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Information from Find a Grave Contributor Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
Parley Smith Hunt 1868-1953
The following information was abridged from a brief history compiled by Golda Roberts; granddaughter to Jonathan Hunt and Susan Nanney Hunt and edited by Carl Hunt. Golda used accounts from Parley Hunt and Dorie Hunt as well as several other sources.
Jonathan Hunt & Susan Charlotte Nanney married on the November 13, l865 at Gus, Muhlenberg, Kentucky. They lived in the beautiful wooded hills of Central Kentucky, near the present Post Office of Gus, in Muhlenberg County. Here in this vicinity both John and Susan were born and reared, and...
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Information from Find a Grave Contributor Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
Parley Smith Hunt 1868-1953
The following information was abridged from a brief history compiled by Golda Roberts; granddaughter to Jonathan Hunt and Susan Nanney Hunt and edited by Carl Hunt. Golda used accounts from Parley Hunt and Dorie Hunt as well as several other sources.
Jonathan Hunt & Susan Charlotte Nanney married on the November 13, l865 at Gus, Muhlenberg, Kentucky. They lived in the beautiful wooded hills of Central Kentucky, near the present Post Office of Gus, in Muhlenberg County. Here in this vicinity both John and Susan were born and reared, and here they had their first three children, Idella, Parley and Udora. Parley was born May 10, 1868.
Parley recalls that he spent the first seven years of his life here accumulating memories of fishing in the Old Mud River, He recalls when his father had to help him pull out the `big one' ,before it pulled little red-haired Parley in. Other memories were of gathering nuts and berries of various varieties which abounded in the woods and of eating maple syrup (the only sweetening that Parley had ever known and which is still his favorite). He remembers seeing wild turkeys which were hunted for food. He recalls hunting the hogs. Everyone owned hogs. Each owner marked his pigs' ears with a different set of slits and notches and turned them lose in the spring to forage in the woods. In the fall all the men and boys would go out hunting the hogs, shooting them and then claim their own by the ear marks. When the sorting had been done to the satisfaction of everyone, they would take the meat home to cure for winter or to cook in Dutch ovens in the great open fireplaces.
Parley's father Jonathan & his grandparents (John Hunt and Jane Coats) had joined the Mormon Church. The grandparents moved West to Utah to be with three of their sons (Parley's uncles: Wilson, Amos & Bradford) who were also members of the Mormon church, had moved there earlier. His father Jonathan converted his mother, Susan, to the church after they were married, but she wasn't baptized at that time because there was not the proper authority there at that time to perform the ordinance.
In July 1875 they made the decision to move to Utah and join his grandmother and uncles. His Grandfather, John, had passed away a short time before in Ogden. Parley's father managed to sell his farm and all they owned for three hundred dollars, selling or giving away all they had with the exception of their clothes and a few personal belongings that they could take with them. So the family started their journey west. They boarded a Steamboat down the Green River to the Ohio River, then up the Ohio to Evansville. From Evansville they took the train ( Parley said this was the first train he had ever seen), and it wasn't long until they were on board and were flying over the rails on their way to Council Bluffs where they stopped off to visit Aunt Betsy (Medford), Jonathan's sister, also his brother, Enoch. They stayed there for two weeks and then took the train for Ogden, Utah, where they stayed with Jonathan's Brother Wills for a few weeks, until they found a house to rent. Jonathan found enough odd jobs to buy them the bare necessities. Linda was born that fall, in October. The family had rented a little ranch about three miles from Ogden from a Mr. Hall the next spring. The day they moved to the Hall Ranch to live, Parley remembered his small puppy that he carried on his lap. It had become sick as they rode along. His mother made him put the dog out as she said it had been poisoned. Parley was grief stricken to leave him behind. When they reached the Ranch, his mother sent Parley to the creek to wash himself up. The water was swift and quite deep, and as the tear-blinded Parley stooped down to wash up, he fell in and was swept downstream in the swift and quite deep water. He clutched at the willow branches along the way Idella and Udora screamed loudly, and his mother came running in time to rescue him. They didn't move to the ranch immediately but walked back and forth each day to plant and work in the fields, moving in at a later date. On July 18, 1874; Parley, Idella and their mother (Susan) were baptized in the same stream next to the house where Parley was nearly drowned when they first purchase the ranch.
