Abraham Hunt

(June 12, 1748 – December 5, 1793) 

Abraham Hunt was a merchant, retailer, wine broker, and refiner operating out of his house and shop on Queen Street in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hunt apprenticed at the age of fifteen with Boston wine merchant Edmund Quincy. With a solid background in the wine trade, Hunt continued in the business during and after the Revolutionary War.  

Hunt served the revolutionary cause early on, reportedly as an Adjutant in Lieutenant Colonel Loammi Baldwin’s regiment in Cambridge on May 23, 1775. He was not commissioned as an officer until his service in Captain Child’s company of the 25th regiment, when he achieved the rank of Lieutenant. Hunt was at Fort Ticonderoga in New York on October 20, 1776, per the accounts of Colonel Wheelock. Hunt was briefly ordered to perform the duties of Brigade Major, substituting during the illness of Major Hodders. Subsequently, Hunt took part in the siege of Boston as a Captain in Colonel Joseph Vose’s regiment, from January 1, 1777, to at least April 1, 1777. During that same year, Hunt became a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew before joining Captain Vose’s regiment at Valley Forge in December. According to a report made by Captain Vose to the commissioning board at West Point, before he could be named a replacement officer in the 1st Massachusetts regiment, Hunt resigned from the Continental Army as of September 8, 1780.  Hunt’s involvement in revolutionary matters did not end there, however. As of June 24, 1781, he was the agent for the privateer ship, Buccaneer, under the command of Captain Hoysted Hacker.  

Continuing in the trade he had learned as an apprentice, Abraham Hunt was granted a permit by the town of Boston on August 28, 1782, to sell strong drink. 

Abraham Hunt died in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 5, 1793.