Ward Hunt

Ward Hunt (June 14, 1810 – March 24, 1886) was an American jurist and politician. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1868 to 1869, and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1872 to 1882. Ward attended the Oxford and Geneva Academies

Career Politician and attorney Hunt was a Democratic member from Oneida County of the New York State Assembly in 1839, and he was Mayor of Utica in 1844. In 1848, he joined the Free Soil Party, and in 1855 he was among the founders of the New York Republican Party. and was sworn into office on January 9, 1873.

Hunt had relatively little impact on the court, siding with the majority in all but 22 cases in his ten years on the job and writing only four dissenting opinions. Hunt then announced that Anthony would not be jailed for failure to pay the fine, a move that prevented her from appealing her case to the Supreme Court through a writ of habeas corpus.

In 1878, Hunt suffered a severe paralyzing stroke which prevented him from attending court sessions or rendering opinions. However, he refused to retire, because at the time in order to retire with a full pension, a person had to put in at least ten years of government service and be at least 70 years old. Hunt did so on January 27, 1882, and enjoyed his pension until his death in Washington, D.C., four years later.

Personal life On November 8, 1837, Hunt married Mary Ann Savage, the daughter of U.S. Representative and chief justice of the New York Supreme Court John Savage, and great-niece of Congressman Samuel Lyman. They had three children,

Elizabeth Stringham "Eliza" Hunt (1838–1905), who married Arthur Breese Johnson.