John Hart Hunter

John Hart Hunter (May 3, 1807 – February 12, 1872) is recognized as the father of the American college fraternity system. He founded the Kappa Alpha Society (KA) in 1825 at Union College.

Early life and education His father, John Hunter, emigrated from Dublin, Ireland to Philadelphia in 1805 and then moved to New York where he worked as a bookkeeper. Hunter, a superb mathematician, soon gave up business for teaching. The elder John Hunter married Sarah Hart of White Plains.

John Hart Hunter was born on May 3, 1807 in New York City. From his father, he gained a love of scholarship. The younger Hunter developed his early education through extensive reading at the Apprentices' Public Library in New York and particularly enjoyed reading the Waverly novels of Sir Walter Scott.

Upon graduating near the top of his class at Union in 1826, Hunter was admitted to Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied until 1828.

Some records list him as having received a Doctor of Divinity degree, but as early as 1932 it was unclear what institution had awarded the degree.

Career

Pastor Hunter was ordained on December 17, 1828 at the Congregational Church of Fairfield, Connecticut and served as pastor there until January 1834.

Hunter went on to serve as pastor of the First Congregational Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts. At his installation as pastor on August 25, 1835, a sermon was delivered by William B. Sprague on the topic of religious ultraism. He was dismissed from the post in February 1837.

He served as a pastor in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1839 to 1845. He was described as "a man of genius, but of that type of genius which is often erratic ... [and] sometimes approaches the borderland to insanity."

Teacher and land speculator He then became a teacher. From 1847 to 1851, he lived in New Utrecht, Brooklyn, in what is now Bay Ridge. The Civil War left him nearly penniless. at City Hospital in Galveston, Texas. He was buried the next day, February 13, 1872, likely in Galveston's Old potter's field which is now known today as Oleander Cemetery in the Broadway Cemetery Historic District. Records of his burial and his grave were allegedly lost in the 1900 Gavelston Hurricane.

John Hunter married Julia Maria Judson (January 11, 1811 – October 14, 1905) in 1830. Julia was a well-educated member of a prominent Stratford, Connecticut, family. She was born in Stratford to Daniel and Sarah Judson. Julia graduated from Troy Female Seminary in 1827 and had been instrumental in campaigning for her late friend Emma Willard's induction into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. Julia died at the age of 95 at her home at 62 West 93rd Street in New York City.

John and Julia Hunter had nine children, including Daniel Judson Hunter, Julia E. Hunter, Kate P. Hunter, James Hunter, Mary H. Hunter and four others. John and Julia's son Daniel Judson Hunter died at the age of 62 on February 2, 1907, at his home in New York.