After receiving an education at Canandaigua, New York with his uncle Elisha Mills, at the age of fourteen he entered the law office of Mark H. Sibley (later a New York State Senator and a U.S. Representative) and read law. In 1822, he went to Indiana with his elder brother Nathaniel where he studied for four years before being admitted to the state bar.[4] He entered private practice in Cannelton, Indiana from 1827 to 1830. In 1830, he was appointed the first prosecutor for the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Indiana, serving until 1832.[5]
On November 3, 1841, Huntington was married to Susan Mary (née Rudd) FitzHugh (1820–1853). Susan, a widow of Clark FitzHugh, was a daughter of Ann Benoist (née Palmer) Rudd (a relative of former Vice President John C. Calhoun) and Dr. Christopher Rudd (a relative of U.S. SenatorCharles Carroll of Carrollton). Together, they were the parents of:[1]
Robert Palmer Huntington (1842–1893), who married Alice Ford (1844–1919), a daughter of James Coleman Ford and Mary Jane (née Trimble) Ford, in 1867.[4]
Mary St. Clair Huntington (1844–1845), who died young.[1]
Mary Louise Huntington (1846–1872), who married William Pritchard Coleman (1844–1924) in 1870.[1]
Christopher Rudd Huntington (1850–1875), who died unmarried.[1]
Hetty Key Huntington (1852–1852), who died in infancy.[1]
His wife died on December 3, 1853.[4] After a pulmonary disease forced him to seek warmer climates to seek relief, Huntington traveled to Saint Paul, Minnesota and then Havana, Cuba before returning to St. Paul where he died on October 26, 1862.[6] Per his wishes, his nephew John H. Rea of Indianapolis took his remains and he was buried at Saint Joseph Cemetery (he converted to Roman Catholicism, his wife's religion, late in his life) in Terre Haute, Indiana.[7]
