BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN BEALE HUNT
John Hunt, son of Simon Hunt, and grandfather of William B. Hunt, was born in Maryland, Feb. 2, 1776, and became a resident of Washington county, Tennessee, where he married Esther Bartlett, a native of that State, born June 27, 1783. They were the parents of eleven children, four of whom were born in Tennessee, while Samuel was born in a blockhouse in Madison county, Illinois, and the younger members of the family were born in Bond county. Many of the Hunts went to Illinois in 1811, and were in Madison county at the time of the War of 1812. Considerable difficulty with the Indians was experienced about that time, and the Hunts, together with their neighbors, built a blockhouse, in which they sought protection against the invasions of the red men. Later John Hunt and his family went to Bond county, Illinois. He had served in the War of 1812 as a teamster, his duty, however, calling him only a short distance from home. He took up considerable land in Bond county, but later removed to McDonough county, Illinois, settling ten miles east of Macomb on the Quincy road. He had between four and five hundred acres of land there, and continued a resident of that county until 1836, living in true pioneer style; for that was then a frontier region, in which few settlements had been made, while the work of cultivating farms and otherwise improving the country had been scarcely begun. About 1836 or 1837 he brought his children, who were not then married, to Des Moines county, Iowa, trading his Illinois land for property here: and again he became a frontier settler, aiding in reclaiming this portion of the State for the uses of the white man. He secured a tract of land and developed a farm, becoming one of the leading agriculturists of his community. He died Feb. 21, 1850, when seventy-four years of age, and his wife died Sept. 10, 1858, when seventy-five years of age. Their children were as follows; Lydia, who was born Aug. 23, 1803, and became the wife of Robert Coles; Charles Wesley, born May 25, 1805, father of our subject; Jesse, born June 20, 1807; Mary, who was born Nov. 22, 1809, and became Mrs. McAdams; Samuel, born March 25, 1813; Nancy, born Aug. 10, 1815; William C., born Jan. 21, 1818; John B., born May 25, 1820; Esther, who was born Feb. 1, 1823, and married Linus Delashmut; Louisa, born July 21, 1825; and Sarah Almira, born April 8, 1832. Of this family Jesse Hunt was the first to come to Des Moines county, arriving in 1834. Samuel arrived about the same time, and they took claims together, after which Samuel returned to Illinois, but a year later again came to Iowa. Charles Wesley also came in 1835. They entered some land from the government, and also bought some: and at his death Jesse Hunt left four hundred acres, and Samuel Hunt between two hundred and fifty and three hundred acres.
Source:
Biographical Review of Des Moines County Iowa: Containing Biographical and Genealogical Sketches of Many of the Prominent Citizens of To-day and Also of the Past (Chicago: Hobart Publishing Co., 1905), vol. 1, pp. 186-187, images online at FamilySearch, https://tinyurl.com/yc4ndzmc, viewed on 12 Mar 2026.