"Doctor John Randolph Hunt, born at Cherry Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, July 3, 1793.  Died Aug. 1, 1863.  A student of the university of New Jersey, and a graduate of the College of Medicine and Surgery of New York, and for more than forty years a practicing physician in the Miami valley.  In his death his family lost an indulgent husband and father, the profession a faithful practitioner, and the community an estimable friend and fellow citizen."

     Samuel F. Hunt, son of Dr. Hunt, was early led in the paths of learning by his parents, both of whom were persons of culture and refinement, and under competent private instruction laid the foundation for after eminence in scholarly pursuits.  His family connections were such as to give advantages which he failed not to improve, and even in boyhood he became known for the variety and extent of his information, excellency of speech and polished address.  In 1860 Samuel F. entered Miami university, at Oxford, where he remained for nearly four years, going thence to Union college, New York, where he completed his course and graduated under the venerable Dr. Nott.  Four years later the college conferred upon him the degree A. M., and about the same time Miami university awarded him a diploma as to a regular graduate of the class of 1864, and also the honorary degree of master of arts.  After this, Mr. Hunt read law in the office of the Hon. Stanley Matthews, and graduated from the Cincinnati Law school in 1867.
     In May of that year he started upon a European tour, visiting the continent and thence beyond Greece, Palestine, Egypt and Arabia. During his travels abroad, his letters were published in the Cincinnati Enquirer and largely copied into the other papers.  Upon his return Mr. Hunt was frequently solicited and made addresses upon his travels, which were put in permanent form at the request of numerous auditors.
     In 1867 he was nominated for the house of representatives, and in 1869 was in the senate, where, by a vote decidedly complimentary, he was made president pro tem. and acting lieutenant-governor.  He was a member of the judiciary committee and committee on common schools, and was the author of the university bill, the park bill, and other measures affecting the interests of Cincinnati.  When at home he was an industrious member of the board of education.  Previous to these years, even in boyhood, his powers of oratory were known and acknowledged, and at the outbreak of the Rebellion his speeches were those of an uncompromising patriot, and were enthusiastically applauded.  In his own neighborhood his services are remembered in the work of recruiting the Eighty-third and other Ohio regiments.  In 1862 he went to Shiloh to care for the sick and wounded; and afterwards, in 1865, went with General Weitzel’s advance into Richmond, where he remained several weeks, having charge of the supplies which were furnished to sufferers in the city.
     While in college Mr. Hunt was honored frequently by being called upon to make the annual and other addresses before the literary societies and upon great occasions, and since his graduation he has been constantly in receipt of invitations to make addresses, both at home and abroad.  Among the addresses which gave Mr. Hunt prominence in scholarly and oratorical way, mention may be made of those before the Miami literary societies during the year 1864, also before the literary societies at Marietta college, Kenyon college, Georgetown college (Kentucky), Williams college (Massachusetts), the annual address before the largest assembly of recent years in the university of Virginia, his address with Governors Hayes and Allen at the unveiling of the. soldiers’ monument, Findlay, Ohio, and that at the Grant banquet in 1880.
     In 1874, Mr. Hunt was appointed by Governor Noyes a trustee of Miami university, and at the same time was made a director of Cincinnati university, at Cincinnati.  From that time up to the present he has been either director or president in these university boards, by reappointment and re-election.  Besides serving as secretary of the agricultural society of the county, and making speeches at the harvest home festivals in different townships, Mr. Hunt has found some time to recreate in politics; and since his entry therein, in 1867, he has been known as the “Pride of the Democracy” of Hamilton county.  Although defeated in the race for representative in the year last-named, he was elected to the State senate; his abilities were at once recognized, and he was made president pro tem. of that body, being, the youngest man that ever occupied that position.  He was a participant in the Democratic State convention of 1869, and served two years on the State Central committor.  In 1873 he was president of the convention that nominated Governor Allen, and in 1874 made a speech on the veto power, in the Ohio Constitutional convention.  This was one of Mr. Hunt’s best efforts, and he refers to it, and justly, with some pride as a good speech.  In 1869 Mr. Hunt was, while president of the senate, acting lieutenant-governor; and ten years later was judge-advocate-general, with the rank of brigadier general.
     From the commencement of his profession with the Hon. Henry Stanberry to the present time, Mr. Hunt has been an industrious worker in the law, and now enjoys a lucrative and constantly increasing practice.  Still in the prime of life, of good appearance and pleasant address, Mr. Hunt is one of the foremost at the Cincinnati bar; and being rarely gifted with social qualities, his home is the frequent resort of personal friends of both political parties.  Mrs. Hunt, the mother of Samuel F., is an estimable lady, whose graces and hospitalities will be remembered kindly by every visitor at the old home mansion.  With her son she still resides in the comfortable “home of fifty years ago,” across the street from the academy where Governor Oliver P. Morton received part of his early education.  Here, also, under the shade-trees of Mrs. Hunt’s home may be seen the first classical academy in this neighborhood, and near by the little church, from which, as Mrs. Hunt relates, the first missionary was sent from the west to the far east.  On the brow of a hill on the outskirts of the village, may be seen the spot where Elliott was killed by the Indians in 1794.  The ancestors of Hon. Samuel F. Hunt, whose sketch is thus hurriedly written, were related to the active patriots of the Revolution, the grandsires on part of both father and mother having fought in the battles at Princeton and Monmouth Court House; and when the pioneer days of Hamilton county are recalled, and reminiscences verge on the history of noble fathers on Revolutionary fields, the conversational powers of Mrs. Hunt are displayed in the best light, and in the charm of personal narration one may easily perceive that the honorable eminence of the son is largely due to the rare mental qualities and superior culture of the mother.
Source: 1789 - 1881 History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches - Publ. L. A. Williams & Co. - Page 448