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Jonathan Hunnewell

Icono primaria: Participant
Icono: Apprentice
Icono primaria: Participant
Icono: Apprentice

(May 27, 1759 – April 3, 1842) 

Jonathan Hunnewell was a 14-year-old mason’s apprentice in 1773 when he allegedly joined his father and brother on Griffin’s Wharf to dump East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.

Apprenticed under his father, it is no surprise that the Hunnewell men joined the “party” marching to the harbor. Their relationship played a significant role in Jonathan’s service during the American Revolutionary War.  

While records show that Jonathan Hunnewell served as an artillery artificer – a member of the troops that operated military depots – his Revolutionary War pension affidavits provide detail. Reportedly, he enlisted under Captain William Ethridge on April 20, 1775, only to have his commanding officer die of smallpox the following year. Jonathan’s father, Richard, took over the command of the company of masons under fellow Boston Tea Party participant Colonel Thomas Chase. For two years, Father and son built barracks, ammunition magazines, and other structures in Roxbury and Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1795, Jonathan Hunnewell was one of the founding members of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, an organization focused on promoting mechanical arts and trades in and around Boston. In 1800, Hunnewell followed other fellow tea party participant Paul Revere as president of the association and remained in that post for nine years. 

Beginning in 1801, Hunnewell’s political career flourished. He served alternately and simultaneously as a legislator in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1801-1814), Selectman of the town of Boston (elected nine times from 1803 to 1820), and the Massachusetts State Senate (twelve times from 1805 through 1822 when not already serving in the House). Hunnewell was also elected to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1820 and served on the Governor’s Council in 1817, 1819, and 1821. Despite his business and political success, Jonathan was financially devastated in 1822 by the failure of a glassworks business he had invested in Boston and Chelmsford, Massachusetts. 

Jonathan Hunnewell died in Roxbury, Massachusetts on April 3, 1842. 

  • Spouse:
  • Sarah “Sally” Peck (October 19, 1760 – December 1784)
  • Children:
  • Sarah “Sally” Hunnewell (1781 – August 17, 1812)
  • Sarah “Sally” Hunnewell (1781 – August 17, 1812)
  • Spouse:
  • Lucy Warland (March 26, 1762 – February 16, 1787)
  • Children:
  • Lucy Hunnewell (January 8, 1786 – September 21, 1806)
  • Betsey Warland Hunnewell (January 28, 1787 – Unknown)
  • Lucy Hunnewell (January 8, 1786 – September 21, 1806)
  • Betsey Warland Hunnewell (January 28, 1787 – Unknown)
  • Spouse:
  • Rebecca Gore (1756 – September 16, 1795)
  • Children:
  • Richard Hunnewell (October 12, 1788 – September 25, 1791)
  • Frances Hunnewell (May 23, 1790 – December 8, 1875)
  • Richard Hunnewell (October 12, 1788 – September 25, 1791)
  • Frances Hunnewell (May 23, 1790 – December 8, 1875)
  • Spouse:
  • Susannah Hicks (1756 – March 8, 1819)
  • No Children
  • Spouse:
  • Theoda (Williams) Davis (January 7, 1764 – May 21, 1834)
  • No Children

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