Hunt was born in Charlotte County, Virginia and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1813 where he studied theology. He was licensed to preach in 1824, but after officiating at several churches in Virginia and North Carolina, he became a temperance lecturer and attained a wide reputation. In 1839 he moved to Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania where he remained until his death. He was an agent for Lafayette College from 1840 to 1845. His publications include History of Jesse Johnson and His Times, It Will Not Injure Me, Death by Measure, Wedding-Days of Former Times, and Liquor-Selling, A History of Fraud.

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol III. James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds. New York: Appleton, 1888. 318.