Robert Hastings Hunkins

For other people with similar names, see Robert Hastings (disambiguation).
Robert Hastings Hunkins
Born(1774-09-15)September 15, 1774
New Hampshire Grants, British North America (now Vermont)
DiedMarch 11, 1853
Occupation(s)Settler, Pioneer, Farmer, Legislator
Known forHistorical figure
SpouseHannah Emerson
Children6 verified, including Benjamin Hunkins
Parent(s)Captain Robert Hunkins and Lydia Chamberlain
RelativesEugene W. Chafin (son-in-law)

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.

Biography

Hunkins was born on September 15, 1774, in the New Hampshire Grants, territory that was disputed between the Province of New Hampshire and the Province of New York. He was the third son of Captain Robert Hunkins and his second wife, Lydia Chamberlin.[1][a] The territory became the Vermont Republic in 1777, and joined the United States as the state of Vermont in 1791.

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.[b] 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:

Family of Robert Hastings Hunkins
Captain Robert HunkinsLydia Chamerlain
Robert Hastings HunkinsHannah Emerson
Eugene W. ChafinCarrie Arvilla HunkinsBenjamin Hunkins
Desdemona Eleanor Chafin

References

  1. ^ Robert H. Hunkins was the second cousin twice removed of Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier.[2]
  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]
  1. ^ a b McKeen, Rev. Silas (1875). Bradford, Vermont (in German). J. D. Clark and Son. p. 207. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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..
  4. ^ Hemenway 1877, p. 114.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ a b Hunkins, Hazen Hendricks (1961). Genealogical records of the Robert Hastings Hunkins family. University of Wisconsin. p. 4.
  8. ^ Hunkins 1961, p. 5.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.