Hide Article Text (OCR)
history dates back to 1652Editor's note; The following excerpts of the history’ of the Hunt family were written by Frances Geraldine Dillon Maxam of Pnnceton. great-granddaughter of Elias andCemelia Jones Hunt.)The story of one of America s pioneering families dates back to 1652 when Ralph Hunt arrived from England. Nearly 200 years and seven generations were to pass with the family pioneering in other areas before our Giboofc county story cameinto existence.Hunt was one of seven men who went from Long Island Sound to Westchester in the night and brought a company* of English sokliers to bear arms against the Dutch. Following this with the English in command, Hunt became one of the leaders and had considerable influence upon all affairs of the Long Island Community.In 1806 when John, myRevolutionary’ grandfather, lefthis home in the Yadkin Riverterritory in North Carolina, on ajourney to a new home in the wilderness of Kentucky, he must have done so with a greatdeal of trepidation.Not because he was taking hiswife, Chanty, their seven sons, his three daughters and his grandchildren into an unknown land — he was a man d ad-verture. pioneering stock and a veteran of the Revolutionary war; not a physical fear of what may lay ahead for them as their wagon train moved through Cumberland Gap and into the verdant valleys of the nwe frontier, but the quiet, personal uncertainty of breaking close family and friend tiesJohn Hunt, my great-great-grandfather was bom Februray 23, 1902 in Rowan county, N C. Here he lived until he was almost five years of age.Elias Menefee Hunt, the fifth child of John and Ann, was bom Sept. 11, 1830. at the old home place in Butler county, Ky. and remained there until he was 19. Elias left Kentucky to come to Indiana probably to visit his uncle Lemuel Jenkins and aunt Rebecca Richardson, his mother s younger brother and sister, who lived near OatsviHeElias remained in the area to work for his uncle and became the first of the Hunt family ancestors to settle in Gibson countyAbout a year before EliasMenefee Hunt was bom in 1830, another caravan of pioneers were getting ready to leave Rowan county. North Carolina to the new frontier in Indiana. Traveling with this caravan was the widow O'Neal, her only son. Calvin, five unmamed daughters, Mary, Rebecca, Margaret, Nancy and Jane, Sally, her mamed daughter, her husband, Thomas Jones, and a small child, Polly.In this caravan also was Thomas Jones* mother the widow Jones, her son. Wiley, three unmamed daughters. Melinda, Hannah, and Nancy* Her two mamed daughters, Charlotte and Sally, their husbands and a grandchild or two.It took six weeks to make the tnp to LouisveDe and they had to wait for the ice to break before they could cross the Ohio River. The widow Jones' daughter Hannah, and Richard Barrett applied for a marriage license at the Gibson county courthouse on Feb. 22, 1840. which places them in Pnnceton at that time.Court was held in a house in Petersburg, where they had gone to see about land Theythought at first they would settle there, however, they changed their minds and settled just south of Oatsville.After Thomas and Sally Jones had settled in Gibson county my great-grandmother Cemelia was bom Feb. 20, 1833. Here, Cemelia grew up to be a young Lady. Cemelia and her older sister, Polly, would walk about two miles to Olive Branch Church in Pike county. They would walk barefooted to save their shoes and just before they would get to church they would clean their feet and put on their shoes and continue their tnp.Cemelia*s older sister, Polly, mamed Lemuel Jenkins, Elias Hunt’s uncle. Elias probably met Cemelia at her sister’s home while visiting and there Elias and Cemelia’s courtship probably began. They were mamed Nov. 12, 1857, in the home of the bride.Two years after they were married, they bought a 40-acre farm in Washington township in Gibson county* and there, Elias built a two-story home to raise their family. They lived in this home all their married lives.Ten children were bom to this union, their first child John Thomas, lived only 40 days. Three of their children, Sarah Ann, Evie and Mil bum all died in August 1870, within 20 days of one another, with what was called the flux.The remaining children all lived to be quite elderly. At the time of their deaths, Monroe was 85, Mary Jane, 90. Ella, 87, Mattie, 93, Celia. 93, and Polly,51. Polly was a posthumous chi\dy bom eight months and 17 days after the death of herfather Elias.Elias was a farmer, cabinet maker, maker of coffins, a keeper of bees, had an ice house and a pond stocked with fish. All this for his family. In 1860, a log church was erected by Elias and John Smith and called Mount Pleasant. It was located in Pike count)*, about two miles north of where Elias lived.Elias was the great grandson of two Revolutionary soldiers, John Hunt and David Engler. Eiias must have been very patriotic because during the war between the north and the south, he tried twice to enter the war for the north and was burned down because of ill health.The Elias Hunt family was quite prosperous and very* well respected. He and his wife were mamed 21 years and he was in the prime of life at the age of 38 when he died in his sleep at the home of Andy Miller, just south of Boonville, where he had goneto see a doctor..After Elias’ death, his widow, Cemelia, lived 60 more years working and raising her family. They all grew up and lived near her Her first to marry was her daughter Mary* Jane, to George Washington Schoultz in 1818. Seven days later, Monroe, her only son, married Sarah Mi ley. Eiia mamed Elmer McRober-ts, Mattie mamed John Dillon, Celia married Levin Wilson and Polly married Wesley Hale.Cemelia’s first grandchild, Man on, was bom to her sonMonroe, in 1882. Cemelia was blessed with 53 grandchildren and many great-great-grandchildren.As of this date, Ann Hunt Brit-tingham, 9, is the oldest living descendant of Elias and Cemelia and she lives with her husband on a farm just across the field from where her grandparents lived.After Elias’ death and the children grown, Cemelia built a small three-room house nearby and lived in it until her death at the age of 84 in 1917. Several of her descendants were bom in her house after her death. I for one, was bom in this little house in 1922. The house still stands and belongs to the Scott Hunt heirs, her great-great-grandchildren.These are the highlights in the story of this American family which dates back nearly twice as long as these United States have been in existence. There are hundreds of names and countless incidents which cannot be recorded in so brief a presentation.Back through a narrow winding dirt road on a secluded knoll, surrounded by trees and underbrush, in silent witness to the passing of a pioneering area of America’s history, can be found the stones that mark the graves of Elias and Cemelia, Also, four of their children and Cemelia’s parents are buried there in what is now known as the Old Wilson Cemetery in county, near the Olive Branch Church. .
Newspaper Details
Oakland City Journal
Oakland City, Indiana, US
Thu, Aug 04, 1977
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 11 Jun 2018
Other Publications Near Oakland City, Indiana
Oakland City Journal
