Whence Lunt?

Origins are always of interest. In this case, we can ask two questions: from where did Henry come and did the Lunt name arise?

Earlier, we pointed to the Great Migration pages on Henry and Ann. In particular, the book was titled: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume IV, I-L. One reason for using this book is that it can be considered, somewhat, the latest definitive answer having been written by an experienced genealogical team.

So, let's review a few items from the book.

• Origin is said to be unknown, but they did board the Mary & John at Southhampton. 
• Education is not known. Henry did have some books and signed his deeds. 
• Birth as estimated to be about 1614, but it's not considered proven that he was a son of Thomas of South Marston. 
• Mention of the look at Lunts by Walter Goodwin Davis, a descendant (Robinson). 
• Ann married Joseph Hills after Henry died (we'll look at that later).

Great migration sketch for Henry: http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Henry_Lunt_%283%29

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Lunt's origin is unknown. Some say that it is Scandinavian in origin, a variant of Lundt (from the grove). Others point to an Anglo-Saxon origin, namely Laund (open space in a forest). Another source mentions that there was a family seat in Yorkshire that goes back before the Norman conquest.

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There is a Lunt family center in the UK: http://www.lunt-family.co.uk/home/index.htm. This site seems to be out of date but looked to be a good idea.

Also, we ought to consider fort (Roman) that is called Lunt.

Remarks:

12/17/2014 --  Changed the title to remove the redundancy.

Modified: 12/17/2014

Reverends

Last May, we looked at William Parsons Lunt. The last post started a list of progeny on which there were a couple more ministers. No doubt, we'll find more.

Taking these two in chronological order, we have Nathaniel Thayer and Rev. Endicott Peabody. These both were descendants via son Henry.

• Nathaniel Thayer -- he was a congregational Unitarian. He gave the 4 June 1798 sermon to the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He was known for helping to smooth matters and served on more than 150 church councils.  

• Rev. Endicott Peabody -- he went to an Episcopal seminary. The Reverend went west during the days that were wild. He was in Tombstone, AZ and knew Wyatt Earp. Later, he founded Groton School for Boys. One of his charges was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 

Remarks:

04/15/2012 --  

Modified: 04/15/2012

Some progeny

We have already identified a few descendants of Henry (died 10 Jul 1662, in Newbury). Son Henry has an interesting collection, such as the Timothy Pickering and the John Lowell Gardners, through his daughter, Mary.

By using descendant trees (Overmire, Larson, Dowling, etc.), we can list a few more progeny for all of the children.

• George Bancroft (c 1750s, Elizabeth) -- Secretary of U.S. Navy
• Nathaniel Thayer (c 1760s, Henry) -- chaplain, Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts
• Henry Wetherby Benchley (c 1820s, Sarah) -- jailed for running an Underground Railroad
• Charles William Eliot (c 1830s, Henry) -- president of Harvard, from 1869 to 1909
• Charles Vernon Gridley (c 1840s, Sarah) -- Captain, U.S. Navy
• Lucy Lambert Hale (c 1840s, Mary) -- engaged to John Wilkes Booth
• Francis Edgar Stanley (c 1840s, Mary) -- Stanley steam car
• George Wood Wingate (c 1840s, Henry) -- lawyer and organizer of rifle practice
• Thornton Chase (c 1840s, Henry) -- poet, religious seeker and publisher
• George Draper Dayton (c 1850s, Henry) -- founder of Dayton's
• Abbott Lawrence Lowell  (c 1850s, Henry) -- president of Harvard, from 1909 to 1933
• Rev. Endicott Peabody  (c 1850s, Henry) -- founder of Groton School for Boys
• Horatio William Parker (c 1860s, Sarah) -- teacher of Charles Ives
• Edward Graham Parker (c 1870s, Sarah) -- Captain, U.S. Navy (his widow married Clark H. Woodward) 
• Elliott Carr Cutler (c 1880s, Henry) -- Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, surgeon
• Robert Hutchings Goddard (c 1880s, Sarah) -- father of U.S. rocketry
• Ezra Loomis Pound (c 1880s, Sarah) -- poet
• Theodore Edson Chandler (c 1890s, Mary) -- admiral, U.S. Navy
• Willard Frank Libby (c 19yy, Daniel -- Nobel Prize winner
• Hugh Bancroft (c 19yy, Elizabeth) -- publisher of Wall Street Journal 
• Alan Bartlett Shepard (c 1920s, Sarah) -- NASA astronaut
• Peter Benchley (c 1940s, Sarah) -- author
• John Forbes Kerry  (c 1940s, Henry) -- U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and presidential nominee, 2004, of the Democratic Party
• ...
• Walter Goodwin Davis (c 1880s) -- preeminent genealogist
• ...

The list is not complete and was developed by browsing rootsweb trees. The effort will continue.

Remarks:

02/01/2013 -- Point Larson link to new site.

01/10/2013 --  Larson DB has moved. So, removed the pointer, for now. 

Modified: 02/01/2013

Posts of interest - 2011

As a means (an attempt) to freeze a point in time (which we know is not possible), the last post of 2011 will list the top four posts in terms of having been read (well, views, anyway). Perhaps, this will be a yearly event.

