HUNT, Francis

Francis Hunt made the bricks for the historical Readfield
Union Meeting House and was one of its builders in
1827. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Francis Hunt was born 03 Jun 1773 in Gorham, ME the son of Ephraim and Abigail (Cates) Hunt. Ephraim and Abigail were recorded as living in Gorham on all the U.S. Census 1790-1830 but they are both buried in Readfield Corner Cemetery. It seems likely they would have come to live with their son in their old age. Abigail died at 80yrs in 1829 and Ephraim at age 88 in 1832. Francis Hunt settled lot#68 on present day Winthrop Road where he established a brickyard somewhere near the old Bryant house (Butman Hill) and produced the first bricks made in Readfield. Among the buildings in town made of Hunt’s bricks are the Readfield Union Meetinghouse and Gile Hall. He was also one of the 43 petitioners and a builder of the Union Meeting House in 1827. Francis Hunt married Nancy Merrill who was born 1777 in Gorham, Maine and died 1860. Francis died 1866. Both died in Readfield are buried at Readfield Corner Cemetery. Their daughter, Caroline married to Benjamin Davis, friends and neighbors on Sturtevant Hill Road. 12 Children: 1) Francis Jr. b.1796 2) Elias b.1798 3) Eliza b.1800 4) 4. Jane b.1802 5) Caroline b.1805 6) Merrill b.1807 7) John b.1811 8) Daniel b.1813 9) Abigail b.1816 10) George b.1818 11) Desdemona b.1819 12) Seward b.1823.

I. Ancestry.com, Maine Birth Records, 1621-1922 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.Original data - Maine Birth Records, 1621-1922. Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives. Original data: Maine Birth Records, 1621-1922. Augusta, Maine: Maine State Archives.), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, Database online.
II. Godfrey Memorial Library, comp., American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 1999.Original data - Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library. Original data: Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genea), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, Database online.
III 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census Readfield
IV 1790-1830 U.S. Census Gorham
V. Readfield, Maine cemetery listings as collected by Marjorie Elvin of the Readfield Bicentennial Committee 1974-1992
vi. To Those Who Led the Way: Readfield, ME VR's 1768-1913; self-published by Dale Potter-Clark 2009; page 23