Alfred Hunt (steel magnate)
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Alfred Hunt (April 5, 1817 - March 27, 1888) was the first president of Bethlehem Iron Company, precursor of Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He was elected president on July 15, 1860 by the board of directors of the fledgling Bethlehem Iron Company. He remained president until his death.[1]
Alfred Hunt was born of Quaker parentage, at Brownsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, the eldest child of Caleb Hunt (1786-1834) and Rhoda Matthews (1789-1829), widow of Joseph L. Bartlett (1781-1810).[2][3][4]
Shortly after his father died, Hunt and his six youngest siblings were brought by family members to Moorestown Township, New Jersey.[5] Here they lived with their father's brother, Elisha Hunt, and his wife, the former Mary Hussey, on their 82-acre farm.[6]
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.[7]
Hunt and John C. Fremont formed a business relationship in 1850 to mine gold from Fremont's property in California.
Alfred Hunt died at Moorestown and is interred in the family plot at Colestown Cemetery, Cherry Hill Township, New Jersey.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Bethlehem Globe-Times (March 28, 1888), "Alfred Hunt, the well known president of the Bethlehem Iron Company dead."
- ^ Hunt family history
- ^ Leonard, R. Bernice (1984), Bartlett and allied families, 1693-1984, p. 116
- ^ Woodward, E. M. (1883), History of Burlington County, New Jersey, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, p. 270-271
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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."
- ^ Swank, James Moore (1892), History of the manufacture of iron in all ages: ..., Philadelphia: The American Iron and Steel Association, p. 193
- ^ Bethlehem Globe-Times
- Davis (1877), "Bethlehem Iron Company", History of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Reading: Peter Fritts, Chapter XLV, p. 212-213
- Fremont, John C. (1850), Correspndence 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
