March is Women’s History Month and this week and next Niagara Discoveries will highlight the life of Mary Hosmer Walbridge Hunt. The Niagara History Center was recently contacted by a member of the Mary Hunt Guild of Christ Episcopal Church inquiring whether there was an image of Mary Hunt. No image could be located but the search continues. Mary was the wife of Lockport lawyer and New York State Governor Washington Hunt, and while she gave support and encouragement to her husband, she also pursued her own interests and causes, particularly in the nearly 40 years she lived after his death.
Mary Hosmer Walbridge was born Dec. 7, 1815, in Sodus Bay, the eldest child of Henry and Mary “Polly” Hosmer Walbridge. Her brother, Henry Jr., was also born in Sodus Bay, in 1818. By the time Mary was 8 years old, the family had moved to Geneva, where four more children were born. Henry Walbridge may have operated a general store in Geneva. An ad in a Geneva newspaper in 1830 announced a “New Establishment…in the store lately occupied by Henry Walbridge.” There is nothing known about Mary’s childhood in either location but she did receive a good education and was a devoted and life-long member of the Episcopal Church. In 1830, the Walbridge family moved again, this time to Lockport. What Henry Walbridge did in his first few years of living is Lockport is uncertain; one source says he practiced law, another that he was a land speculator, or perhaps he had a store similar to the one in Geneva. At some point in the early 1830s, Walbridge became acquainted with a young man named Washington Hunt, who at the time was studying law in the office of Lot Clark. All three men lived in the Lowertown area which at that time was both a bustling business district and a fashionable residential neighborhood overlooking the Erie Canal.
Washington Hunt had been born in Wyndham, Greene County, in 1811. He came to Lockport in 1828 as a clerk in the store of Tucker & Bissell when the owners decided to relocate to this growing village on the Erie Canal. How and when Hunt and Mary Walbridge met is unknown but they were married on Nov. 20, 1834, a few weeks before the bride’s 19th birthday. Their wedding was the first one performed in the new 1833 Christ Episcopal Church on Market and Vine streets (the former stone Christ Episcopal Church that is presently at that corner was constructed 20 years later in 1854). A year before their marriage, Hunt had gone into partnership with Mary’s father, both becoming agents for the Albany Land Company after purchasing 32,000 acres in the northwestern corner of New York state which had been part of the original Holland Land Company holdings. The sale of these lands over the next few years proved very profitable for both men and the large brick Hunt and Walbridge homes stood on opposite corners of Market and Adam streets facing the canal. A small wood frame building for the land and law office was located on the Walbridge property, just east of the residence. By 1835, Hunt had his own law practice but disaster struck when the office burned to the ground that same year. A new, larger brick structure was soon built and that is the Washington Hunt Law/Land Office on the property of the Niagara History Center today.
Over the next 15 years, the couple made their permanent home in Lockport while Hunt pursued his law practice and served as the first judge appointed in Niagara County. The few pieces of personal information that could be found on Mary Hunt indicate she was close to her family, particularly her father, so living near them must have been a relief for her. In 1842, her husband was elected to Congress as a Whig. In those days, due to the arduous journey and the lack of suitable housing in the nation’s capital, most wives and families remained in their home district. Hunt was re-elected in 1844 and 1846 but did not run in 1848. Instead, he accepted the nomination as Whig candidate for the office of Comptroller of New York State in 1849 and won the election. Hunt may have wanted to be closer to home, as Mary gave birth to their only child, Robert Henry, in 1848 or 1849 (the source material is inconsistent on how many children the couple had and when Robert was born, including in several Ancestry accounts; most obituaries for both Washington and Mary only mention Robert but a few confuse nephews and nieces as their children). In September 1850, the Hunts were living in a boarding house in Albany with 2-year-old Robert; Hunt’s occupation was listed as “statesman.”
Two months after the above census record was taken, Hunt was elected Governor of New York as a Whig by the slim margin of 262 votes. His chief accomplishment as governor was the passage of a bill to enlarge the Erie Canal, a measure that would greatly benefit Niagara County. He ran again as a Whig in 1852 and was defeated by Democrat Horatio Seymour. Hunt retuned to Lockport in 1853 and purchased a country home at Old Niagara and Lake roads on the northern outskirts of the village and named it Wyndham Lawn after the place he was born. He continued his political career but was unsuccessful. In 1856, Hunt again ran for Congress, this time as an independent, with no party affiliation. He was defeated. The Democrats nominated him to run for Congress in 1862 and he once again lost. Following this loss, although Hunt still took an interest in politics, he never again ran for office. Upon returning to Lockport, he was active in the business affairs of the village and was a local philanthropist who would often pay bills for those who were going through a difficult time. The couple also maintained a residence in New York City during the 1850s and 1860s. Hunt died of cancer in that city on Feb. 2, 1867. He was brought back to Lockport for burial in Glenwood Cemetery.
NEXT WEEK: “The Grande Dame” — Mary Hunt’s Widow Years
Ann Marie Linnabery is the assistant director of the History Center of Niagara.