Person:Mary Hunter (87)

1.) THE ANDREW JACKSON HUNTER FAMILY - MARY HUNTER DOANE; By Merrill G. Burlingame

    The story of a state is the story of it's people.  In a state as young as

Montana, it is still largely a story of it's pioneers. those who settle and area have an influence and a responbility far out of proportion to their number. Montana was fortunate in the type of people attracked to its plains and valleys in its pioneer days. The Andrew Jackson Hunter family, and Mary Hunter Doane, its last remaining pioneer descendant, the subjects for this sketch, represent many of the typical qualities for the pioneers of Montana.

    Mary Hunter Doane, President of Montana Pioneers for the year 1949-1950,

is the immediate subject of this biography. A resident of Bozeman, which she first saw in 1864, she observed her ninety-first birthday on July 7, 1950. No one considers Mrs. Doane as being aged, however. Alert, genial and a strikingly handsome lady she walks about the town at will to visit her friends and often journeys to distant cities to participate in movements of interest and value. She has served as president of Gallatin County Pioneers Society for a number of years. She is an active member of the Bozeman chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a faithful attendant of the Episcopal Church. Mrs Doane observed her sixth birthday on the high plains enroute to Montana. The Hunter family group, which was the only one in the train they accompanied, consisted of Andrew Jackson Hunter, his wife, Sussanah Murray Hunter, Mary and two younger children. (Lizzie and Davis )

    Andrew Jackson Hunter was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, March

18, 1816, the youngest of sixteen children. The family started the typically American westward movement in 1818 when a move to Kentucky was made, followed by another in a few years to Louisana. Here Andrew became a physiaian at a rather early age.(* NOTE * Some of this information is not quite accurate based on records found on the Hunter family in Cumberland Co., Ky.) He married a Miss Philpott and two children were born to this marriage. By 1856 Dr. Hunter was serving as physician for the Illinois Central Railway. Following the death of Mrs. Hunter, Andrew moved in 1857 to Benton County, Missouri. Here on October 12, 1858, Dr. Hunter married Sussanah C. Murray.

    Susannah Murray was one of twelve shildren whose grandparents had both

been born in County Donegal, Ireland, of staunch Scotch descent. The grandfather had come to America in June 1776, and immediately entered into revolutionary activities. Following the war this family also moved westward- to Harrisburg, Pa., in 1783, and to Stark Co., Ohio, in 1809. By 1835 the (Patrick Murray was issued a land grant for his service in the Revolutionary War 100 Acres in Ohio) family had moved three counties west to Richland County where at Mansfield, Susannah was born on May 28. A later move took them to Missouri where Susannah met Dr. Hunter.

    With the outbreak of the Civil War, Dr. Hunter entered the Confederate

Army as a surgeon. (Dr. Hunter was a 4th generation Virginian 3rd generation to have been born in Virginia. Dr. Hunter's enlistment record shows; Hunter, Andrew, Asst Surgeon, Co.-- 6th La. Inf. Record copied from Memorial Hall, New Orleans, La., by War Dept., Washington, D.C., May 1903, En.--for the war, born Virginia, occupation, M.D., Res.-- Va. Roster dated May 18, 1862. Comissioned Asst. Surgeon, Sept 11 1861 by Confederate States.) As the war in the West ceased to be he left the service (last records show Dr. Hunter as a Prisoner of War at Fort McHenry, Md. being sent to Fortress Monroe Nov. 21 1863.) and established his home in Chester, Randolph County, Illinois, where he again became a railway physician.

    Dr. Hunter's family had been large slave holders and possessed considerable

which had not been dissapated by the war. With his inheritance to which he added, Dr. Hunter made another move westward, to Callaway County, Missouri. Here he acquired a considerable farm, general store and drug store, and a spacious home. In the closing days of the war the country was swept by irresponsible guerilla troops, and because of Dr. Hunter's avowed Southern sympathies and his participation in the Confederate army, his property became the mark of these marauding hands. The climax of these attacks occured during the absence of Dr. Hunter. The home and the store were burned to the ground, and the family was in a state of panic.

    Dr. Hunter saw nothing but futher contention in the area.  He immediately

converted his remaining property into cash, fitted up a wagon, and on April 2, 1864, set out for the Far West which had appealed to his restless nature for a considerable time. In Omaha the family joined a train consisting of thirty-two men for a trip across the plains.

    The original destination of the train was Boise, Idaho.  Information

obtained on the plains aroused interest in the new mines in Montana, and the direction was changed. When the Hunters arrived on the site of Bozeman on August 1, 1864, only a few tents marked the future town. The citizens were to meet eight days hence, mark the limits of the townsite, and name it for John Bozeman.

    Dr. Hunter had a cquired a severe case of gold fever, and the family

continued on the metroplis of the Territory, Virginia City. Here they were able to secure a cabin on the mountainside up Alder Gulch. They found that they had arrived much too late to secure a profitable mining claim. Dr. Hunter secured considerable experience in mining, however, and was fortunate in having his medical profession for which there was an urgent need.

    In March, 1865, the Hunters moved to Helena, following the rush to this

new mining center. They were camped for a time on the site of the present First National Bank. Again, Dr. Hunter, together with many others, were unable to obtain a claim worth working. He was one of the first to leave, early in 1866, with the rush to the last of the mining gulches, Confederate Gulch, some thirty miles east of Helena. Here in the boom town of Diamond City he took part in the vigilance movement, in the miners courts, and was named delegate to the 1866 constitutional convention. He also served as probate judge for Meagher County in which the mining gulch was located. Continuing the search for gold the family moved for a time to nearby New York Gulch, again without success.

    After two years in the Confederate group of mining gulches, Dr. Hunter

became convinced that quick wealth from the mines was unlikely for him. He then turned his attention back to medicine and moved again, this time to the crossroads of the region, Canyon House, now Canyon Ferry. Here he remained until November, 1869, devoting his entire time to his medical pratice.

    Dr. Hunter frequently recalled that enroute to the mines, while hunting

antelope, in the upper Yellowstone valley, he had investigated with care a large and active hot springs. The thought of developing a medical center at the springs, similar to that in Arkansas which he knew, haunted him. Bozeman was the closest settlement to the hot springs, and since it offered an opportunity for a medical pratice until the springs could be developed, he moved his family there in December, 1869. In addition to his pratice, he served as probate judge, as contract surgeon at nearby Fort Ellis, and notations in the County Commissioners Journals indicate that he took a contract in 1871 which was renewed in 1873, as county physician at a salary of $8.00 per week.

    The role of Mrs. Hunter in this pioneer period had not been an easy one.

In the midst of living in difficult surroundings where families were the exception rather than the rule, she was raising a sizeable family. The names of the Hunter children indicate the attachment of the family for the Confederate cause. Mary Lee, the oldest, had been born in 1859, and the "Lee" was only incidentally intertwined with the admirable family in her father's home state of Virginia. The other children in the order of their ages were; Davis Beaureguard, Lizzie Kate Longstreet, Thomas Stonewall, Sallie, Emma Sidney Johnson, and a daughter born in New York Gulch named Montana. Mrs. Hunter taught her children at home, provided for their needs in the face of frequent moves, and found time to take an active part in the civic and cultural life of the community in which she lived.

    Dr. Hunter carried on his medical pratice in Bozeman and developed the hot

springs project as fast as possible. He took squatters rights to the area, about 20 miles east of the present Livingston in February, 1870, since there had been no land survey. In 1873 he built a home and what were considered rather prententious bath houses. The lumber for the buildings was purchased in Bozeman at a cost of $80 per 1,000 feet with an additional cost of $60 for transportation. The land was surveyed in 1878 and Dr. Hunter took a homestead claim. The Northern Pacific disputed his rights and a long and legal controversy ended in 1882 in Dr. Hunter's favor. The railroad was built past the springs in 1883, and in that year more adequate facilities were provided for the larger number of people which the railroad brought.

    Mrs. Doane recalls many adventures which took place at the Hot Springs.

During any absence of the men of the household, the house was securely barricaded, and Mrs. Hunter and the girls became adept in the use of firearms. The government established an Indian agency for the Crows some ten miles from the hot springs, for which Dr. Hunter was physician for a considerable time. The agency was welcome because it brought a settlement within a reasonable distance, but it also brought the major portion of the Crows into the vicinity at various times during the year. The Crows were usually friendly, but on many occasions they were an outright nuisance.

