Timothy Dwight Hunt is best known as the first Protestant clergyman to settle and minister in California. Hunt was born at Rochester, New York on March 10, 1821. He attended Yale, graduating in 1840. After graduating from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1843, he became a missionary to Honolulu from 1844 to 1848. Upon hearing about the Gold Rush in California, he and his family took a boat to San Francisco. In California, he served in different capacities and different churches from 1848-1857. He went on to serve various other churches from 1858-1879 in New York and Michigan. Hunt died at Whitesboro, New York on February 7, 1895.

Timothy Dwight Hunt was born in Rochester, New York on March 10, 1821. Hunt attended Yale (graduating in 1840) and completed his degree at Auburn Seminary in 1843. Ordained by the Presbytery of Genesee, he and his wife sailed to Hawaii as missionaries. After four years, he and his family sailed to San Francisco, arriving on October 28, 1848. Hunt, a New School Presbyterian, is believed to have been the first full-time Protestant minister to settle in California. He held his first communion service at the “Public Institute” in Portsmouth Square, San Francisco on November 5, 1848. The congregation included different denominations. He was elected chaplain of San Francisco for two years. He organized the First Congregational Church in July 1849. Hunt became its minister on June 26, 1850. He also was one of three ministers who were part of the Presbytery in San Francisco in September 21 for Monterrey. The other ministers were Samuel H Wiley and John Waldo Douglas. Hunt left San Francisco in 1857, becoming the minister for First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca. He died February 7, 1895, leaving behind a significant legacy of journals, letters and church registers.

2 linear feet (3 archives boxes and 5 microfilm reels)

For permissions to publish, contact the branch librarian at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA.

Collection is open for research.