Alfred Hunt (steel magnate)

Alfred Hunt (April 5, 1817 – March 27, 1888) was the first president of Bethlehem Iron Company, precursor of Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

Alfred Hunt
Born(1817-04-05)April 5, 1817
Brownsville, Fayette County
Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 27, 1888(1888-03-27) (aged 70)
Moorestown Township,
Burlington County
New Jersey, U.S.
OccupationMechanical engineer
Industrialist
Executive
Parent(s)Caleb Hunt
Rhoda Matthews

Personal life

Alfred Hunt was born of Quaker parentage, at Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, the eldest child of Caleb Hunt (1786–1834) and his wife Rhoda Matthews (1789–1829), widow of Joseph L. Bartlett (1781–1810).[1][2][3] Alfred Hunt is a grandson of Joshua and Esther Hunt, who had removed with their young family from Moorestown Township, New Jersey and settled near Brownsville in 1790.[4]

Shortly after his father's death, Hunt and his six youngest siblings were brought by family members to Moorestown.[5] Here they lived with Elisha Hunt, their father's brother, and his wife Mary Hussey Hunt on their 82-acre (330,000 m2) farm.[6]

Alfred Hunt died at Moorestown and is interred in the family plot at Colestown Cemetery, Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey.[7]

Professional life

His career in the iron and steel industry began in 1849 when the firm of Rowland and Hunt was formed for the purpose of operating The Cheltenham Rolling Mill, Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania.[8]

In 1850, Alfred Hunt and John C. Fremont formed a business relationship to mine gold on Fremont's property in California.

Alfred Hunt was elected president on July 15, 1860, by the board of directors of the fledgling Bethlehem Iron Company. He remained president until his death.[9]

“Mr. Hunt was very much of a gentleman and knew how to meet any person from a king to a beggar.”[10]
John Fritz

References and notes
  1. Woodward, E. M. (1883). History of Burlington County, New Jersey, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, pp. 270-271: "Caleb removed with his parents to Pennsylvania, married Rhoda, daughter of Mordecai and Ruth Matthews, of Baltimore County. They had seven children,- Alfred, president of the Bethlehem Iron-Works; Eliza, wife of James M. Walker, of Waterford, Va.; Ruth Ann, wife of Robert F. Roberts, of Alexandria, Va.; Mary H. resides with her brother Mordecai; Edmund, a miller, of Alexandria, Va.; Elisha H., deceased, was a merchant in Philadelphia; and Mordecai Hunt. Rhoda M. Hunt, born Nov. 23, 1789, died at Brownsville, Pa., Nov. 15, 1829."
  2. Weeks, Christopher, et al. (1984). Where land and water intertwine, an architectural history of Talbot County, Maryland. Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-3165-2, p. 236: "WAKEFIELD Easton 1786; with additions; Private. Wakefield, an early Bartlett property, is composed of a late-eighteenth-century brick section..." "... a brick in the kitchen is dated 1786."
  3. Leonard, R. Bernice (1984). Bartlett and allied families, 1693-1984. p. 116: "On Joseph's return to Wakefield the family learned that he intended to get married and in little less than a year, on 22nd day, 6th month, 1809, he was wed to Rhoda Matthews, daughter of Mordecai and Ruth Matthews, at Gunpowder Meeting House. After his marriage Joseph's health steadily declined and although he fought valiantly to stay with the wife and family whom he loved so dearly, he died 24th day, 2nd month, 1810 in the house at Wakefield where he was born. Joseph, son of Joseph and Rhoda Matthews Bartlett, was born 26th day, 5th month, 1810. Rhoda M. Bartlett married Caleb Hunt, 1st day, 5th month, 1816. They lived at Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Rhoda died there 15th day, 11th month, 1829."
  4. Hynes, pp. 23, 24, 51
  5. Leonard, p. 116-117: Joseph Bartlett (1810-1868), Hunt's older brother, did not accompany his brothers and sisters to Moorestown. Prior to 1834 he had moved from Brownsville to Baltimore, Maryland.
  6. Woodward, p. 270-271: "Upon the death of his brother Caleb in 1834, Elisha Hunt disposed of all his business interests there, and in the spring of 1835, with his wife and the orphan children of his brother, returned to his native State, and settled on a farm near Moorestown, N. J., which he had purchased the year before."
  7. Bethlehem Globe-Times
  8. Swank, James Moore (1892). History of the manufacture of iron in all ages: .... Philadelphia: The American Iron and Steel Association, p. 193: "The Cheltenham Rolling Mill, on Tacony Creek, in Montgomery County, one mile below Shoemakertown, was built in 1790, probably by James and Maxwell Rowland. In 1849 and subsequently it was operated by Rowland & Hunt, making boiler plates from blooms. It was abandoned in 1858. At first it was used to slit nail rods. The firm of Rowland & Hunt was composed of Mrs. Harriet Rowland, a widow, and Mr. Alfred Hunt, Mrs. Rowland owning the mill."
  9. Bethlehem Globe-Times (March 28, 1888). "Alfred Hunt, the well known president of the Bethlehem Iron Company dead."
  10. Autobiography of John Fritz

Bibliography
  • Davis (1877). "Bethlehem Iron Company". History of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia and Reading: Peter Fritts, Chapter XLV, pp. 212–213.
  • Fremont, John C. (1850). Correspondence to Alfred Hunt. (Six letters which are in a private collection.)
  • Hall, P. J. (1915). "History of South Bethlehem, Pa.". Semi-centennial, the borough of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1865-1915. Quinlan Printing Co.
  • Hynes, Judy (1997). The descendants of John and Elizabeth (Woolman) Borton. Mount Holly, New Jersey: John Woolman Memorial Association.


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