Yolo-El Dorado County CA Archives Biographies.....Hunt, William Gaston 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2007, 12:23 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

WILLIAM GASTON HUNT.—This well known and prominent citizen of Woodland has had a
very stirring and eventful life, and one which affords a lesson for those who
have to make their own way in the world. Thrown upon his own resources at an
early age, with a number of sisters largely dependent upon his efforts, he has
fought manfully and well the the [sic] battle of life, and is deservedly ranked
among the successful and representative pioneers of the State.

  Mr. Hunt was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1827, his parents
being Asa and Diana (Stanley) Hunt, and the latter being a member of the Society
of Friends. The father was an active, hard-working man of no very large means,
engaged in the milling business, having a saw-mill, cotton-gin and woolen mill.
The family consisted of ten children, eight daughters and two sons. Desiring to
better his circumstances, he removed with his family in 1843 or 1844 to Andrew
County, Missouri, then a new and wild country, as a result of which they had to
endure many hardships. The mother died in 1846, and in 1848 the father followed
her, leaving the children all alone to fight their way, William Gaston being one
of the youngest. As may readily be perceived from the foregoing, his book
learning was not of the deepest, and yet, profiting by the lessons taught in the
practical school of experience, Mr. Hunt has gained an education from the world
probably of more value to him than anything else could have been, and could not
now be mistaken for anything else than he is— a genial, whole-souled gentleman,
his Southern blood showing plainly in his easy bearing and knowledge of the
world. The death of his father placed him practically at the head of the family,
they being nearly all girls and depending largely on him. He was equal, however,
to the emergency, not hesitating for a moment to undertake his duty. On the
outbreak of the gold fever in 1849 they determined, one and all, to come to
California, and the brothers and sisters formed a train of five wagons in that
neighborhood to make the trip across the plains. The father had taken up the
farm when it was Government land on a five-years purchase, and two or three
annual payments had been made when the children decided to try their fortune in
the far West. Leaving enough money with a justice of the peace to pay another
annual installment and interest when due, they left for California. Arriving
there, they found it of course impossible to get any answer to a letter written
to their old home in less than six months, and the first news they heard from
their old home was that the custodian of their money had died, the payment on
the Missouri homestead had been neglected, and the property had passed out of
their possession. Thus was severed another one of the ties that bound them to
the old home.

  They left Missouri May 1, 1849, and after a journey of just four months they
reached Hangtown (now Placerville). There they opened a hotel or boarding-house,
which was carried on by the sisters and sister-in-law of our subject, while the
boys went to freighting between Sacramento and the mines. When the large
emigration commenced in 1850, Mr. Hunt saw a profit in buying up the immigrants'
stock. 

Late, in that year he went to Carson City, bought a band of cattle and drove
them over the mountains into the valley, turning them to graze on the place he
now owns on Cache Creek. In the spring of 1851 Mr. Hunt closed up the hotel at
Placerville and brought his sisters down to the ranch, where he engaged in the
business of raising cattle and general ranching. In 1852 his brother, Alvis
Hunt, died, they having been in partnership in all their undertakings prior to
that time. In the fall of 1853 Mr. Hunt was married to Miss Jennie Day, a native
of South Bend, Indiana. Meanwhile he continued his operations, going extensively
into sheep-raising, having between 10,000 and 15,000 at one time, and finding it
very profitable. This he continued for ten years, when, in 1863, he sent one
drove up to Oregon and the other to Lower California, closing out the business.
From that time he was engaged in general farming, raising stock, cattle, hogs,
etc., at the same time doing a large business in buying and selling wheat,
running several warehouses, located in Woodland and other advantageous points
along the line of the railroad, and became known to the producers throughout the
entire Sacramento Valley. He has now also a large interest in and is president
of the Yolo Winery, an incorporated institution, of which he was one of the
founders. The winery was originally one of his grain warehouses, but within the
past five years has been remodeled and converted into a wine-cellar.

  Mr. Hunt is an influential stockholder in the Bank of Woodland, with which he
has been connected a number of years. His ranch on Cache Creek, northwest of
Woodland, comprises 800 acres of choice land, and he has considerable property,
both business and residence, in the town, including his handsome and commodious
home place on the corner of Fisk and Oak avenues. He has long been a firm
believer in the value of land as the true basis of wealth, and his opinions in
regard to the matter have been strengthened by personal observation while
traveling abroad. Mr. Hunt is a man of unusual business ability, and these
qualities have been brought out in strong relief during his residence in this
county. While generally considered a conservative man in business matters, he
was not backward about taking risks when they were necessary in transactions.
During the days when free-landers were the great exporters of California wheat,
he and his partners had at times as much as $200,000 or $300,000 worth of wheat
in the hands of the forwarders, from which they had received no returns. These
risks were necessary to carry on a large business of that kind then, but a
failure of their commission men would have meant ruin to all. It took men of
nerve to do that kind of business, and a history of the grain trade shows an
unusual small percentage of men who have come out on the right side in the end.
Mr. Hunt did so, and is certainly entitled to the credit of having been a shrewd
operator.

  While never having been in any sense a politician or office-seeker, Mr. Hunt
has always taken a commendable interest in public affairs, is an ardent
supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and has done his share in
keeping up the spirit of the party in this region.

  Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have three children, viz: Alice Edith, wife of L. D.
Stephens, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Rowena D., wife of E.
J. Du Pue; and A. G., a brief sketch of whom follows:

  ALVIS G. HUNT was born in Yolo County, April 19, 1859. He commenced his
schooling in the schools at Cacheville, continuing his studies in the State
University at Oakland, finishing whith [sic] a commercial course in the
Sacramento Business College, where he graduated in 1875. He then embarked in the
warehouse trade, assisting in the business of his father's firm, and becoming
thoroughly familiar with its details. He has, since entering upon his business
career, been identified largely with the grain trade; and that is now his line.
He has considerable property interests, including a ranch in Fresno County,
which he rents out, a business building on Main street and realty in Chicago. He
is an unassuming young man but has had quite a business career for one of his
years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.

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