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Monday, May 27, 2013

History: Major Thomas Hunn (1736-1797)

"This Old Monmouth of Ours", by William S Hornor, pp 162-3, contains the following biography:

"Major Thomas Hunn

Major Thomas Hunn was the son of Adrien (died June 15, 1738, aged 27-7-, buried at Topenemus) and Phoebe (Smith) Hunn. He kept store and tavern (which last was continued after his death by his widow) just in the rear of the present (1930) Farry Hotel at Freneau, in a house afterwards known as the Leadbeater House and now as the Hawkins place. This house is still standing, tho' somewhat modernized, and is an interesting revolutionary relic.

Major Hunn himself was born October 6, 1736 and died September 15, 1797. He is buried in the old cemetery between Matawan and Freneau, by the side of his wife Catherine, who was the daughter of Peregrine and Catherine (Provoost) VanEmburg. His daughter Phoebe married Judge Cornelius P Vanderhoff, of Monmouth County. His brother, John S Hunn, a sterling patriot, married Margaret Freneau, sister of the poet, subsequently removing to Newburg, New York, where he was still living in 1812. The whole family and its connections were of high social position."

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This brief biography is preceded in Old Monmouth by a transcript of court martial proceedings against Major Hunn et al in 1781. Page 165 contains a certificate of death signed by a Captain Thomas Hunn in 1779. His daughter Phoebe is referenced in a brief biography of Nicholas Morgan Disbrow on pg 411. The marriage of his brother, John S Hunn, is referenced in the Fresneau section of the book at the top of pg 126.

The Official Record of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, published by the Adjutant General's Office, pg 344, identifies Thomas Hunn as having served the First Regiment, Monmouth County, first as a Captain and then as a Second Major.