Daniel Newcomb Hunt Biography


	This biography appears on pages 19-20 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				DANIEL NEWCOMB HUNT. 

	Daniel Newcomb Hunt, who is conducting a growing and profitable 
business as the head of the Hunt Land Company with offices in the 
Anderson block at Redfield, has continuously resided in Spink county 
since 1879. No feature of the history of Redfield and Spink county is 
unfamiliar to him and at all times he has cooperated in the plans and 
projects which have resulted in public benefit and improvement. He was 
born in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1843, and is a son of 
Daniel N. and Miranda B. (Allen) Hunt. The father died in 1884 and the 
mother passed away in 1863, her grave being made at Granger, Minnesota, 
while he was laid to rest at Redfield. He was a physician in early life 
and practiced at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, for a number of years, but after 
removing to Minnesota turned his attention to farming, which he 
continued for five years. He died at the advanced age of eighty-five. 
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Captain Charles Hunt, fought 
in the Revolutionary war, as did also the maternal grandfather, whose 
father was a nephew of Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame. Our subject is 
also a descendant of one of the Newcomb brothers, who settled in New 
England in the early days of the history of that section of the 
country. 

	Daniel N. Hunt devoted five years of his youth to attending 
school in Wisconsin, and after the removal of the family to Minnesota 
was under private instruction for two years. He then went to Decorah, 
Iowa, where he attended high school for two years, or until after the 
outbreak of the Civil war, when he put aside his textbooks and all 
personal considerations in order to aid his country. On the 15th of 
March, 1862, he enlisted and remained with his command until September, 
1865, when he was mustered out, having participated in a number of the 
important and hotly contested engagements of that long sanguinary 
conflict. Upon his return home he began farming with his father. Later 
he spent one winter in a commercial school in Chicago and was for two 
years in southwestern Missouri and Texas, after which he returned to 
Minnesota, where he resumed farming, which he followed until 1879. On 
the expiration of that period he came to South Dakota, and on the 17th 
of April, 1879, located a claim in Spink county, about seven miles 
northeast of where Redfield now stands. He and L J. Bancroft, who 
arrived in Spink county with his family on the same day and settled 
across the James river from Mr. Hunt, were the first settlers in the 
county. Mr. Hunt also began locating claims for others and proving 
their titles and has since dealt in land, buying and selling property. 
In recent years he has organized his business under the name of the 
Hunt Land Company, which has many clients and is doing a growing and 
successful business. He has made his home in the city of Redfield since 
1883. 

	At Granger, Minnesota, Mr. Hunt was united in marriage to Miss 
Adalyn J. Ellis, who is a native of Vermont and is a daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. Dyer Ellis. The father died in 1903 and was laid to rest in 
the Minneapolis cemetery. The mother now resides in that city at the 
remarkable old age of ninety-four years. Mr. Ellis was a native of 
Vermont and his wife of Ohio. When their daughter, Mrs. Hunt, was but a 
child the family removed to Wisconsin and subsequently became pioneer 
settlers of Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have become the parents of 
three children: Arlington C., a painter residing at Redfield; May, the 
wife of W. W. Spain, of Sioux Falls; and Ray N., who is a clerk at 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

	In his political views Mr. Hunt has ever been a stalwart 
republican and he comes of a family noted for patriotism and love of 
country. He has been called to several local offices. He served by 
appointment as register of deeds, was the first mayor of Redfield and 
for five years filled the office of deputy clerk of the district court. 
He was a member of the first territorial constitutional convention held 
at Sioux Falls and he called the first republican convention in Spink 
county at his house. He organized the first school district of the 
county in 1880, the meeting being held at his own home, and the school 
was taught by Florence Hall, now Mrs. C. G. Bickford. His labors in 
behalf of the welfare and upbuilding of the county can scarcely be 
overestimated. While his ideals have been high, he has worked toward 
them along practical lines, and his labors have been attended with 
gratifying results. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the 
Grand Army of the Republic and in days of peace he has ever been as 
true and loyal to the duties of citizenship as when he followed the old 
flag upon southern battlefields.