Hunt was born at Brattleboro, Vermont into the prominent Hunt family.
His father, Jonathan Hunt, was a lawyer and U.S. congressman, whose own father, Jonathan Hunt, senior, was lieutenant governor of Vermont.
Hunt's mother, Jane Maria Leavitt, was the daughter of Thaddeus Leavitt, Jr., a merchant, and a member of the influential Leavitt family of Suffield, Connecticut.

Richard Morris Hunt was named for Lieut.
Richard Morris, an officer in the U.S. Navy, a son of Hunt's aunt, whose husband Lewis Richard Morris was a U.S. Congressman from Vermont and the nephew of Gouverneur Morris, author of large parts of the U.S. Constitution.
Hunt was the brother of the Boston painter William Morris Hunt, and the photographer and lawyer Leavitt Hunt.

Following the death of his father at Washington, D.C. in 1832 at the age of 44, Hunt's mother moved her family to New Haven, then in 1837 to New York, and then in the spring of 1838 to Boston.
There, Hunt enrolled in the Boston Latin School, while his brother William enrolled in Harvard College.
However, in the summer of 1842, William left Harvard, transferring to a school in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, while Richard was sent to school in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
Hunt was born at Brattleboro, Vermont into the prominent Hunt family. His father, Jonathan Hunt, was a lawyer and U.S. congressman, whose own father, Jonathan Hunt, senior, was lieutenant governor of Vermont. Hunt's mother, Jane Maria Leavitt, was the daughter of Thaddeus Leavitt, Jr., a merchant, and a member of the influential Leavitt family of Suffield, Connecticut.
Richard Morris Hunt was named for Lieut. Richard Morris, an officer in the U.S. Navy, a son of Hunt's aunt, whose husband Lewis Richard Morris was a U.S. Congressman from Vermont and the nephew of Gouverneur Morris, author of large parts of the U.S. Constitution. Hunt was the brother of the Boston painter William Morris Hunt, and the photographer and lawyer Leavitt Hunt.
Following the death of his father at Washington, D.C. in 1832 at the age of 44, Hunt's mother moved her family to New Haven, then in 1837 to New York, and then in the spring of 1838 to Boston. There, Hunt enrolled in the Boston Latin School, while his brother William enrolled in Harvard College. However, in the summer of 1842, William left Harvard, transferring to a school in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, while Richard was sent to school in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
Richard Morris Hunt