John W. Hunter

Who was John W. Hunter?

John Ward Hunter was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Bedford, New York, he received a liberal schooling and was a clerk in a wholesale grocery store in New York City in 1824. He was a clerk in the U.S. Custom House at New York City from 1831 to 1836, and was assistant auditor of the customhouse from 1836 to 1865. He engaged in banking as treasurer of the Dime Savings Bank in Brooklyn, and was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Humphrey. Hunter held office from December 4, 1866 to March 3, 1867; while in Congress, he was censured by the House of Representatives on January 26, 1867 for the use of unparliamentary language. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1866; in 1875 and 1876 he was mayor of Brooklyn. His successor as mayor was Frederick A. Schroeder, a Republican. Hunter was elected the first President of the Society of Old Brooklynites. The prestigious civic organization which was founded in 1880, still holds monthly public meetings in the Brooklyn Surrogate's Courtroom. He resumed banking and died in Brooklyn; interment was in Green-Wood Cemetery.