My Genealogy Hound

FREDERIC DAN HUNTINGTON, S.T.D., LL.D., L.H.D., first Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York, was born May 28, 1819, in the historic town of Hadley, the house where he was born being now his summer home. He is a son of the Rev. Dan Huntington, who acted for some time as pastor in Litchfield and Middletown, Conn., but moved in 1816 to Hampshire County, Massachusetts. For some time he taught at Hopkins Academy in Hadley, his home being the house now owned by the Bishop. The Rev. Dan Huntington married Elizabeth W. Phelps, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Porter) Phelps, of Hadley. The latter was the only daughter of Captain Moses Porter, who in 1753 built the house which afterward became the home of his granddaughter, Mrs. Huntington, and her family. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps had but two children: the mother of Frederic Dan Huntington and Major Charles P. Phelps. Mrs. Huntington at the time of her marriage owned some three hundred acres of the farm; and her brother built a dwelling on the land, and named the place “Pine Grove.” Mr. and Mrs. Huntington were the parents of eleven children, namely: the Hon. Charles P. Huntington, an attorney and judge; William Pitkin; Elizabeth P., Mrs. Fisher; Bethia Throop; Edward P.; John Whiting; Theophilus Parsons; Theo Gregson; Mary Dwight; Catherine Carey; Frederic Dan, our subject.

Frederic Dan Huntington graduated from Amherst in 1839. After graduation he took charge of the South Unitarian Church in Boston, over which he presided till 1855, when he was called to Harvard College, where he served as professor and preacher five years. Mr. Huntington was a deep and earnest thinker on the subject of religion; and in 1860, after mature deliberation, he joined the fold of the Protestant Episcopal church, taking charge of the newly organized parish of Emmanuel Church, Boston, where he labored for nine years. At the end of that time he was chosen and consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Central New York.

The works of Bishop Huntington’s pen are too many to enumerate here. They embrace poetry and prose and a diversified list of subjects, all treated gracefully and forcibly. His literary work alone covers a broad sphere of action; for, besides writing books, pamphlets, and poems, he contributed to the old Democratic Review, the Christian Examiner, the North American Review, the Forum, the American Church Review, the Homiletic Review, the Independent, the Boston Courier, the Churchman, and the Congregationalist; and he was editor for several years each of the Christian Register, the Monthly Religious Magazine, and the Church Monthly. Bishop Huntington has been connected with educational institutions in the following capacities: Trustee and Visitor of Hobart College; professor and preacher at Harvard (1855-60); Trustee at St. Paul’s School, Concord, several years; Trustee of St. Mark’s School, of the Keble School for Girls, Syracuse, and of Vassar College; President of the Board of Trustees of St. John’s School for Boys; and lecturer for one season at the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, and for two seasons at the General Theological Seminary, New York.

The above is a brief synopsis of Bishop Huntington’s career, giving merely the stepping-stones on the way to his present position. Of the years of conscientious and loving labor in behalf of his fellow-men, of pathetic and thrilling incidents in his career as a minister to needy souls, and of his own mental struggles and achievements space is not here given to write. A man of broad scholarship and unusual intellectual force, by personal effort and by the use of a facile and powerful pen he has done a great work for the Episcopal Church. He it was who first recognized the uses of an order of evangelists, and whose sympathy and encouragement brought into existence the Parochial Missions Society and the well-known St. Andrew’s Brotherhood.

On the 8th of April, 1894, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the consecration of Bishop Huntington was observed throughout his diocese; and the parishes of Syracuse united in service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Bishop Huntington pronouncing the benediction. A more formal and elaborate commemoration of the anniversary was made in connection with the annual Diocesan Convention, held at the cathedral on Wednesday, June 13, 1894, when three bishops and ninety-eight other clergymen were present, besides ninety-nine lay delegates and a large congregation, composed of people from Syracuse and other parts of the diocese. Many were present who attended the consecration at Boston twenty-five years ago. After the services in the church a public reception was held in the parlors of the Yates Hotel, where a large number of persons took occasion to offer congratulations to the Bishop.

In 1843 Bishop Huntington was united in marriage to Hannah Dane, daughter of Epes Sargent, of Boston, and five children blessed their union, namely: the Rev. George P. Huntington, rector of the parish at Hanover, N.H.; Arria Sargent, who lives with her parents; Ruth G., wife of A. L. Sessions, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; the Rev. James O. S. Huntington, known as Father Huntington, a preacher and evangelist; and Mary L., who is with her parents.

Bishop Huntington’s diocesan residence is at Syracuse, N.Y., where he is to be found the greater part of the year. The house in Hadley, where he spends his leisure seasons, and which is endeared to him by early associations, is one of the oldest in the State. A fine estate of more than a hundred acres of land adjoins the residence, and the whole makes an ideal country home. Though now in his seventy-seventh year, Bishop Huntington’s faculties are still undimmed. At the last Commencement exercises of Amherst he was the oldest alumnus present, and the number of his contemporaries is yearly dwindling; but all who have lived under his wise and far-sighted administration pray that he may be spared many years yet to watch over the spiritual welfare of the diocese of Central New York.