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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Hunter, Ezekiel

by Tucker Reed Littleton, 1988

D. 1773

Ezekiel Hunter, Baptist minister and legislator, served in the Onslow County Regiment of militia during the French and Indian War in 1754 and represented Onslow County in the North Carolina House of Commons in 1773. Although nothing of his parentage is presently known, he was not the son of Nicholas Hunter as George Paschal supposed.

Hunter appears to have been ordained about 1758, when he became pastor of the New River congregation. He is reported to have organized and pastored Baptist congregations in Onslow, Jones, Duplin, Brunswick, Bladen, Carteret, and New Hanover counties. His missionary zeal is credited with the early growth of the Baptist denomination in southeastern North Carolina. Hunter was identified with the Separate Baptists.

His will was made on 10 November 1773, and he apparently died shortly afterwards. Hunter was survived by his wife, Rachel, and four minor children: Lena, Mary, Asa, and Ezekiel, Jr.

References:

Burkitt and Read, History of the Kehukee Baptist Association.

Hassell, History of the Church of God.

George Washington Paschal, History of North Carolina Baptists, vol. 1 (1930).

Additional Resources:

"Will of Ezekiel Hunter." c. 1773.  MARS Id: 5200.72.476, State Archives of North Carolina.

Subjects: 
Biographies
Colonial period (1600-1763)
Military personnel
Public officials
Religious Leaders and Clergy
Authors: 
Littleton, Tucker Reed
Origin - location: 
Onslow County
From: 
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 1988 | Littleton, Tucker Reed