Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Pages: Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter Family -Old 300 Settlers of Texas

Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter Family -Old 300 Settlers of Texas Updated December 3, 2006	Claude Hunter E-mail - see photo section 2 Townsend Place Spring, TX 77382 United States 936.273.6604
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Welcome to the website for the family & descendants of Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter and his wife Mary Martha Harbert. Dr. Hunter, of Scottish Ancestry, and the Johnson Hunter family lived in the New River area of Clay Co., NC and Wytheville, Wythe Co., VA; Circleville, OH; and then New Madrid, MO. Dr. Hunter first came to the Spanish Territory (Texas) in June, 1821 as a part of Moses and Stephen F. Austin's plan to explore the Spanish Territory and to settle 300 families in Spanish and later Mexican Texas. In April, 1822, the Johnson C. Hunter family emigrated to the Mexican Province of Cohuilla y Tejas (present Texas), building their first home using slabs of bark from large cypress trees as walls at what is now Morgan's Point, Harris Co., Texas. Dr. Hunter received a grant of more than 4600 acres there in 1824. Soon therafter the family sold that property and moved to near Oyster Creek in Fort Bend County, TX, where they lived until they died. Eleven Hunter family members are buried in The Dr. Johnson C. Hunter Cemetery (aka Brick Church Graveyard) in Fort Bend Co. TX. The Dr. Johnson C. Hunter Cemetery was officially recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in Oct, 2004. Additional information on the family, the cemetery and an e-mail address for further information can be found on the home page at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~thehuntercemetery/. Please contact me via the above website or via regular mail at the e-mail address shown on the Johnson Hunter Cemetery home page for more information or to supply additional information. Information on Johnson Hunter's wife's ancestors back to Wales, UK, is shown via the book on "Mary Martha Harbert", shown below. In April, 2005, a worldwide Hunter Surname DNA Project was initiated in an effort to aid Hunter families worldwide to better understand their ancestry and history. Y-Chromosome DNA is passed essentially unchanged from father to son for many generations. Thus, this new science can supplement conventional record based genealogy in establishing groups of people that share a genetic common ancestor. For my most complete and up-to-date Hunter kinfolk family tree information, see: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=cwh001&I11.x=0&I11.y=0 Thanks, Claude Hunter; 2 Townsend Pl., Spring, TX 77382 © 2004-2006, Claude Hunter, All Rights Reserved


My Family History
Surname List Index of Individuals InterneTree Sources

Books
Book: Mary Martha Harbert - Ancestors & Siblings

Family Photos
Click here for E-Mail contact information (2 KB) You will need to type the e-mail address shown into your e-mail "To" line. Please contact me with any questions, suggested changes or other important information. Claude Hunter Four Sons of Dr. Johnson C. & Mary Martha Hunter (109 KB) The four Hunter brothers shown (clockwise) are: William A., Thaddeus Warsaw, Robert Hancock & Thomas Johnson Hunter. The original (ca. 16x20 inch) photo is in the Texas State Archives. A high resolution copy can be obtained from them. The water stains on the photo are on the original. Johnson Hunter Plantation home in Fort Bend Co. TX (66 KB) The Johnson Hunter plantation home near Oyster Creek, Fort Bend Co., TX. Timber for the home reportedly came from the Buffalo Bayou, Harris Co., TX area - likely near where Hunter's Creek Village is today. There are two stories as to persons in the photo. The first is that Dr. Hunter & his wife, Martha, are on the porch, with Tisher and Mary Washington and Tasse Eunice Lawson on and near the steps. Reportedly a hurricane removed the top floor & the home was rebuilt as a single story. The second family tradition is that Johnson's son Thomas Jefferson is on the porch with his daughter Eunice. Others are the same as above. The latter version appears more correct, since Dr. Hunter died in 1855 and it does not appear that photography was that far advanced before his death. Clothing also appears more typical of ca. 1900, when Thomas Jefferson Hunter was still alive. Harpers Ferry Rifle-type used by Robert H. Hunter (19 KB) Photo of a Harper's Ferry Yager, Jager or Jauger of the type likely used by Robert Hancock Hunter in defending Texas against Santa Anna's troops from 1835 through the Battle of San Jacinto. Perhaps because of the poor condition of Robert's weapon, he was detached to help guard the baggage at Harrisburg during the battle of San Jacinto. Afterward he was detailed to guard Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna. In the Narrative of Robert Hancock Hunter he states: "Some men had rifels. I had a Harperferry yauger. The lock was tide on with a buck skin string & the stock & barrel was tide to geather with buckskin strings, & the Mexicans had fine muskets". Note: The picture is of a Model 1803 Harpers Ferry Yager, apparently in much better condition than the one Robert Hancock Hunter used. It is likely that the term Yager, or Jauger referring to the 1803 Harper’s Ferry rifled musket, may relate to possible markings on some of the rifles. Since Harper’s Ferry guns were made from parts made by several persons, the rifles were not “signed” by the maker. However, stock making was a craft such that a single rifle stock was made by one person. It is understood that there was a stock maker named Jauger (German for Hunter) at Harper’s Ferry during the period that the 1803 Harper’s Ferry rifle was made and possibly some of the production might have stocks with his mark. (comments by Claude Hunter – from research conducted at Harper’s Ferry arsenal) Robert Hancock & William A. Hunter (50 KB) Sketch of Robert Hancock Hunter & Photo of William A. Hunter. Both were sons of Dr. Johnson C. Hunter and wife Mary Martha Harbert Hunter.

Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees
InterneTree: All-in-One Tree of JOHNSON Calhoun Hunter Outline Descendant Tree: Descendants of JOHNSON Calhoun Hunter (View PDF) Outline Descendant Tree: Descendants of DAVID Herbert (View PDF) Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Mary Margaret Holloman (View PDF) Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Claude Warren Hunter (View PDF) Genealogy Report: Ancestors of LILLIE Lucy Watson (View PDF)

Related Files
Cannibal Coast by Ed Kilman, © 1959 (14 KB) This reference describes how one small group of Indians, known as the Karankawas or Kronks, resisted to the bitter end the encroachment of Stephen F. Austin and the Anglo colonists upon their mainland domain. Timeline-Dr. Hunter's family + early Texas history (124 KB) This timeline traces the history of Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter, his wife, Mary Martha Hunter, and their children. It also traces concurrent historic events that occurred before Dr.Hunter first explored the Spanish Territory in 1821, and after the family became citizens of the Mexican province of Coahuila y Tejas, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and ultimately of the great State of Texas. Life living among the native Indians, during the battles against a brutal dictator of Mexico, during the Civil War, and as Texas became a state in the United States of America, was never easy. Many who came later reaped the benefits of contributions of the earlier settlers, including the family of Dr. Johnson Calhoun Hunter. The Hunter Surname Y-Chromosome DNA Project (16 KB) The Hunter Surname Y-Chromosome DNA Project uses Genetic Genealogy based upon DNA to determine which individuals or groups of individuals share a common ancestor. Only males have Y-Chromosomes and these are passed from father to son to son essentially unchanged for many generations. A computerized data base allows comparison of DNA from Hunter Surname peoples worldwide.

Related Links
The Dr. Johnson C. Hunter - Historic Texas Cemetery website The Medicine Man in Texas by George Plunkett Red - a Book The Narrative of Robert Hancock Hunter The Hunter Surname DNA Project - helps find common ancestors Latest Hunter database-Dr. Hunter kin and others.

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