John Hart Hunter
Encyclopedia
John Hart Hunter is recognized as the father of the American college fraternity system. He founded the Kappa Alpha Society
Kappa Alpha Society
The Kappa Alpha Society , founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It was the first of the fraternities which would eventually become known as the Union Triad...

 (KA) in 1825 at Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...

.http://www.johnharthuntereducationalfoundation.org/

Early life

John Hart Hunter was born on May 3, 1807. His father, John Hunter, emigrated from Dublin, Ireland to Philadelphia in 1805 and then soon to New York where he worked as a bookkeeper. The elder John Hunter married Sarah Hart of White Plains
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...

. Hunter, a superb mathematician, soon gave up business for teaching. He also passed on his love for scholarship to his only son, John Hart Hunter. The younger Hunter developed his early education by extensive reading at the Apprentices' Public Library in New York.

College Life

John Hart Hunter entered college directly into the Junior Class at Union in 1824. He quickly became one of the leading academic scholars of the school at the age of only 17. When Arthur Burtis Jr. entered Union in 1825 (also as a Junior following two years at Columbia), college president Eliphalet Nott
Eliphalet Nott
Eliphalet Nott , was a famed Presbyterian minister, inventor, educational pioneer, and long-term president of Union College, Schenectady, New York.-Life:...

 personally insisted Hunter take him under his wing as roommate. Thus Hunter's plans for a single room were disrupted, and indirectly President Nott had set the stage for the foundation of Kappa Alpha. On November 26, 1825, John Hart Hunter founded the Kappa Alpha Society
Kappa Alpha Society
The Kappa Alpha Society , founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It was the first of the fraternities which would eventually become known as the Union Triad...

, the world's first Greek letter social fraternity, along with eight other students: six of them seniors in the class of 1826, and two juniors of the class of 1827.

Upon graduating near the top of his class at Union in 1826, Hunter was admitted to the Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...

 where he studied until 1828.

After Union

Hunter was called in 1828 to serve as pastor of the Congregational Church of Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...

. During his six-year tenure at Fairfield, he developed into a powerful preacher.

John Hunter married Julia Maria Judson in 1830. Julia was a well-educated member of a prominent Stratford, Connecticut
Stratford, Connecticut
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. It was founded by Puritans in 1639....

, family. She was born on January 11, 1811 in Stratford to Daniel and Sarah Judson. Julia graduated from Troy Female Seminary in 1827. John and Julia Hunter had nine children, including Daniel Judson Hunter, Julia E. Hunter, Kate P. Hunter, James Hunter, and Mary H. Hunter and four others.

John Hart Hunter went on to serve as pastor of churches at West Springfield, Massachusetts
West Springfield, Massachusetts
The Town of West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,391 at the 2010 census...

, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...

, and Nanville, Kentucky.

In 1851, Hunter moved west to Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 with his son James, age 19, in hopes of improving the financial situation of his growing family. They had hoped to profit from land that Hunter had bought several years earlier. Hunter put the land to work for industrial purposes rather than simple farming. He later traded the land in Missouri for deeds to land in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. John Hart Hunter died of Congestion of the Lungs on February 12, 1872, at City Hospital in Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

. He was buried the next day, February 13, 1872 in Galveston's Potter's field
Potter's field
A potter's field was an American term for a place for the burial of unknown or indigent people. The expression derives from the Bible, referring to a field used for the extraction of potter's clay, which was useless for agriculture but could be used as a burial site.-Origin:The term comes from...

 which is known today as Municipal Cemetery located at 61st Street and Avenue T 1/2.

Julia Maria Judson Hunter died at the age of 95 on Saturday, October 14, 1905 at her home at 62 W 93rd Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Prior to her death, Julia had been instrumental in campaigning for her late friend Emma Willard
Emma Willard
Emma Hart Willard was an American women’s rights activist who dedicated her life to education. She worked in several schools and founded the first school for women’s higher education, the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York...

's induction into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...

. John and Julia's son Daniel Judson Hunter died at the age of 62 on February 2, 1907 at his home in New York.
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