Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hunter, William H ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 12:10 am Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County WILLIAM H. HUNTER was born in Joliet, Ill., August 1, 1854, the only son of Thomas R. and Lucinda (Smith) Hunter. He has an only sister, Fatha, who is the wife of J. Q. A. King, of Kansas City, Mo. His father was a native of Sullivan County, N. Y., born February 2, 1818, and grew to manhood in his native county; when he was but seven years of age, his father, Robert, was killed by a tree falling on him while he was engaged in clearing a piece of timber land. During the early life of Thomas R. Hunter he was engaged in rafting logs down the Delaware River. Later he served an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade, on the completion of which, in 1837, he started for the west. Locating in Joliet, Ill., he opened a shop on Bluff and Oneida streets, and formed a co- partnership with a Mr. McMasters. Much of his work was the making and sharpening of the tools used in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The co-partnership continued until the spring of 1850, when, in March of that year, he started across the plains for California with a party of Argonauts bound for the "Golden Gate." After a journey of six months he arrived at his destination and located a claim on the Feather River, in California. In about seven months he had worked out his claim, at which time he returned east via the Isthmus, arriving at home fifteen months from the day he started. With him he brought back $5,000, the fruits of his mining venture. He then built a residence on Oneida street and Broadway, and resumed work on Oneida and Bluff streets, in theold stone shop that is still standing. In 1856 he purchased what is now block 70, S. S. Addition to Joliet; here, having retired from blacksmithing, he engaged in fruit raising. To this land he added until he owned some twenty-nine acres in the same vicinity. Some of his original purchase of block 70 is still in the possession of his son. In politics he was a Republican, and on that ticket he was twice elected an alderman of Joliet. The last six years of his life were spent in his son's home, where his death occurred April 22, 1888. The ancestry of the Hunter family is traced back to Scotland on the one hand, and, also, through the Davenports, to colonists who crossed in the "Mayflower." The wife of Thomas R. Hunter was born in Tennessee April 25, 1826, being a daughter of Barton and Fatha Smith, who came from Indiana to Joliet in 1835. She passed away at her home in Joliet March 15, 1882. For a number of years Barton Smith was a justice of the peace in Joliet, where he died September 22, 1863. The subject of this sketch was reared in Joliet, and has always made this city his home. For about eighteen years he was engaged in the coal business, but in 1893 he sold out his interests to O. W. Curtis. Later he had the agency for various agricultural implements, and in the meantime also took the agency for the Stempel Fire Extinguisher. The latter proving a successful venture, he gave up the former agency, and since 1898 has given his undivided attention to the extinguisher business, and also sells the Eads chemicalizer and chemical engines, having his office at No. 613 the Rialto Building, Chicago, Ill. November 13, 1878, Mr. Hunter married Miss Mollie P. Turner, of Lockport, Ill., a daughter of S. S. and Caroline Turner. Her father, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1822, came west in 1850, settling in Plainfield, in this county, where he followed his trade of a moulder and pattern-maker. Later he bought from John Griffin what is now known as the McGuire farm, west of Lockport. His wife died in Lockport December 24, 1860, and he then moved with his family to Buchanan, Mich., where he again followed his trade, but returning to Lockport in 1862. November 15, 1861, he married Mrs. F. H. Richards, of Plainfield, Ill., who died October 2, 1867. He was again married April 12, 1871, his wife being Mrs. Mary E. Sayre, by whom he had one child. He died May 25, 1882, on the sixtieth anniversary of his birth. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have two children, Caroline L. and Robert S. The family have all united with the Ottawa Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of whose choir Miss Caroline is a prominent member. Fraternally Mr. Hunter is connected with Matteson Lodge No. 175, A. F. & A. M., of Joliet. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/hunter1025gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb