Yolo-Sacramento-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Hunt, John 1847 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 13, 2005, 11:48 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

JOHN HUNT

    Strangers visiting in Davisville for the first time inquire concerning the
Hunt homestead and express a profound admiration for the artistic skill
displayed and the picturesque effects secured in its architecture. This
commodious residence of twelve rooms contains all modern improvements and is
furnished in a manner indicative of the refined tastes of the family.
Surrounding it are large and beautiful grounds embellished with fruit and
ornamental trees. Perhaps the most conspicuous trees are twenty of a superior
quality of orange, twenty-five years old. There are also fifteen orange trees
seven years old, five lemon trees and a number of peach and apricot trees,
besides many large shade trees. A neat brick walk affords convenient access to
various parts of the grounds and to the residence itself.

    The owner of this attractive property was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in
1840. At thirteen he crossed the ocean to the United States, and since then has
been self-supporting. He worked for a time in New Orleans, whither he went from
New York. After a brief sojourn in that city and in Wisconsin he returned to New
York and secured employment there. The year 1859 found him an emigrant to
California by way of the isthmus. November 16, that year, he arrived in
Sacramento and from there came to the site of Davisville. For a time he operated
a large tract of leased land that later was sold to Robert Armstrong and
eventually became the property of the state of California, which has converted
it into an experiment station for agricultural products. During his early
experiences in the west he operated a freight business between Hangtown and the
mines of Virginia City and Carson City, Nev., using two wagons and eight mules
and carrying about eight tons to the load, $1,000 having been the average price
he received for a load of freight.

    Returning to the east Mr. Hunt settled near Kenosha, Wis., and took up
dairying and farming with success. Meanwhile he married, in Chicago, Miss
Catharine McAllister. They are the parents of four children, Thomas, Mary,
Josephine and Irene. The son, who was educated in eastern high schools, is
farming and has displayed judgment and energy in his chosen field of-labor. The
two older daughters are graduates of Chicago high schools, and the youngest
child is being educated in the Davisville schools. Some twenty years after he
had left California Mr. Hunt returned to Davisville and bought three hundred and
forty-three acres near there at $75 an acre. At this writing he owns and
operates seven hundred acres adjoining Davisville, improved with neat buildings
and under a high state of cultivation. Four hundred and fifty acres are in
barley. The rest of the land is utilized for hay and pasture. All of Mr. Hunt's
stock is the best of its kind. There are about one hundred and sixty head of
hogs, all of pure-bred Poland-China types. In cattle the shorthorn Durham is the
breed represented by the two hundred head kept on the farm, and the herd is
headed by the very choicest of pure-bred animals. Five horses aid in the farm
work and thirty mules are utilized in operating the combined harvester that cuts
and threshes the grain. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Hunt has
voted the Democratic ticket, but he takes no active part in politics and on no
occasion has he sought office. In religion he is identified with the Roman
Catholic Church.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]




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