Aside: As said in Mission and Method, posts are to contribute to a theme, though there may be divergent ones from time to time. Blogs allow categories, but these are problematic since they collect and present in a time order. From time to time, there ought to be a super-post that gives a more coherent view (here is an example - Truth, Fiction, and Finance). Perhaps, that type of thing will be done more often in the coming year.

Posts of interest, as of today:

• -- George C. Lunt (Silversmith) -- From Mar 2011. This post is linked to Wikipedia, so wiki is source for the views. George's company was a long time in existence. Too, the work that these artisans do is wonderful. The post provides a link to information about a project to identify early artisans and tradesmen. 

• -- Great migration -- From Feb 2011. This seminal work allows one to make grounded claims. Too, though, it can be used to establish a basis from which to fill in gaps. After the start of arrivals in the early 1600s, there was a massive influx for a number of years which then ebbed for a number of reasons. This work helps us understand some of what happened. 

• -- Henry Lunt (Mariner) -- From May 2011. Henry was a long time at sea. Too, he sailed in interesting times and with interesting people. Too, we have a portrait of Henry's son from 1805. We'll be looking at Henry again, for many reasons. 

• --  Newbury, MA -- From Jan 2011. This town got its start about the same time as Ipswich, its neighbor (Rowley was a spin-off from Ipswich). Turns out that Newbury had a better access, than Ipswich, to ocean waters. We will have to look more closely at the founding times and the people involved. 

Remarks:

12/29/2012 --  Summary - 2012. 

Modified: 12/29/2012

First year

A year ago, we started by looking at Henry and Ann and their kids. At that time, we didn't have much more to go on then the book by Thomas Simpson Lunt.

Since then, we've followed several paths. There is a whole lot more to do.

For now, let's look at the most popular post for this first year.

• George C. (March) -- There is a link to this post from the Wikipedia page on Lunt Silversmiths which closed recently. It was an interesting post to research as the material touched upon many collateral families that had been seen before.
• Great Migration (February) -- It was nice to see the results of this project. They are about 1/2 way done. A big benefit is that the effort scrutinizes material related to families and then does a summary based upon those things that are of value. That is, a whole lot of speculation is dropped many times when the appropriate mixture of documents is seen. As well, things that may need just a little more support are mentioned, rather than just thrown out as if there were no justification.
• Newbury (January) -- This was done after finding out about the Sons & Daughters of the First Settlers. Of course, the area itself is interesting. Ipswich was the larger area which then split. The motivation, many times, was to have a church that was more easily accessible due to the need for getting there on time. Ipswich's History has a section about the early efforts at establishing Newbury and its close-by cities.
• Henry and Ann (December) -- When one looks at the family tree for any Henry descendant, one finds all sort of other families, many of whom were early into Newbury. And, there are many stories to find out about. At some point, we will need to collect names of the many who are descendants, especially those from other families.
• Henry Lunt (May) -- This post came about from finding Lunt associated with John Paul Jones. Coopers writes up an interesting side to this relationship.

This is the order as of today for all views over the year; this list can change. For instance, over the past month there were other posts of interest: Two generations, Col Pickering, and grandson Henry. In that last post, we see how other families can fill in the missing information.

In other words, good genealogy work seems to look at siblings at each generation. Too, something is added about the families into which the children married.

Remarks:

10/30/2011 --

Modified: 10/30/2011

George Lunt

While reading Charles Levi's book on the Woodbury family and some of their collateral families, the blogger came across a reference to a poem by George Lunt (Bloody Brook). The particular chapter of the Woodbury book dealt with the life of Peter who died, in 1675, in the Battle of Bloody Brook.

Who was George? George Lunt (ca 1803 -- 1885) was the prominent author who descended from Henry and Ann through their son, Daniel (Chapman, in process tree). George was the grandson of Henry, the mariner, that we looked at before.

George graduated from Harvard in 1824 and became a practicing attorney. As well, he was successful as a writer. Several of his poems were used at ceremonials such as one, in 1869, celebrating American Independence.

Remarks:

10/26/2011 -- The blogger first ran across this reference to George after reading what Charles Levi had written about Mt. Wollaston. Too much partying there, in the playground of New England, drove John Endicott crazy.

Modified: 10/26/2011

Ann Lunt (Oth Gen)

We don't know much about Henry and Ann before they arrived in 1634. Some think that Ann's maiden name was Hurst.

However, we can start to collect notable descendants. We have already mentioned Col. Timothy Pickering. We can add Sen. John Kerry and Alice Hathaway Lee (1st wife of Pres Theodore Roosevelt).

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One interesting family tie is via Ann's second marriage to Joseph Hills after Henry died. He has Walt Disney and Ansel Adams (Spooner's description) as descendants. As well, his descendant line married into the Lunt family about 100 years later which we'll look at later.

Remarks:

05/30/2012 -- From whence Lunt?

09/20/2011 -- In his will, Henry used Anna. In the Great Migration, they show that Ann, Anne, and Anna were used. We'll try to be consistent here and use Ann.

Modified: 05/30/2012