Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/416

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394
HUN. HUT.

HUNTINGDON, SELINA, COUNTESS OF,

Was born in 1707. She was one of three daughters and co-heirs of Washington Shirley, Earl Ferrers; the other two being Lady Kilmorey and Lady Elizabeth Nightingale. Selina, the second daughter, married, in 1728, Theophilus Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, with whom she lived very happily till his sudden death, in October, 1746. She had several children, four of whom died young. Probably these heavy afflictions disposed this lady to take such deep interest in religion. It was at the time when the founders of Methodism, Wesley and Whitfield, were exciting in this country a spirit of more intense devotion than was generally prevalent, and the Countess of Huntingdon embraced their doctrines with her whole heart.

She rather inclined to Whitfield's peculiar doctrines than to Wesley's; but she chose to be herself the founder of a sect, which were called "The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion." She had the control of a large income during her forty-five years of widowhood, and as her own personal expenses were small, and she was assisted by other opulent persons, she supported a college at Trevecca, in Wales, for the education of ministers, and built sixty-four chapels, the ministers of which she assisted to support. Her largest chapel was at Bath, which she frequently attended. She created a trust for the support of her colleges and chapels after her death. And not only did she thus merit the title of public benefactor, but she also expended, annually, large sums in private charities. She lived for others, and at her death, which took place June 17th., 1791, was deeply mourned by all who knew her; even those who regarded her conduct as the result of mistaken enthusiasm, respected her for the noble virtues of her character and her Christian conduct.

HUTCHINSON, ANNE

A woman who caused much difficulty in New England soon after its settlement, went from Lincolnshire to Boston in 1635, and was the wife of one of the representatives of Boston. The members of Mr. Cotton's church used to meet every week to repeat his sermons and discourse on doctrines. She established similar meetings for women, and soon had a numerous audience. She advocated sentiments of her own, and warped the discourses of the clergymen to coincide with them. She soon threw the whole colony into a flame. The progress of her sentiments occasioned, in 1637, the first synod in America. This convention of ministers condemned eighty-two erroneous opinions then propagated in the country. Mrs. Hutchinson was called before the court in November, 1637; and, being convicted of traducing the ministers and advancing errors, was banished from Massachusetts. She went with her husband to Rhode Island; and in 1642, after her husband's death, removed into the Dutch colony beyond New Haven, where she, with most of her family, consisting of sixteen persons, were captured, and all, except one daughter, killed by the Indians. This occurred in 1643.

HUTCHINSON, LUCY,

Daughter of Sir Allan Aspley, was born in 1624. At the ago of eighteen she was married to Colonel John Hutchinson, who dis-