Huntington, Ebenezer
Congregationalist
Anglo-American
Tavern owner and deacon
- Norwich, CT
Married Sarah Leffingwell in 1717. They had four children.
Ebenezer Huntington was a deacon and tavern keeper in Norwich, CT. He inherited both posts from his father, Simon Huntington III, who died in 1736. Despite the fact that he, along with the rest of the Huntington family, was quite influential in Norwich at this time, little information about him survives. He was the cousin of Dr. Jonathan Huntington, Windham’s first doctor and the physician that served Wheelock’s students for many years.
Caulkins, Francis Manwarring. History of Norwich, Connecticut, From Its Settlement in 1660, to January 1845. Norwich: Thomas Robinson, 1845. Accessed via GoogleBooks. Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial. Volume 4. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913. Accessed via GoogleBooks. Genealogy.com. "Ebenezer Huntington (b. May 1692, d. September 12, 1768)." Accessed via http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/u/n/John-H-Dunlop/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0355.html 5/5/14. Historic Buildings of Connecticut. "The Simon Huntington, Jr. House (1690)." http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=2397 Accessed 5/5/14.
The identification of Ebenezer Huntington as the Deacon Huntington who runs a tavern in Norwich in 1757 is highly likely, though not 100-percent certain. The Huntington family tavern was opened by Simon III (1658/9-1736) in 1706, and was passed down through the family until 1782, when it was sold. Since it was passed as inheritance, as was the deacon title, it seems reasonable to assume that if Ebenezer got one, he got the other as well (all the more so since Occom’s tavern keeper in 757378 is Deacon Huntington). Based on this ID, Deacon Huntington in 757378 is not the same man as Deacon Huntington in 785301. Aside from the span of time between the two references, their places of residence seem to differ: the 1757 Deacon lives in or near Norwich, while the 1785 Deacon lives in or near New Concord (a parish to the west of Norwich, now Bozrah). The sheer geographic spread of the Huntington name—and the tradition of churches appointing Huntingtons as deacons—further increases the odds that these are different men.