Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of Col. Edmund Pendleton HUNTER This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 243 COL. EDMUND PENDLETON HUNTER. The Hunter family has been identified with the important history of the coun- try around Martinsburg for a century and a half. Its members intermarried with another historic family of this region, the Harrisons, as noted in another article. This sketch reviews briefly the well-known older members of the family, Col. David Hunter and Col. E. P. Hunter. Col. David Hunter was born at York, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1761, and was a child when his parents settled in what is now Berkeley County, Virginia. Their home was estab- lished about two miles north of Martinsburg, on what is now known as the Williams Port Pike. The Hunter estate there became known as the Red House Farm. Upon the organization of Berkeley County the first court convened at the Hunter home. David Hunter attended a school in a log building situated near the corner of Queen and Burke streets in Martinsburg. About 1778 ho went to England, and was abroad some three years. After his return to this country he married Elizabeth Pendleton, descended from one of the first settlers of what is now Berkeley County. Her father, Philip Pendleton, was born near the present site of Martinsburg in 1752, was an eminent lawyer and was pres- ent at the organization of Berkeley County in 1772. Philip Pendleton married Agnes Patterson. Col. David Hunter throughout his long life was deeply interested in all the affairs and progress of his home locality, and he was elected and served as clerk of the County Court from 1803 until his death in 1829. Col. Edmund Pendleton Hunter, son of David and Eliza- beth (Pendleton) Hunter, was born in 1809, acquired an education at Jefferson College and was admitted to the bar in Berkeley County in 1831. He became owner and editor of the Martinsburg Gazette. He had many interest- ing associations with public men of his day. He attended thp Young Men's Convention in Washington, where he heard Henry Clay speak, and ever afterward was an ardent sup- porter of that great Kentuckian. Colonel Hunter succeeded General Boyd as commonwealth's attorney for Berkeley County, and he served in the Virginia House of Delegates during 1834-35 and 1839-41. During the war between the states he commanded the Sixty-seventh Regiment of Vir- ginia Volunteers. He rose to the highest honors in the Ma- sonic fraternity in his state, and was a member of the Episcopal Church. On August 2, 1832, Edmund Pendleton Hunter married Martha C. Abell, daughter of John and Sarah (Forrest) Abell. She was born in Jefferson County, and her parents came from St. Mary's County, Maryland. Colonel Hunter and wife reared seven children, named: Sarah, Maj. Rob- ert W., Elizabeth J., David, John Abell, Martha C. and Mary Louisa. The daughter Sarah was the wife of Peyton Harrison, who is elsewhere referred to. The son David was killed at the battle of Cedar Creek in 1864. Martha C. became the wife of Harry Riddle and Mary Louisa mar- ried John H. Doll. Miss Elizabeth Hunter for several years taught a private school in Martinsburg. She and her widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Louisa Doll, now occupy the old home on East King Street, near the Public Square. Elizabeth Hunter is a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church and the Daughters of the Con- federacy.