# Representative women of New England/Augusta M. Hunt

​AUGUSTA MERRILL HUNT, the first president of the Portland branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, is a native of Portland, Me., being the youngest daughter of the late George Simonton and Ellen (Merrill) Barstow, of that city, and until her marriage known as Augusta M. Barstow. In 1863 she became the wife of George S. Hunt, a leading merchant of Portland.
For many years Mrs. Hunt and two of her sisters, Mrs. Susan E. Bragdon and Mrs. G. B. McGregor, following in the footsteps of their mother, have been prominently identified with educational and philanthropic work. Mrs. Bragdon was the first president of the Woman's Literary Union and a devoted worker in the Portland Fraternity. Mrs. McGregor is the founder and promoter of the Maine Home for Friendless Boys. Mrs. Hunt retained the office of president of the Portland Woman's Christian Temperance Union for fifteen years. Under her direction the Coffee House and Friendly Inn, the Flower and Diet Missions, Day Nursery, and Free Kindergartens were adopted as branches of the work of this organization; and the office of police matron was also established, Portland being the first city to recognize the importance of having a woman to care for the unfortunate of her own sex. In the National Christian Temperance Union Mrs. Hunt has been the superintendent of several departments. In 1884 she was chosen by the Governor of the State to co-operate with a Legislative Committee in the interests of the boys at the State Reform School. Here her womanly tact and kindness, combined with a thorough knowledge of the school, made her advice and services valuable to the institution, and she was indirectly the means of bringing about some needed improvements that proved of great benefit to the boys. On the death of her mother, Mrs. Ellen M. Barstow; in 1873, Mrs. Hunt succeeded her on the board of management of the Home for Aged Women, and for the ))ast sixteen years has been the honored president of this well-known society. She has been prominently connected with woman's suffrage organizations, and at present is Maine superintendent of franchise of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. For ten years she was the president of the Portland Woman's Council, auxiliary to the National Council, which consists of eighteen affiliated societies having a membership of several thousand, lender her leadership the Council was instrumental in having a law passed which gives to a mother an equal right with the father in the care and guardianship of minor children, and also a law which permits the election of women to the school board.
Mrs. Hunt is well known at the State Capitol by her appeals to the Legislature for the establishment of the cottage system at the Reform ​School for Boys, also for addresses in the interest of a reformatory prison for women and in the cause of equal suffrage. Her presentation of these subjects has been remarkable for foresight and sound reason, with an earnestness and womanly grace which appealed to both the minds and hearts of her hearers. Though actively identified with so many public interests in her native city and State, she has always consistently maintained that a woman's first duty was to her home, and she has never allowed anything to interfere with her family and social relations. The generous hospitality of Mrs. Hunt and of her husband, in his lifetime, has long made her home a centre of attraction to kinsfolk, friends, and distinguished guests Mr. Hunt died in 1896. Their two sons are living, one in Portland, the other in Minneapolis.