It Was the Countess

Did you know? We shared a while back that Huntingdon was named for an English town and not for a countess. A reader sent us back to the books. The reader was right and we were wrong.

Rev. William Smith had the town laid out in 1767 and gave it the name Huntingdon in honor of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, in England, who had been a large donor to the College of Philadelphia, later the University of Pennsylvania, where Smith was then provost.

The 1883 county history states it carefully. It says the name is believed to have been given by Dr. Smith in her honor, in grateful remembrance of her donation. The 1909 Historic Huntingdon states it outright, and prints her portrait at the front of the book, under the line that both borough and county are named in her honor.

So the countess story stands, and it stands on books that have been on shelves in this county the whole time.

Thank you to whoever sent us back to check.

From the record

Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

William Smith, the founder of Huntingdon, was an Episcopal minister and a man of considerable learning and ability. He was elected provost of the University of Pennsylvania in 1755 and some time later made a journey to England to solicit funds for that institution. Among those who responded to his appeals was the Countess of Huntingdon, who gave him a liberal donation for the university and the town was named in her honor. At the beginning of the Revolution Huntingdon was a straggling village of but four or live houses. The only known inhabitants at that time were Benjamin Elliott, Abraham Haynes, Ludwig Sell, one of the Cluggages and their families. The town was then, and for some years afterward, more frequently called Standing Stone than Huntingdon and when the latter was used the other name was often added as a matter of explanation. Two brothers, James and David McMurtrie, came from Philadelphia about 1776 or 1777, having been sent there by their father, "a prudent Scotchman," to keep them from joining the "rebel army." They remained there and became useful citizens, David having been the first county treasurer.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 212,837 of the scanned text

By the close of 1767, all the good lands in the valleys and river bottoms had been taken up. It was in the latter year that the town of Huntingdon was laid out. Its founder was William Smith, D.D., an Episcopal clergyman, and a gentleman of learning and ability. While Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, to which position he was elected in 1755, he made a trip to England for the purpose of soliciting funds in aid of that institution, and re- i ceived a liberal donation from the Countess of Huntingdon, in honor of whom he named the town. It is proper that we should know something of the life and character of this estimable lady. She and her two sisters, one of whom was older and the other younger than herself, were the daughters and heiresses of Washington Shirley, second Earl of Ferrars. At the age of twenty-one HISTORY OF HUNTINGDON" COUNTY. 73 she married Theophilus Hastings, ninth Earl of Huntingdon, a nobleman distinguished for his piety, from whom she took the title by which she is known in history. The deaths of four of her children at early ages, and of her husband in 1746, made a deep impression upon her mind and intensified her religious predilections. She adopted the doctrines of and attached herself to the Calvinistic Methodists, of whom George Whitefield, who, with Wesley, was, effecting a great revival, was the founder and leader.Milton Scott Lytle, History of Huntingdon County (Lancaster: William H. Roy, 1876) · character 132,520 of the scanned text

The town was laid out a short time before the war of '76, by the Rev. William Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania, and named it in honor of the Countess of Huntingdon, in commemoration of her liberal donations made to Dr. Smith to aid the Pennsyylvania University. The town was injudiciously laid out ; no street or avenue along the river, narrow streets and no alleys. The town is built upon an elevated bank, sloping gently up from the river^and behind the town, osing into a hill, upon which, in a beautiful shaded cemetery, rest the remains of the departed. Day thus speaks of Huntingdon : '' The town of Huntingdon was laid out a short time previous to the revolutionary war by Rev. University of Pennsylvania. The doctor had been, over to England soliciting funds in aid of the Univercd«> ty. The countess of Huntingdon had been a munificient donor I and in return for her liberality he perpetuated her memory by giving her name to this town. The county in 1787 took the same name. Previous to that time the place had been noted as the site of an ancient Indian village called Standing Stone. A tall slim pillar oi stone , four inches thick bjT eight inches wide , had been erected here by the readent iribe many years since , perhaps as a sortof "lJie»- ezerJ^ It then stood at the lower end of the town, near the river bank.I. Daniel Rupp, History and Topography of Northumberland, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Centre, Union, Columbia, Juniata and Clinton Counties (Lancaster, 1847) · character 435,827 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-08-01 · County history, independently fact checked

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