Who Was Daniel T. V. Huntoon?

From Chris Brindley's Looking Back Column In The Canton Journal

Daniel Thomas Vose Huntoon, who died at the residence of his father in-law, Hon. Charles H. French, last Wednesday afternoon, December 15, 1886, he was born in Canton, September 4th, 1842. He was the son of Rev. Benjamin Huntoon and Lydia (Baker) Huntoon. His father was a clergyman and was for some years settled as pastor over the First Congregational Church in this town. At one time he preached in Marblehead, when his son was a mere child. In after years the son would delight to tell of his living in that quaint, historic old town, and it is not impossible that his taste for historical and genealogical research may have been stimulated by those early associations. Mr. Huntoon was liberally educated, fitting for Harvard University, although he was not graduated at that institution. After his father's death he made a journey to Europe, and traveled extensively in that country. For a person to make a voyage to Europe was much more rare twenty years ago than it is now, when it almost seems that one's distinction arises from the fact that he has never crossed the ocean, rather than that he has. Upon his return, he studied law for a time in the office of the late Ellis Ames, Esq., but before completing his studies, he left and commenced with others, the erection of a building to engage in the manufacture of elastic goods. The building which was burned near the station at Canton Junction, belonging to Mr. J. W. Wattles at the time, was the one built by Mr. Huntoon and his associates. Shortly after, he went to New York and formed a co-partnership with G. M. Endicott and a Mr. Woolf, for the purpose of carrying on the business of dealers in gentlemen's furnishing goods. Later he went to Boston and engaged in the tailoring business, the firm being the well known R. F. Leonard & Co. Since then he has been engaged in literary pursuits, for which he had a special aptitude, until his health failed, something more than a year ago.

Mr. Huntoon took great interest in the Masonic organizations, and the early success of Blue Hill Lodge was largely due to his efforts. He was for three years, 1872, 1873 and 1874, Master of that lodge. He was also a member of Mount Zion Royal Arch Chapter, and the Abington Commandery Knights Templar. For several years he was an officer in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Mr. Huntoon was for some time a member of the School Committee of Canton, and for two or three years he was Superintendent of the Public schools. He was frequently elected moderator at town meetings, and proved himself a most competent presiding officer. It was as an historical student that Mr. Huntoon was best known. No man in this vicinity, with the exception perhaps of Mr. Ellis Ames, ever approached him in his knowledge of local history, including both church and family history. His knowledge in this respect was minute and thorough. His contributions to the public press fully sustains this statement. His studies were not limited to some particular time or thing, but were comprehensive and full. Some of his writings possess a permanent value aside from their local interest. His statement that the Massachusetts Resolves were first passed at the Doty Tavern is now generally accepted as correct.

Mr. Huntoon was firm in his friendship, charitable in his judgment, and pronounced in his opinion. His nature was generous, and he was a general favorite with all classes. His early death, before the full maturity of his powers, is a public loss. Of the private grief of those near and dear to him, it does not become us to speak. His memory will long be cherished with affectionate regard.
(This obituary originally appeared in the CANTON JOURNAL on December 17, 1886.)

Mr. Elijah Morse Speaks Of The Life And Public Service Of Mr. Daniel Huntoon.

At the Friday evening prayer meeting in the Congregational Church, Senator Morse referred to the loss the town has sustained in the death of his neighbor, Mr. Huntoon. He said, the great dramatist, has said, " the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones." He thought Shakespeare spoke ironically, and the truth was just the opposite; for he, and he believed most men, loved to forget and forgive the bad, and to recount the good deeds of the dead. He had had occasion to differ with Mr. Huntoon on some public questions, but had had the pleasure of agreeing with him on many; and now that he was dead he would say of him that he was a man intellectually and splendidly endowed by nature, to which was added urbanity of manner and grace and beauty of person. In his death the town has lost a public spirited citizen who had the material welfare, commercial prosperity, and good name of the ancient town of Canton, deeply at heart. He had suggested and advocated many of the public improvements which had so entirely changed the town since Mr. Morse came here, twenty-two years ago. He had placed the town under obligations, and rendered a great service to generations yet unborn, in rescuing from oblivion the early history of Canton, and the records of the self sacrificing labors and pious deeds of its early settlers. Mr. Morse said that nearly all the businessmen who were prominent when he came here, had died; the physician, the principal store keeper, the postmaster, the station agent of both depots, the superintendent of schools, the cashier of the bank &c., and from these repeated dispensations of Providence we should learn the lesson that we, too, are mortal, and have "no continuing city," and we should hear the voice of our Divine Master commanding us to have our loins girt about, our lamps trimmed and burning, and we to be waiting as servants who wait for their Lord. Mr. Morse said in these departures to the eternal world we should hear as Hezekiah heard a voice saying, "Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live."

Mr. Loring Puffer Writes Of Mr. Daniel Huntoon

I regret to see the notice of the death of Mr. Huntoon in your last issue. His death is a public loss. My acquaintance with him dates back nearly thirty years, and was intimate from the first. Never intended by nature for a businessman, his name will be remembered as long as the names of Stoughton and Canton are preserved in print. How many hours, yes, days even, have I spent talking about the early history of the towns named. He had a strong love for local history, and I think was absolutely honest in his descriptions of what he believed to be the exact truth. He had no theories. He desired the truth, and had the real, the true spirit of the genealogist. It seems sad to think that he was cut down in his prime, yet his labors will always live, and centuries hence, the writer of history will pleasantly remember Huntoon, the historian, who infused a new zest in local history, and who was painstaking in gathering material for the future history of the establishment of the great empire of popular government in America, for the cradle of the infant republic was rocked in the ancient town of Stoughton, and under the shadow of the "Great Blue Hill." How well Mr. Huntoon knew this, the public will one day know.
(These two articles originally appeared in the CANTON JOURNAL on December 24, 1886.)

Click HERE To See A Picture Of Daniel Huntoon
And A Picture Of His Gravestone.

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