{{Short description|American politician (1793–1872)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Jesse Hunt | image = Portrait of Jesse Hunt (RP-F-2001-7-926-27).jpg | alt = | caption = Portrait of Hunt | order = 8th | office = Mayor of Baltimore | term_start = November 1832 | term_end = August 11, 1835 | predecessor = William Steuart | successor = Samuel Smith | constituency = | majority = | office2 = Member of the Maryland House of Delegates | term2 = 1829–1831 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | constituency2 = | majority2 = | birth_date = {{birth date|1793|7|3}} | birth_place = Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1872|12|8|1793|7|3}} | death_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | resting_place = Green Mount Cemetery<br />Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | party = Democratic | relations = | spouse = {{marriage|Margaret Yundt||1860|reason=died}} | children = 7 | alma_mater = | occupation = Politician | signature = Signature of Jesse Hunt (RP-F-2001-7-926-27).jpg | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{flag|United States}} | branch = | unit = Washington Blues (5th Maryland Regiment) | rank = Lieutenant | battles = {{tree list}} * War of 1812 ** Battle of North Point {{tree list/end}} | service_years = }} }}
'''Jesse Hunt''' (July 3, 1793 – December 8, 1872) was Mayor of Baltimore from November 1832 to August 11, 1835. He resigned office following a banking crisis in which, as a director of the failed bank, he was personally implicated.
==Early life== Jesse Hunt was born on July 3, 1793, in Green Spring Valley, Baltimore County, Maryland. He was a descendant of a pioneer family of Calvert County. His father moved from Calvert County to Green Spring Valley in 1760. In 1808, he served as an apprentice at the house of William and Richard Hall, a saddlery in Baltimore.<ref name="msa">{{cite web |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/012400/012470/html/12470bio.html |title= Jesse Hunt (1793-1872) |website=Maryland Manual On-Line |publisher=Maryland State Archives |date=2002-05-20 |access-date=2022-07-26}}</ref><ref name="death">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106332611/death-of-jesse-hunt-esq-9-dec-1872/ |title=Death of Jesse Hunt, Esq. |date=1872-12-09 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2022-07-26}}{{Open access}}</ref>
==Career== Hunt enlisted in the volunteer army and helped raise the company Washington Blues, a division attached to the 5th Maryland Regiment and was at the Battle of North Point in 1814 during the War of 1812. He later became a lieutenant and resigned his commission in 1822.<ref name="msa"/>
In 1815, Hunt started to work in the saddlery and harness-making business. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1829, 1830 and 1831.<ref name="msa"/> In 1832, he was nominated for mayor and was elected under the Democratic ticket, defeating Jacob Small.<ref name="msa"/><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106332500/baltimore-20-oct-1832-the-frederick/ |title=Baltimore |date=1832-10-20 |newspaper=The Frederick Town Herald |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2022-07-26}}{{Open access}}</ref> He was re-elected in 1834.<ref name="msa"/>
In 1834, the Bank of Maryland, of which Hunt was a director, experienced a liquidity crisis and collapsed. Months passed and creditors grew tired of waiting in vain for a settlement, and violence soon followed. On August 6, 1835, a mob gathered and broke the windows of the house of Reverdy Johnson one of the bank's directors. Jesse attempted to protect his colleague's home, but was unable to prevent the destruction of that and many other bank directors' homes, including - eventually - his own.
Hunt, having lost control of the city, resigned five days later, on August 11, 1835.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2010/01/10/city-had-9-other-mayors-resign-a-10th-was-union-pow/|title=City had 9 other mayors resign|author=Frederick N. Rasmussen|date=January 10, 2010|work=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=January 19, 2012|archive-date=November 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104150133/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-01-10/news/bal-md.backstory10jan10_1_mayoral-reign-resign-james-calhoun|url-status=live}}</ref> After resigning, Hunt was elected as City Register and served in that position for ten years. He became the first president of Eutaw Savings Bank and served in that position until 1871.<ref name="msa"/>
==Personal life== Hunt married Margaret Yundt and she died in 1860.<ref name="msa"/> He had seven children.<ref name="death"/> He died on December 8, 1872, at his home in Baltimore. He was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.<ref name="msa"/><ref name="death"/>
==See also== *Baltimore bank riot
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/012400/012470/html/12470bio.html www.msa.md.gov] Retrieved January 2012
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before = William Steuart | title = Mayor of Baltimore | years = 1832–1835 | after = Samuel Smith}} {{s-end}}
{{BaltimoreMayors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Jesse}} Category:1793 births Category:1872 deaths Bank riot Category:Finance fraud Category:Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Category:Mayors of Baltimore Category:People from Maryland in the War of 1812 Category:Burials at Green Mount Cemetery Category:19th-century mayors of places in Maryland Category:19th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly