Biography of Bramwell B. Hunt - Mercer Co. WV


The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume II,
pg. 544


BRAMWELL B. HUNT, who had given specially effective
service as a member of the County Court of Mercer County,
was given further evidence of popular esteem and confi-
dence in 1920 when he was elected sheriff of the county,
an office in which he is giving a characteristically vigorous
and circumspect administration. He was born in Tazewell
County, Virginia, which adjoins Mercer County, West Vir-
ginia, and the date of his nativity was July 15, 1866. He
is a son of Henry F. and Louisa (Bedwin) Hunt, and is a
representative of one of the old and influential families of
Tazewell County, where Henry F. Hunt passed his entire
life, he having been seventy-four years of age at the time
of his death in 1914. He served thirty-four years as jus-
tice of the peace and was otherwise prominent in commu-
nity affairs. In the period leading up to the Civil war he
was one of three men in his district to oppose the seces-
sion of the Southern states, and he refused to serve as a
soldier in the Confederate Army. In the so-called recon-
struction period after the war he did all in his power to
revive the prostrate industries and civic prosperity of his
native county. He was a member of the republican party
from its organization until his death. He was a prosper-
ous farmer and was a man whose character was the positive
expression of a true and loyal nature. Both he and his
wife were earnest members of the Baptist Church. Their
children were twelve in number, six sons and six daughters.

Bramwell B. Hunt gained his early education in the
schools of his native county, including the high school at
Cedar Bluff, and thereafter he taught five months in a
rural school. He then engaged in the lumber business at
Swords Creek, Russell County, Virginia, and he continued
to operate a saw mill and to deal in lumber for twelve
years. In January, 1900, he came to Mercer County, West
Virginia, and engaged in farm enterprise near New Hope,
besides becoming a dealer in live stock, which he sold prin-
cipally to the coal operators in the Pocahontas field. In
January, 1914, Mr. Hunt assumed his official duties as a
member of the County Court, and in his six years' incum-
bency of this position he was chairman of the court four
years. Within his regime splendid progress was made in
the building of good roads in the county, and his record
marked him as eligible for further service in public office,
with the result that in the autumn of 1920 he was elected
county sheriff. He is a stalwart in the local ranks of the
republican party, is a member of the Business Men's Club
of Princeton, and he and his wife hold membership in the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Sheriff Hunt
with Miss Rachel Steele, daughter of George W. Steele, who
was a prominent citizen of Tazewell County, Virginia. Mr.
and Mrs. Hunt have four children: Clarence entered the
nation's aviation service in connection with the World war,
his technical training having been received at Kelley Field,
Texas, and at Dayton, Ohio, and since the dose of the war
he has been identified with the river improvement service in
the State of Florida. Joseph G. has active management of
his father's farm, Clyde S., who is chief clerk to his father
in the sheriff's office, and Blanche M. are at the parental
home in Prineeton. The two younger sons were ready for
war service, but were not called into the army.


Submitted by Valerie Crook <vfcrook@earthlink.net> 

****************************************************************

USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb
archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************