Abijah Hunt
| Abijah Hunt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1762 New Jersey |
| Died | 1811 |
| Occupation | Merchant, planter, banker |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Relatives |
Jeremiah Hunt (brother) Jess Hunt (brother) John Wesley Hunt (cousin) David Hunt (nephew) |
Abijah Hunt (1762-1811) was an American merchant, planter and banker in the Natchez District.
Abijah Hunt was born in 1762 in New Jersey. Two of his brothers were, Jeremiah Hunt and Jess Hunt.
Abijah moved from New Jersey to Cincinnati, Ohio to work as a merchant supplying the United States Army soldiers stationed at Fort Washington there. He worked with his brothers (Jeremiah and Jess), buying goods on credit in Philadelphia and New York City.Wagoners hauled the goods to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where they were loaded onto flatboats and floated down the Ohio River to be sold in Cincinnati. He made a small fortune providing supplies to the soldiers in Cincinnati.
In 1795 Abijah helped his cousin, John Wesley Hunt, set up a similar merchant business in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. The Hunts obtained some of their goods by trading with each other. John would send Abijah "bacon, butter, cheese, salt, tobacco, whiskey, and horses" from Lexington, while Abijah would send John "leather, shoes, and nails" from Cincinnati.
In 1798, Abijah moved to the Natchez District of Mississippi. He invested some of his money in land, developing cotton plantations in Adams, Jefferson and Claiborne counties. With Elijah Smith, he opened general stores and public cotton gins in the market towns of Natchez, Washington, Greenville, Port Gibson, Big Black, and Bayou Pierre. By 1805, Hunt was the largest merchant in Mississippi. Hunt and Smith charged a ten percent commission to planters for processing their cotton at his public cotton gins. Additionally, the Hunt and Smith firm operated a cotton brokerage and transported logs and cotton bales to market. Thus, Abijah created a kind of vertical monopoly, making a profit in every area of the cotton business: growing it on his plantations, processing it at his public cotton gins, and selling it through his brokerage.
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