    The Hunter's were delighted to find the soil was well adapted to

gardening. They discovered also that the several hot springs prodiced some 90,000 gallons of hot water an hour moderated the temperature within a small radius which enabled them to raise some unusual fruits and vegetables, including watermellons which they had enjoyed in the south. The Crows first objected to the ground being disturbed saying in would bring the rain which would destroy their hunting. When their fears had been overcome the Crows were facinated with the growing crops. They found themselves unable to refrain from digging and sampling at all times of the year. They were particularly fond of potatoes and insisted upon digging them as soon as they set on. Mrs. Doane tells an amusing story of a band carrying away a green watermelon. They returned some days later asking how one should be eaten. The longer they cooked theirs, they said, the tougher it became.

    The Piegan tribe of the Blackfeet was the scrouge of the Yellowstone for

the Crows and the whites alike. The Crows were always humiltated when the Piegans outwitted them and made a raid in the valley. on one occasion the Piegans stole several of the Hunter horses. They rode them hard and left them almost completely ruined at a Crow camp where they stole fresh mounts. The Crows recognized the Hunter animals and sent fresh horses to the Springs apologizing for not being more alert.

    On another occasion the Crow Chief, Iron Bull, and his band appeared at

the Hot Springs and demanded that all of the Hunter family accompany them on a Buffalo Hunt lasting several days. Dr. Hunter was perplexed and reluctant to go, but Iron Bull, was determined and not wanting to offend the friendly Indians, the family prepared quickly for the trip. After traveling eastward for three days, Iron Bull came to the Hunter tent one morning and said, "Today you may return to your home. I will send one of my men with you." The Hunters were again suprised for no buffalo had been seen. They were greatly pleased, however, when Iron Bull explained that a large band of Piegans had invaded the valley again, and the Hunters would have risked being killed if they had remained home.

    In the eary years at the Springs the Hunters were often distrubed by large

numbers of game animals coming to drink the warm water. This was particlarly true in winter, but on occasion damage was done to the gardens and the fields. Mrs. Hunter declared that she had seen hers of not less than 5,000 elk cross the Yellowstone and leave its colder waters to come to the springs to drink.

    In 1885, Dr. Hunter sold the major portion of his rights to the Montana

Hot Springs Company formed by Cyrus B. Mendenhall, Heber Roberts and A.L. Love. In 1898 they were sold to James A. Murray of Butte. Murray built a large hotel and swimming pool, and the resort attracted a large number of people each year until the hotel burned in 1932.

    Dr. and Mrs. Hunter returned to Bozeman in 1885 and purchased a home

there. Although advanced in years, Dr. Hunter continued to be called upon to pratice medicine virtually until his death on April 19, 1894, at an age of 79. Throughout his life Dr. Hunter maintained a wide range of interests, and took a responsible part in civic affairs. At one time he insisted that the Hot Springs be assessed at the very high sum of $30,000 in order that he might be sure to carry his full share of the costs of government in the thinly populatedarea. The Bozeman papers made extensive note of his passing, and one editorial closed with the comment; "He was a typical southern gentleman, polite and polished; he was warm hearted, sympathetic and kind; yet withal, he was made of stern material, quick to resent an insult, and fearless often to recklessness."

    Mrs. Hunter continued to live in Bozeman until her death on January 17,

1929, at the age of 94, greatly beloved by a wide circle of friends. She was a charter member of the Christian Church and the story was often told among its members that the church building would never have been completed without "Grandma" Hunter's aid. Her home adjoined the building site and while the brick building was under construction, Mrs. Hunter took her turn at the pump filling the buckets with water used in mixing mortar.

    As the children grew up they were sent away to school.  Lizzie attended

the Callatin Valley Female Seminary, and Mary enrolled in St. Vincent's Academy in Helena during the years 1876-1878. She had many memories of these years as pleasant and profitable, and recalls particularly the visits of Father Palladino to the school, where he was recered by all of the girls.

    On December 16, 1878, Mary Hunter was married to Lieutenant Gustavus C.

Doane. Lieutenant Doane had come to Fort Ellis in 1869, and had immediately taken a leading part in the developement of Montana. He was in charge of the military escort for the first official expedition into Yellowstone National Park in 1870, and his official report of this expedition into the upper Yellowstone and Snake River region in 1876 in mid-winter, and participated in an important capicity in the aftermath of the Custer disaster and in the Nes Perce invasion in 1877.