Family history, Hunt

Oscar Hunt biography

[excerpted and adapted from The Oscar Hunt Family by Helen Collins and Hazel Carlisle, 1977]

            Oscar Hunt, son of John G. Hunt and Sarah Woolsey Hunt, was born in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1852.

            He made his home there until 1871, when he and his older brother, Isaiah, migrated west to Iowa traveling by covered wagon, drawn by oxen. They settled in Louisville, Iowa, which was three miles south of where Exira now is located.

            About a year later they moved to Audubon County, Greeley Township, where they cleared land and planted crops. Oscar settled on a farm nine miles northeast of Exira, on Davis Creek, later moving to the family home one mile south of Exira.

            On January 21, 1875, he married Fannie M. Hensley. To this marriage three children were born: Effa Ada (b. January 12, 1867), Frank Augustus (b. May 16, 1878) and Flora Lenora (b. July 27, 1881). Fannie Hunt died in 1884 of tuberculosis.

            On September 1, 1886, Oscar Hunt married Mary “Jennie” Jane Reynolds at the home of her sister, Mrs. George (Margaret Hoover) in Audubon, Iowa. Grandfather Reynolds disapproved of the marriage and Grandmother Reynolds was unable to attend her daughter’s wedding.

            Eight children were born of this marriage: Elsie Mae (b. January 13, 1888), Glen Everett (b. March 11, 1890), Bonnie Ruth (b. September 5, 1893), Kathleen Peace (b. February 28, 1896), Raymond Floyd (b. August 28, 1898), Helen Irene (b. June 13, 1901), Hazel Edith (b. September 3, 1904), and Lee Oscar (b. March 1, 1908).