Biography
John Hunn was a Quaker Underground Railroad stationmaster in Delaware, often called the "superintendent" of the railroad there. In 1848 he and Thomas Garrett were tried and convicted in federal court at New Castle for violating the fugitive-slave laws by aiding the escape of an enslaved family, and were fined heavily.
The Delaware Byway historical-resource study places John Hunn’s continued Underground Railroad work after the heavy financial penalties imposed in the 1848 federal case. It identifies Happy Valley south of Dover as his home from 1853 to 1862 and says he went to St. Helena and the Beaufort area of South Carolina in 1862, with teachers Charlotte Forten and his daughter Elizabeth, to assist newly freed people. These later activities are not additional prison terms; the plan’s account of conviction and fines does not establish a jail admission or release.
