Hunt, William, 1733-1772

HUNT, William, (1733-1772). Son of William Hunt of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Mary Woolman, daughter of John; was a very sober, religious child, and began to preach at the age of fifteen; married early, before his majority, Sarah Mills, in 4mo.1753; eventually became a resident at Guilford, N.C., with which most of his later life is associated; had eight children, one of them his famous son Nathan; traveled to England in 1771 accompanied by his nephew, Thomae Thornborough; during the year the two visited Yorkshire, Lancashire and Ireland, meeting John Woolmanin London in June, 1772; they sailed thence to Holland; embarking on the return to England ... they 1anded the 16th of August, and went to the house of James King at Newcastle-upon- Tyne; he was taken with an illness which on the fourth day proved to be smallpox; William Hunt died September 9th, 1772, his last words being 'Truth reigns over all!'