Family Lines From New Madrid County
Goodspeed's History of
SouthEast
Missouri-1887
Section 3:1799 + (Settlements, Counties & People)
Transcribed by Tara R Barrett,
1999
Section 3:1799 + (Settlements,
Counties & People)
Page #2
Joseph Hunter, one of the most distinguished pioneers of
Southeast Missouri, came to New Madrid District in 1805, and
located
on a grant purchased from Joseph La Plante, near New Madrid.
Very soon after he removed to Big Prairie, and with his
brother-in-law,
Samuel Phillips, located near the present town of Sikeston.
Joseph Hunter was a son of a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who
immigrated to
America from the North of Ireland prior to the Revolutionary
War. During the early settlement of Kentucky the family removed
to Louisville.
A brother of Joseph, who had been an officer in the continental
army, received a grant of land on the river above the town in
what is still
known as "Hunter's Bottom." The mother Joseph and a sister were
killed by the Indians while in a flax-field near their home; a
brother, Abraham,
also met his death at the hands of savages. Nancy Hunter,
another member of the family, is mentioned in connection with
the history of Ste. Genevieve.
Upon the organization of the Missouri Territory, Joseph Hunter
was appointed by President Madison a member of the territorial
council. He had a large family,
and his descendants are very numerous, embracing many of the
wealthiest and most prominent citizens of this State. His
eldest son, Milford, removed to
Grand Gulf, Miss. The second son, Abraham, married Sally Ogden,
and became the father of three sons and three daughters, viz:
Issac, a judge of Scott County Court;
Joseph, a wealthy citizen of New Madrid, and Benjamin F., living
near Sikeston, one of the largest land owners in Southeast
Missouri; Catherine,
who married first Americus Price, and second Marmaduke Beckwith;
Mary, who married Archibald Price, and Amanda. Abraham Hunter
in his day was probably
the best known politican in Southeast Missouri, and served for
twenty years, successively, in one or the other of the branches
of the State Legislature.
James, another son of Joseph Hunter married Lucy Beckwith, and
had two children: Joseph, killed in the battle of Pilot Knob,
and Kate. David, a fourth son, married his cousin
Nancy Phillips, by whom he had three children: Samuel, Betty and
Jenny. Joseph Hunter, Jr., married Elizabeth Johnson, and was
the father of two children: maria, who married
Maj. James Parrott, and Ann, who became the wife of Joseph H
Moore. Thomas, the youngest son of Joseph Hunter, Sr., married
Eliza Meyers, and reared two children: Nannie Kate,
wife of Col. Thomas Brown of Columbus, Ky., and Senator William
Hunter. Of the daughters of Joseph Hunter, Mary married Andrew
Gobiney, of Cape Girardeau, whose daughter
is the wife of Hon. Louis Houck, and Hannah married Mark H
Stallcup, of New Madrid County. Capt. William Meyers was the
first settler on the site of Benton. He was a
native of North Carolina, but had lived for a time in Tennessee.
He was a commissioned officer in the War of 1812, and
distinguished himself as an Indian fighter.
That part of Scott County formerly known as Tywappity Bottom,
which extended from Commerce to Bird's Point, began to receive
settlers as early as 1798; among them were James Brady,
James Curran, Charles Findlay, Edmund Hogan, Thomas, John and
James Wellborn, and Stephen, Josiah and Robert Quimby. About
1802 or 1803 Thomas W. Waters, a South Carolinian, located on
the site of Commerce, and established a trading post and store,
in partnership with Robert Hall. He also kept a ferry across
the Mississippi. He died within a few years after coming
to this country.
The first settlement in the territory now embraced in
Mississippi County was made about the year 1800 by John Johnson,
who obtained a grant of land, and built a cabin on or near the
present Bird's Point. The next year Edward Mathews, with his
sons, Edward N., Charles, Joseph, James and Allen, settled on
what was then known as St. Charles Prairie, but which has
since borne the name of "Mathews' Prairie." They were joined
within the next two or three years by Charles Gray, Joseph
Smith, John Weaver, George Hecker, and Absalom McElmurry. The
last
named married Elizabeth Gray, and in 1810 removed to Arkansas,
but returned to the Prairie three years later. About 1805
Abraham Bird, the founder of Cairo, Ill., crossed the river, and
established
himself on the land previously occupied by John Johnson, where
he remained until the overflow of 1814-1815. He then went to
Louisianna, and a few years later his youngest son, John Bird,
took possession of the homestead.
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Don E. Wright
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