robert Hastings Hunkins (September 15, 1774 – March 11, 1853) was an American politician. He was an early settler of the Wisconsin territory and served in the Vermont House of Representatives.
Robert Hastings Hunkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 15, 1774 Vermont |
| Died | March 11, 1853 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Occupation(s) | Settler, Pioneer, Farmer, Legislator |
| Known for | Historical figure |
| Spouse | Hannah Emerson |
| Children | 6 verified, including Benjamin Hunkins |
| Parent(s) | Captain Robert Hunkins and Lydia Chamberlain |
| Relatives | Eugene W. Chafin (son-in-law) |
Biography
Hunkins was born in Vermont on September 15, 1774, the third son of Captain Robert Hunkins and his second wife, Lydia Chamberlin.[1][lower-alpha 1]
In 1806 Hunkins was both a selectman and treasurer for the town of Navy, Vermont.[3] From 1811 to 1812 Hunkins was Town Representative to the Vermont General Assembly for the town of Charleston, Vermont.[4][5] In 1811, the Vermont General Assembly was a unicameral legislature; in 1836, the Vermont Senate was added and the Vermont General Assembly became a bicameral legislature.[6]
Three of Hunkins' sons, Sargeant, Robert and Benjamin, moved to the Wisconsin Territory. In 1839 Hunkins followed them and set up a large farm that he worked alongside his two other sons James and Hazen.[7]
Hunkins died in New Berlin, Wisconsin in 1853.[1] He was buried in the plot of his brother, the Hazen Hastings Hunkins plot, at Prairie Home Cemetery in Waukesha, Wisconsin.[8]
Family
On November 15, 1798 Hunkins married Hannah, the daughter of Watts Emerson and Lois Trussel.[lower-alpha 2] They had five sons:[9]
- Sargeant Roger Hunkins (born March 12, 1802), who married Rebecca Whitcher (born September 6, 1807) on September 25, 1825;
- Robert W. Hunkins;
- Benjamin Hunkins, born 1810. Benjamin was called twice to service in the territorial legislature of Wisconsin. He was a delegate to the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin and served in the State Legislature in 1860;[10]
- James Hunkins;
- Hazen Hastings Hunkins
and some daughters, including:
- Carrie Arvilla Hunkins, who married Eugene W. Chafin.
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References
- Robert H. Hunkins was the second cousin twice removed of Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier.[2]
- Along with being a cousin of essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, Hannah Emerson was the great-great-granddaughter of Hannah Duston, a colonial Massachusetts Puritan taken captive by Indians.[7]
- McKeen, Rev. Silas (1875). Bradford, Vermont (in German). J. D. Clark and Son. p. 207. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- Metcalf, Henry Harrison (1881). The Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine Devoted to History, Biography, Literature, and State Progress. Vol. 4. H.H. Metcalf. pp. 336–337.
- Hemenway, Abby Maria (1877). The Vermont Historical Gazetteer: A Magazine, Embracing a History of Each Town, Civil, Ecclesiastical, Biographical and Military. Vol. 3. p. 115..
- Hemenway 1877, p. 114.
- Vermont Legislature (1810). Journals of the General Assembly of Vermont, General Assembly of Vermont convened at Montpelier on October 12, 1809. Sereno Wright, printer. pp. 3, 5.
- "Wayne State University School of Public Works and Social Works-American Experiences With Unicameral Legislatures, IV. Unicameralism in Vermont, pg. 9-12" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
- Hunkins, Hazen Hendricks (1961). Genealogical records of the Robert Hastings Hunkins family. University of Wisconsin. p. 4.
- Hunkins 1961, p. 5.
- Geo. A. Ogle & Co (1899). Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography: Containing a Compendium of Local Biography, Including Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and Representative Citizens of Butler, Polk, Seward, York and Fillmore Counties, Nebraska, with a Review of Their Life Work... Also a Compendium of National Biography. G.A. Ogle & Company. p. 1101. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- Quaife, Milo Milton (1919). The Convention of 1846. Constitutional series: Publications of the ... / Collections. Vol. 27. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. p. 778. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2015.