[RECORDS OF THE HUNTS]
Of the Hunts in the West Indies the following information has been collected by my brothers, Ridgely and Livingston, and I give it with their comments in their own words:
"The founder of the family on this side the Atlantic was Richard Hunt of Bromley, a town near London in Kent County, England. He was a merchant of London and a member of the Bermuda Company. He married Frances Grimsditch, the daughter of Thomas Grimsditch and Jane Rich, the latter a sister of Sir Nathaniel Rich. The Riches were close relations of the two noble houses of Warwick and Manchester. In the Earl of Manchester's work called 'Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne' I find little Frances Grimsditch described (Vol. I, page 345) by an aunt, Lady Wrothe, as 'a pretty and toward young child.'
"Richard Hunt and his wife came to the Summer Islands, or Bermuda, in or about 1644, to take possession of six shares of land inherited by Mrs. Hunt from her uncle, Sir Nathaniel Rich. This land had not been bequeathed specifically to Mrs. Hunt, but her uncle left it in trust to his relative, the Earl of Manchester, to be bestowed by the latter upon that one of Sir Nathaniel's nieces whom the Earl might consider 'most worthy.' In this way the land was given to the pretty mistress Ffrances Grimsditch (her name spelled with the double F in a deed which lies before me) by Manchester. She seems to have been a child of some consequence, for our grandfather, Thomas Hunt, has left on record the fact that she was a god-daughter of Queen Elizabeth. [Probably an error.] Tradition says that she lived to be ninety-nine years old.
"Richard Hunt and his wife brought over with them to Bermuda an infant daughter named Judith, and they had other children later. Judith married in 1660 Henry Durham, several times Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda. ... The property of Richard and Frances Hunt is several times mentioned in Lefroy's memorials of Bermuda. It amounted to one hundred and twenty-two acres. I have a copy of the deed of gift by which it was transferred to one of their daughters named Sarah, who married a Mr. Thomas Gibbs. Richard Hunt was a member of the Assembly in Bermuda, as appears in Lefroy (Vol. II, page 194). He was also what was called an 'elder of the Southampton Tribe,' the word 'tribe' being equivalent to the word parish, and Island being divided into about six tribes. The position of elder seems to have been ecclesiastical. I can discover no higher distinction for him than theses. ...[more]
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[Note of Caution: According to the Historical Magazine 2 (see below), the Will of Sir Nathaniel Rich did NOT specify that the shares in the Bermuda property were to be bestowed upon a "worthy" niece, but rather upon his sister Mrs. Jane Grimsditch.]
