Notes for: John Huett
The Reverend John Huett's name appears in the Somerset County and Maryland provincial archives spelled variously as Huett, Huet, Hewett and Hewitt, but most commonly Huett, which was the spelling used by him in witnessing the will of John Evans, of Somerset Co, dated May 6, 1686. On February 19, 1661, John Huett was granted an annuity on account of his father's beheading. He was the resident clergyman of the Church of England in the county. It is believed that he was transported to Virginia in 1663 by Capt. Adam Thorogood. He returned to England, studied for "holy orders" and was ordained deacon, returning then to Somerset County in Maryland. In 1682 he returned once again to England, where he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of London. He returned again to Somerset County, where he remained the rest of his life. The Reverend John Huett appears to have been the first and only clergyman of the Church of England resident from late in the year 1680 until 1696. He gives to the Church of England, and her daughter the Protestant Episcopal Church, in this country a "Father Founder." Rev. John Huett was a true and courageous minister from whom we can draw inspiration. The ministry in Somerset was purely missionary in nature. The minister's work was door-to-door. Services must have been held in the homes of the planters, in store houses, barns or, in seasonable weather, in the open air, as no reference has been found to a house of worship. His work was not only pastoral and prophetic, to counsel and teach the people under his care, but also faithfully to minister the sacraments of the Gospel. The Reverend John Huett was elected by the freeholders of Somerset County on April 18, 1692 to represent Somerset in the Lower House of Assembly, but it was subsequently decided that it was improper for clergy to hold such office, so he was immediately named a chaplain to the Assembly. The Reverend John Huett's home plantation was called "Contention" in Somerset County. He died at his plantation and is buried there. ["Old Somerset on the Eastern Shore," by Clayton Torrence, published 1935 by Whittet & Shepperson, Richmond, VA, pages 140, 149, 520-524 and 453.]