Johnson County ArArchives Biographies.....Hunt, William Richard 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 August 4, 2009, 7:47 pm

Source: See Full Citation Below Biography
Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

WILLIAM RICHARD HUNT, M. D.
    Dr. William Richard Hunt, well versed in the principles and practices of
medicine and surgery and thoroughly qualified for the onerous and responsible
duties of his profession, is now practicing successfully in Clarksville. He is a
native of Johnson county, born November 16, 1863, and is a son of John D. and
Irene (Ogdon) Hunt. The father was born in Georgia and died in 1913, at the age
of seventy-one years. His wife, a native of Arkansas, is living at the age of
eighty years. Long prior to the Civil war John D. Hunt became a resident of
Arkansas and at the time of the hostility between the north and the south served
in Cabel's brigade. He was an attorney by profession and practiced law for about
forty years at Coal Hill in Johnson county, winning prominence in his
profession. He also devoted a part of his time to merchandising. He had a large
family of ten children, five of whom are living.

    Dr. Hunt, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the schools of
Johnson county and in the University of Arkansas, in which he pursued his
medical course until graduated at Little Rock with the class of 1884. He then
located for practice at Coal Hill, where he remained until 1906, when he removed
to Clarksville. He probably performed the first appendicitis operation, outside
of the cities, in the state in 18S5, and he is the pioneer surgeon of Johnson
county. He bas the largest consultation practice of any physician in Arkansas
and has always enjoyed a liberal patronage by reason of his marked ability to
cope with the intricate and involved problems which have to do with the laws of
health. He was one of the organizers of the Clarksville Medical Society, also of
the Johnson County Medical Society and throughout his professional career he has
kept in close touch with the trend of modern professional thought and practice.
His ideals are high and his success has been the direct outcome of his capability.

    Dr. Hunt was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Houston, who was born in
Johnson county, Arkansas, in 1S62, a daughter of Colonel John S. Houston, a
prominent citizen of this state, who was born in Ohio and came to Arkansas in
his boyhood days. He had previously gone to California in the days of the early
gold excitement there and had become a prominent figure in connection with
puhlic affairs on the coast. He was the first comptroller of the state of
California and wrote the first constitution of that commonwealth. He was quite
successful during his sojourn on the Pacific coast and returned to Arkansas with
substantial rewards of his labor in the far west. He became one of the early
postmasters of Clarksville, filling the position for a number of years. He had
been liberally educated and was a high type of the southern gentleman. One of
his daughters, Mrs. Betty Littlepage, is a poetess of note and lives in
Washington, D. C. She married into a prominent family, her husband being John C.
Littlepage, who came to Arkansas after the Civil war, bearing with him a
personal recommendation from Robert E. Lee. Mr. Littlepage became a teacher in
the Clarksville Academy, with which he was thus connected for a number of years,
and afterward served as superintendent of schools at. Batesville, Hot Springs
and Little Rock. In many ways he left the impress of his individuality and
marked ability upon the educational development and progress of the state.

    Dr. and Mrs. Hunt have a family of three children: Earl H., who was born at
Coal Hill, February 16, 1886, there attending the public schools and afterward
entered Hendrix College. He next became a medical student in the Washington
University of St. Louis and was afterward graduated from the medical department
of Tulane University at New Orleans in 1909. He then began practice in
association with his father, and their business connection has since been
maintained. Like his father, he makes a specialty of surgery and he has taken
postgraduate work in St. Louis, in the Mayo Brothers Hospital at Rochester,
Minnesota, and in Tulane University. He was married in 1912 to Miss Totton
Hutchison, who was born at Van Buren, Arkansas, a daughter of Leonard Hutchison,
a locomotive engineer. They have two children, Lillian and Earl H., Jr. Dr. Earl
H. Hunt and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and
fraternally he is connected with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the
Elks. In the Knights of Pythias organization he has been chancellor commander.
He also belongs to the Chi Zeta Chi, a medical fraternity, and to the Pi Kappa
Alpha, a literary fraternity. He was the first county health officer of Johnson
county and he devotes practically his entire time and attention to his
professional duties. He and his father together own the Johnson County Telephone
Company. The second of the family is Lillian, the wife of E. A. King, who is at
the head of the Clarksville Motor Company, and they have a little daughter,
Mira. The third of the family is Dr. W. R. Hunt, Jr., a dentist, who was
graduated from the Clarksville high school and from the Cumberland College in
Clarksville, after which he studied dentistry in the University of Tennessee at
Memphis.   He is now following his profession in his native city.

     Dr. W. R. Hunt of this review and his estimable wife are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church and he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to the
Woodmen. In politics he is a democrat, but has never been an aspirant for public
office. His entire time and attention have been given to his professional
interests and duties, and he is today one of the best known representatives of
the profession in southern Arkansas. He was early thrown upon his own resources,
but, actuated by a laudable ambition, has steadily worked his way upward and has
long occupied a commanding place in the ranks of the medical fraternity in his
part of the state. Both he and his sou, Earl, have long been active in both the
County and State Medical Societies, and the family name has become a synonym for
high standards and splendid service in connection with medical and surgical
practice.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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