Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Hunter, William July 29, 1850 - November 28, 1914
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Author: Emma E. Forter

WILLIAM HUNTER, M. D.

    William Hunter, M. D., now deceased, and for many years one of the
well-known and successful practitioners of Blue Rapids, Marshall county, was
born at West Newton, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on July 29, 1850, and
died at his home in Blue Rapids, Kansas, on November 28, 1914. His parents were
natives of the state of Pennsylvania, where they received their education in the
public schools, grew to maturity and were married. After their marriage they
established their home in that state where they continued to live until 1866,
when they came to Missouri and located on a farm, where they became prosperous
and influential people.

    William Hunter received his early educational training in the schools of
West Newton, where he resided until he was sixteen years of age, at which time
he came to Missouri with his parents. Here he entered the Savannah Normal
school, from which he was later graduated. For seven years he was one of the
successful teachers of the state, and later pursued a business course in Kansas
City, Missouri. He later entered the Ensworth Medical College at St. Joe and was
graduated in 18/9. After completing his education, he established himself at
Axtell, Kansas, where he practiced his profession until 1886, when he came to
Blue Rapids, Kansas. For several years he engaged in the practice of medicine,
when lie became interested in the cement and plaster manufacturing business in
his home town. He and Jesse Axtell first built the Great Western Plaster Mills,
which they operated for a number of years, when they sold the business. Doctor
Hunter then became interested in the Marshall County Power and Light Company.
This business was first known as the Electric Plaster Company, but after the
selling of the mill, the new company was organized. For many years Doctor Hunter
was the secretary of this successful company, that had so much to do with the
general development and growth of this section of the state.

    During seventeen years of his active life, Doctor Hunter was the local
surgeon of the Missouri Pacific and the Union Pacific railroads, in which
capacity he gave satisfactory evidence of his medical and surgical skill. He was
for many years the regent of the State Agricultural College at Manhattan, an
institution in which he always took the greatest interest. He was always most
influential in educational matters, and one of his greatest desires was to see
the educational institutions of the county placed on the highest plane possible,
and to him is largely due the excellent school system now in force. He was
greatly opposed to any inferior enterprise; he regarded a poor system of schools
as a great hindrance to the progress of the district. He believed in a practical
education and one that would fit the boy and the girl for the more important
duties of life. The agricultural school, where the boys and the girls of the
state might be trained for a life of usefulness and good citizenship, was to him
a matter of the utmost importance. Today, this institution has given to the
state many men and women who have brought honor and success to the great state
of Kansas. Being a man of progressive ideas, and, perhaps, in advance of the
times and community, he advocated reforms that had much to do with the growth of
his home town. He always had great faith in the future of Blue Rapids and his
constant effort was ever in the interests of a better and a greater city. He was
for many years a member of the school board and had much to do with formulating
the present excellent system of schools.

    Politically, Doctor Hunter was identified with the Republican party, and
always took the greatest interest in local affairs, both in the city and the
county. He was not a partisan, but he used his best efforts in the selection of
good men to administer the affairs of the county, rather than to the selection
of any man because of party affiliation. He was a member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons and of the Order of the Eastern Star, and he and his wife were
prominent and active members of the Presbyterian church. As a young man he
united with the church, and always took much interest in religious work. Both he
and his wife were long active in the social life of the community, where they
were held in the highest regard.

    On November 13, 1884, at Axtell, Kansas, William Hunter was united in
marriage to Carrie L. Axtell, a native of Red Oak, Iowa, and the daughter of
Jesse and Emeline (Shangle) Axtell, natives of the state of Ohio, where they
were born, near Mt. Gilead, Morrow county. Jesse Axtell left his home in Ohio in
the year 1859 and located at Red Oaks, Iowa, where he was a merchant for a
number of years. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in an Iowa company
and saw much active service. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned
to Iowa, where he lived until 1879, when he came to Kansas and established a
store and lumber yard at Axtell, where he successfully engaged in that business
until the fall of 1885, when he came to Blue Rapids. Here he and Doctor Hunter
opened a lumber yard, which was operated by them until 1912. He was also
interested in the plaster business and was one of the organizers of the Electric
Power Company. Mr. and Mrs. Axtell were both born in the year 1840 and since the
death of his wife, on August 10, 1910, he has made his home at Long Beach,
California. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are now
living: Carrie L., Ida, Chloe, Carson, Gertrude, Willis and Clinton. Carrie L.,
the widow of Doctor Hunter, is a resident of Blue Rapids; Ida, the wife of Mr.
Mattern, is living at Adrian, Michigan; Chloe, the wife of Mr. Molby, is a
resident of Barnes, Kansas; Carson lives near Bedford, Massachusetts; Gertrude,
the wife of Mr. Loomis, resides at Long Beach, California; Willis is engaged in
the lumber busness in Blue Rapids, and Clinton is an electrician and is with the
General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York.

    To the union of William and Carrie L. Hunter, there were four children born:
Edith, Oliver W., Charles Axtell and one that died in infancy. Edith died at the
age of four and a half years; Oliver W., after completing his work in the high
school of Blue Rapids, entered the Agricultural College at Manhattan, where he
completed the work and where for the past six years he has been assistant
professor of bacteriology. He has his master's degree from the University of
Wisconsin and is a student of much ability. Charles Axtell is also a graduate of
the Agricultural College at Manhattan and took his master's degree in 1916 from
the University of Wisconsin, and is now professor of bacteriology in the
University of Florida, at Gainesville. Both the sons are establishing an
.enviable reputation in their chosen work and are now recognized as authorities
on many matters of professional importance. They have ever been hard students
and earnest workers, and their great desire was to succeed in their work.

    Doctor Hunter was a man of unusual ability and possessed of much business
acumen. Honest in his every business transaction, he won the confidence and the
respect of the business men of the county. As a physician and surgeon, he was
recognized as one of the most proficient in the district where he practiced. He
attended strictly to business and was most careful in his duties to his
patients. He had an extensive practice throughout a large district, and his
death was a distinct loss to the professional and business life of the community
in which he lived and where he was held in such high regard.

    Mrs. Hunter is now living in Blue Rapids, where she has a beautiful home,
and where she is actively engaged in the social and the religious life of the
city. She is a woman of pleasing qualities and possessed of considerable
ability. She is prominent in the Order of the Eastern Star and is one of the
active members of the Afternoon Club, in which she takes much pleasure.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)



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