Among other philanthropic activities, funds which he left in a bequest were combined with those of Hinman Hurlbut and Horace Kelley to establish the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1913.

[1] John, with his wife Jane Beck whom he married in 1852, immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1854 and worked as a contractor in slate roofing.

Other business endeavors included gaining partial ownership of a fleet of lake ships in 1886 and becoming vice-president of the Cleveland Stone Company.

[9] He also owned a hobby farm on Lake Erie on which he built many structures including a house, a steam pump irrigation system, and a water tower.

After his death in 1893, the Cleveland Metropolitan Park System purchased the lakefront property and named it the Huntington Reservation in his honor.