Roots run deep to Revolutionary War patriot Jonathan Hunt

Jul 08, 2023

Our History

Jonesville and Elkin have always been linked through family, business, and educational ties. The Yadkin, however, often posed an insurmountable barrier. When Elkin's 210-foot covered bridge (visible in the lower left of the postcard) was built in 1872 it was said to be the longest wooden suspension bridge in the world. Operated as a toll bridge, the fee was five cents.

The Southern Campaign of the American Revolution was vicious as people fought to defend their homes and families not only from the British Regulars and Hessian mercenaries, but from Tory neighbors. Advances in digital document preservation have made researching this pivotal moment in American history much easier in recent years, allowing the museum to significantly expand its exhibits. Many families across Surry and surrounding counties can follow their lineage to Patriots who supported the war effort with material goods as well as military service. The Daughters of the American Revolution, the DAR, with one of the most rigorously researched genealogical archives, can help researchers find and verify those connections.

Richard Gwyn built the town's first school in 1850. Pictured on the cover of the local DAR chapter's cookbook, it served as both school and Methodist chapel for years before the chapter organized its refurbishment and move to its current location on Church Street where it houses the town's museum. The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History has the cookbook in the gift shop.

Before John Hancock put quill to parchment, before shots fired at Bunker Hill were heard round the world, before all that tea was dumped in Boston Harbor, there was the Coxe Affair.

Dr. Daniel Coxe, physician to the English royal household, bought thousands of acres of wilderness in western New Jersey. He was one of many proprietors of New Jersey but he owned so much land that in 1685 he declared himself governor of the colony.

He never set foot in the colonies, but he grew rich from the land speculation and governance of the residents who paid for the land and paid taxes. The area was settled by Quakers and Presbyterians who cleared the land, planted crops, and built farms and villages.

After his death in 1731, his son and heir declared the land of Hopewell Township, just north of Trenton, was still his and everyone would either have to buy the land properly from him or leave — leave the homes they and their fathers had improved over decades.

This didn't sit well, as one might imagine. Landowners took their case to the colony's supreme court, to no avail. The courts sided with the wealthy, well connected, Anglican Coxe. The ruling was met with acts of unrest and violence with at least one instance of two men being taken to the woods where they were tarred and feathered.

Among the wronged landowners taking their own justice that night were Jonathan Hunt and his brother-in-law, Thomas Smith. They, and many other Hopewell residents, would continue the court battles for a while but eventually left, traveling down the Great Wagon Road to the Shenandoah with the storied frontiersman Morgan Bryan.

Around 1745, they left Virginia and settled in a swath of land between Lexington, Salisbury, and Mocksville with many others who’d been cheated out of their land in New Jersey. It was known as the Jersey Settlement and was something of a hotbed for the Regulator Movement in the days leading up to the American Revolution.

Given their history with greedy proprietors and a corrupt government willing to invalidate legal deeds, it is little wonder that Hunt, Smith and the others were hyper-vigilant when North Carolina Colonial Gov. William Tryon seemed to ignore their interests.

Jonathan Hunt fought with the British forces in the French and Indian War and rose to the rank of colonel, a moniker he was known by the rest of his life. He led a company of men assigned to protect citizens across the region, served as justice of the peace and was a signatory to the creation of Rowan County.

But as the injustices of a remote and cruel British government mounted, he and many other Jersey settlers sided with the fledgling Patriots. On May 16, 1771, they packed the ranks at the Battle of Alamance, considered by some historians to be the first true action of the Revolution, a full four years before Bunker Hill.

Cornwallis took him prisoner and his troops destroyed all buildings but the main house. Regardless, Hunt supported the Patriot efforts until his death in 1782, a year before the war ended.

At least 11 of Jonathan's 19 children were sons and many, if not all, served during the Revolution. The family were close with the Bryans and Boones and several children married into those lines and settled beyond the Cumberland Gap.

Revolutionary War veteran Captain Daniel Hunt married Nancy Jones whose family Jonesville is named for. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Richard Gwyn, founder of Elkin.

More than 140 years after end of the War for Independence, 14 women, descendants of Patriots including Hunt, established the Jonathan Hunt Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. For decades they’ve raised money to support VA hospitals and sponsor history, citizenship and JROTC awards. They also restored and maintained the Richard Gwyn Museum in Elkin.

Their efforts to research and preserve local history helps ensure we will not forget those who came before and built the communities we call home today.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.