Preston County, West Virginia Biography of James S. HUNT ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , March 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 107-108 JAMES S. HUNT has been a resident of Tunnelton almost seventy years and through long service as a mechanic, mer- chant, banker and public spirited citizen has well earned the high esteem he enjoys. Mr. Hunt was born at Paw Paw, West Virginia, Janu- ary 25, 1850, son of Robert and Margaret (Cunningham) Hunt. Nine months after his birth his parents came to West Virginia and while the first tunnel was being con- structed at Tunnelton his father established his home there. Both parents were natives of Ireland, were married after coming to the United States, and for several years lived in Allegany County, Maryland, where Robert Hunt was employed on public works. After locating at Tunnelton he kept a store and also managed a small farm. He was a democrat in politics, and died in 1872 when about sixty- seven years of age. His widow died ten years later when past eighty. James Sylvester Hunt, only child of his parents, grew up at Tunnelton, acquired a subscription school education, and learned the principles of merchandising from his father. On leaving home he worked in the Baltimore & Ohio shops at Piedmont and learned something of the boilermaker 's trade and then went out to the Pacific Coast and for two and a half years was employed in a boiler shop at San Francisco and worked on the construction of the then fa- mous Palace Hotel. In 1876 he came back across the plains to West Virginia, and at Tunnelton resumed his connec- tion with his home community by various activities, the principal ones including a clerkship with the Austen Coal & Coke Company under Manager Charles Jessup, followed by a long service of sixteen years with the mercantile firm of Shaffer & Bonafield. Following this long employment Mr. Hunt set up in business for himself as a merchant, and has one of the leading places of business in Tunnelton. Mr. Hunt helped organize the Tunnelton Bank which began business in 1903 and has capital stock of $50,000, a generous surplus, and deposits of over $500,000. Mr. Hunt has been one of the directors from the time the hank opened, later was elected vice president, and succeeded Mr. Gibson on his death as president. Mr. Hunt, in 1919, was also an active factor in the organization of the Tunnelton Freeport Coal Company and is its president. Community affairs have always made a claim upon his time and interests and assistance. For a number of years he was member of the Tunnelton Council and was in that body when the charter for the Telephone Company was granted. He voted the democratic ticket regularly until 1908. and frequently attended conventions as a delegate. In 1908 he supported William Howard Taft for presi- dent, and has since attended republican conventions. Mr. Hunt was reared in the Catholic Church, and has not af- filiated with any fraternities. In October, 1889, near Tunnelton, he married Miss Ella Cruise, who was born and educated in that community, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Kenny) Cruise. Her father spent practically all his life in the service of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and was a pensioner of the road when he died in 1902 at the age of eighty-three. Her mother died in 1906 when past eighty. Mrs. Hunt was the youngest of her parents' children, the others, now living, being Agnes, who married Judge William S. Haymond of Fairmont; Catherine, wife of Thomas Dorsey of Cumberland, Mary- land; Miss Annie of Coalton, West Virginia; and William B. of Grafton. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, James William, the oldest, was a sergeant during the war, was with the Eleventh Division ready for overseas duty when the armis- tice was signed, and is now in the service of the Liberty Trust Company of Cumberland, Maryland. He is an A. B. of Rock Hill College, Maryland, and took post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas E., the second son, was for four years deputy revenue collector under the Wilson administration and is now an instructor in the Tunnelton public schools. He attended Rock Hill College, and is a graduate of Fairmont State Normal School. Robert E. is store manager for the Albright Smoke- less Coal Company of Tunnelton. He attended Rock Hill and St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. The young- est of the family is John A. Hunt, a sophomore in the Tunnelton High School.