12 Facts About Ward Hunt

Ward Hunt was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1868 to 1869, and an associate justice of the US Supreme Court from 1872 to 1882.

Ward Hunt was a classmate of Horatio Seymour at the Oxford and Geneva Academies, and graduated from Union College in 1828, where he was an early member of the Kappa Alpha Society.

Ward Hunt was a Democratic member from Oneida County of the New York State Assembly in 1839, and was Mayor of Utica in 1844.

Ward Hunt remained in private practice until 1865, when he was elected to an eight-year term on the New York Court of Appeals on the Republican ticket, to succeed to the seat held by his former law teacher and partner Hiram Denio.

Ward Hunt was nominated on December 3,1872, confirmed by the US Senate on December 11, and was sworn into office on January 9,1873.

Ward Hunt had little impact on the court, siding with the majority in all but 22 cases in his ten years on the job and writing only four dissenting opinions.

Justice Hunt refused to allow Anthony to testify on her own behalf, allowed statements given by her at the time of her arrest to be allowed as "testimony," explicitly ordered the jury to return a guilty verdict, refused to poll the jury afterwards, and read an opinion he had written before the trial even started.

Ward Hunt found that Anthony had indeed broken the law and fined Anthony $100.

In 1878, Ward Hunt suffered a severe paralyzing stroke, which prevented him from attending court sessions or rendering opinions.

Ward Hunt did so on January 27,1882, and enjoyed his pension until his death in Washington, DC, four years later.

On November 8,1837, Ward Hunt was married to Mary Ann Savage, the daughter of US Representative and chief justice of the New York Supreme Court John Savage, and great-niece of Congressman Samuel Lyman.

Ward Hunt died on March 24,1886, in Washington, DC He was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica.