Husband William W. Hunter 1
Born: 4 Mar 1837 - Hopewell Twp, Washington Co, PA 1
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Father: William Hunter ( - ) 1
Mother: Maria J. Chambers ( - ) 1
Marriage: 15 Dec 1864 1
Wife Elizabeth T. Smiley 1
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Father: Caldwell Smiley (1807- ) 1 2
Mother: Nancy Tweed ( - ) 1
Children
1 M Dr. Joseph W. Hunter, M.D. 3 4
Born: 8 Oct 1865 - near Buffalo, Washington Co, PA 5
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Spouse: Martha Jane Nicholls ( - ) 4
Marr: Autumn, 1899 5
2 M John S. Hunter 6
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3 M Clarence M. Hunter 6
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4 M Howard T. Hunter 6
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General Notes: Husband - William W. Hunter
He attended the public schools more or less regularly until he was 20 years of age, after which he taught school for four years. He assisted on the farm until he met with a serious accident in operating a threshing machine, by which he lost his right arm, in 1859. He then made preparations to enter upon the study of law at Washington, Pennsylvania. When the Civil War came upon the land and his comrades were entering the army on every side, he also desired to be of service and, while debarred from enlisting as a soldier, he succeeded in being accepted in the transportation department, and endured as a teamster, as much hardship and exposure as he would have been subjected to if he had been marching in the ranks. He persisted in the work, however, and remained in the army until March 12, 1863, when he returned to the farm. He served with the Ringgold Battalion and received no compensation.
From early manhood, Mr. Hunter displayed literary ability and was a newspaper correspondent, being identified with a number of journals. In prize essay contests on the subject of horses he won more prizes than any man in the United States, in one instance winning over 75 contestants, representing 24 States. He won another prize offered by the Clydesdale Association, the competition being open to the world. He was also gifted as an orator and probably there was no man in Washington County who was called on so frequently to make addresses at agricultural, religious and educational meetings. His deep interest in religious and philanthropic work caused him, in 1894, to turn his farm responsibilities over to others and to enter into Sabbath-school missionary work. He continued to devote himself to this undertaking until 1898, making his headquarters at Fairmount, West Virginia. During this period he traveled 15,000 miles and visited over 5,000 families. In 1897 he was licensed as local evangelist by the Presbytery at Parkersburg. He then went into regular evangelistic work, making his headquarters at Smithfield, Wetzel County, West Virginia, where he remained one year, during which time he organized the First and the Second Presbyterian Churches in that county. His wife was there stricken with typhoid fever and because of her subsequent broken health, he left that field of work and returned to Pennsylvania and in 1901 he purchased a comfortable and commodious residence at Buffalo village.
In 1870 Mr. Hunter was chosen elder of the Upper Buffalo Presbyterian Church, the youngest ever chosen as such in that body. In 1891 he was commissioned to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States at Detroit, and with his masterly talk swayed the assembly to adopt a measure of economy in handling the financial affairs of the church.
Mr. Hunter was interested in and identified with many branches of philanthropic work, but perhaps he was most widely known as an apostle of temperance. It was said of him that through his own efforts, he was the means of keeping saloons out of six or eight of Washington County's prospering towns. He was superintendent of the Washington County Sabbath-school Temperance Association and was the acknowledged leader of the temperance forces in the county. In 1902 he was appointed one of the trustees of the Plumber Temperance Fund, which came to amount to $17,000, and he saw to the investment and disbursement of this money. Public confidence was reposed in Mr. Hunter and he was very frequently appointed as executor and administrator of estates and had numerous minors under his careful guardianship. His life was one of great usefulness and his efforts for the uplifting of others were crowned with much success.