WILLIAM S. HUNTER.
The beneficial results of well applied industry are strikingly illustrated in the
career of William S. Hunter, a prosperous citizen of Cedar township, Musca-
tine county, who is the owner of a fine farm of three hundred acres which he
acquired through the application of an innate ability that never yielded to dis-
couragement. A man of wide outlook and humane principles, he has contributed
greatly to the comfort and happiness of those with whom he has associated and
ranks today as one of the most influential members of the community. He was
bom at West Liberty, Muscatine county, Iowa, in 1861, and is a son of James
and Eleanor Hunter, the former of Scotch and the latter of English descent.
John Gordon Lane, his grandfather on the maternal side, was one of the early
pioneers of Iowa. He settled on a farm a mile south of West Liberty and
became one of the prominent men in that locality. The father of our subject
was a carpenter by trade. There were six children in his family, the subject of
this review being next to the youngest in order of birth.
The father of these children having been called away in 1865 when the son,
William S. Hunter, was a child of four years, the latter became an inmate of
the home of Aristarchus Cone, an old friend of the family, who lived on a farm
in Cedar township, on which he settled in August, 1837. He was a stock and
grain farmer and a man of many excellent qualities. Educated in the public
schools, our subject early evinced a studious disposition and gave evidence of
literary tastes that indicated a professional career as his natural vocation. Books
and papers were much more attractive to him than manual labor. However, on
account of lung trouble, he was obliged to give up his studies and upon the ad-
vice of a physician devoted his attention to outdoor work, finally deciding to
make farming his life pursuit. This he has done with marked success and he is
now the owner of a beautiful place which he has brought to a high degree of
cultivation, having devoted a great deal of time and attention to its improve-
ment. He has no specialty but engages in general farming.
On the 9th of October, 1882, Mr. Hunter was united in marriage in Musca-
tine county to Miss Jessie A. Shellabarger, a daughter of J. M. Shellabarger.
She traces her ancestry back as far as 1306 A. D. and it is believed that Mount
Shallenberg, Switzerland, owes its name to this family. Four children have
blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hunter: Zula Ruth, now Mrs. T. S. Hol-
yoke, of Grinnell, Iowa; Aristarchus C, now assisting his father upon the home
farm, who attended the district school, then went to Grinnell College for two
years and afterward took a course in the animal husbandry department of the
666 HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
State Agricultural College at Ames ; and Mary E. and Milton A., both of whom
are attending school in Grinnell.
Mr. Hunter is strictly independent in his political views, working for meas-
ures and voting for men rather than party. He has never sought official pre-
ferment, but he has held the office of school director, filling the position in such
a way as to meet the hearty approval of the people of the district. While
favoring the Congregational church, he realizes that all churches are working
for the accomplishment of the same purpose and therefore he worships with
all Evangelical denominations. He is a stanch advocate of good roads, im-
proved surroundings, better schools, Chautauqua associations and the main-
tenance of the church, being also one of the promoters of the first mutual tele-
phone line in his neighborhood. He has not used tobacco or liquor since arriv-
ing at manhood and has appropriated the approximate cost of the same in the
purchase of books and papers, now receiving at his home an average of ten
papers and magazines regularly. He has a large and well assorted library
which contains the best class of literature. One of his diversions is the collec-
tion of old relics and souvenirs. He now has a powder horn which was carried
through the Revolutionary war, a pair of French duelling pistols, a dagger, an
old fashioned spinning wheel, a flax wheel, a long, heavy hair trigger rifle such
as was carried by the early frontiersman, a collection of canes, a foot warmer
used by women when stoves were not allowed in the churches, and many other
curiosities. Mr. Hunter is of pronounced social characteristics and is never
happier than when in the midst of his family or dispensing generous hospitality
to friends. A progressive and public-spirited citizen, he assists in all worthy
movements which have for their purpose the promotion of the permanent in-
terests of the neighborhood.