That winter Parley's uncle Amos came up to Salt Lake from Hebron with his children, Linda and Amos who were to be married in the Endowment House. After the wedding, they came to Ogden to see Jonathan and Susan. Amos was in quite comfortable circumstances. He had written for Jonathan and Susan to come to Hebron so that he could help them. Jonathan's health was so poor that the family sorely needed some assistance. Following Amos's advice they sold or gave away everything that they couldn't haul in the wagon and with the help of Amos's son Jimmy who drove four horses and a wagon, up from Southern Utah and bought another wagon. With two teams and two wagons, Jimmy took the family back with him to Hebron. Hebron was near the present town of Enterprise. They lived in Old Hebron for two years. It was while living here that a son Jonathan Nephi was born on July 11 1877. Amos Hunt and John Pulsipher helped the family until Jonathan got a job with Bishop George Crosby, who had a contract maintaining the telegraph line from Parowan, Utah to Pioche, Nevada. His work was to cut and haul cedar posts which were tied with strips of rawhide to long pine poles and set in the ground to support the Telegraph line. The next move was to Gunlock, Utah. Amos helped them move, and Jonathan was able to buy a piece of land. John (another of Amos's boys) who was named after Jonathan lived in Gunlock. Of all of Amos's folks, John was most kind to them, and helped them in every way he could. He had a small two roomed home there in Gunlock, but welcomed them into his home with genuine hospitality. They lived right there with them for a time. John had six children and Jonathan and Susan had five at that time, so with the parents there were fifteen people sharing two small rooms, but they were so grateful for John's kindness.
It was a little later that John helped them get the little farm. They owned a team, but feed was so scarce that Jonathan had to hobble them and turn them loose at night up on the hills where they could crop the feed. In the little Cove above Gunlock, on their little farm, they raised corn, cane and melons. Susan made molasses and peach preserves in barrels, and the children, as much as they were able, did all they could to help. In the winter Jonathan went with other townsmen to Leeds, Utah and worked for Bishop George Crosby, who had a wood or lumber contract for the Lubbick Mill, which processed the ore from the Silver Reef mine. Jonathan wasn't a bit well, suffering from the lung sickness that had plagued him for a number of years even before they had left Kentucky. He could cut only one cord of wood a day, for which he was paid $2.00. Sometimes he took his eldest son, Parley with him to help a bit. Susan always took her children with her, to glean behind the men as they cradled the wheat. One time when father got to feeling a little better, he went to Silver Reef mine to work hauling wood. He wasn't able to do much, and when he came back he hadn't made as much as mother had made while he was gone. She had gleaned five or six sacks of grain.
The lung sickness, Jonathan had for so many years finally made him bedfast. He lingered for a long time. We were alone with him in our little cabin, which was about half a mile above town. Finally some of Amos's boys came and stayed to help take care of him and were with us when he died, 18 Jan 1881. The family moved from the small house in the cove above town to a location in town. Parley was thirteen, and had the privilege of going to school for about three months. He learned all the multiplication tables and how to use simple fractions. He was blessed with a curious mind and a good memory, and was able to make excellent use all his life of his short schooling. Shortly after Jonathan died, Parley went to Rabbit Valley with some of Uncle Amos's boys, to work.
About the fall of 1882 Weir Leavitt, who had married Susan's daughter, Idella, took Susan and the family to Bunkerville Nevada, to pick cotton grown by Myron Abbott and Dudley Leavitt. They picked the cotton on shares, and were boarded by whichever family that were working for at the time. After the picking was done they returned to Gunlock. Parley as the oldest, assumed the responsibility of his father's family, as a matter of course. The problem was not whether he should bend his entire effort toward their support, but whether how he should make his young efforts count most. The following spring, Parley helped the cousin Hunt boys, Amos, Jimmie, John, and Jeff, move their cattle and belongings to Rabbit Valley, somewhere east of Richfield. The trip took them along the North Fork of the Sevier River, and they stopped about dusk at a place where the North and East Forks of the River came together. The fish were feeding on the surface of the water and were jumping up. The boys got really excited about catching fish and bent pins and bated them with bacon. The fish took the bait as fast as they dropped in their lines, but Parley managed to keep only one small fish on his line, or on his pin, much to his disappointment. While he was in Rabbitt Valley Parley earned ten dollars a month and board, doing chores and herding cattle for a Mr. George Brinkerhoff,(who operated a large Dairy and sold butter and cheese). This was good money and was welcomed when he took it home to the family in Gunlock.In about 1883 the family moved to Leeds, Utah, where Parley had employment working for Bishop Crosby and others doing what he could, while his mother took in washings and the girls, Dore and Lindie helped by working for families who could pay for work in their homes. Here Parley organized a cow herd, and charged six cents a day for each head of milk cows and for awhile was doing a pretty good business making about $l.20 per day, gathering up the cows in the morning after milking time and grazing them in the hills all day and returning them to the owner's corrals in time for milking in the evening. A little later, Parley was thrilled with the prospect of driving a freight wagon for George Crosby, All he needed was an outfit, which he didn't have. Cousin John Hunt offered to trade a team complete with harness and wagon for the small farm the family still owned at Gunlock, which was a fair bargain, in those days, and one which Parley went for, so the trade was made. The team was a bay Gelding and a three year old colt; however, they were running lose on the range. The bay, Parley found was in fair shape, but the colt was in very poor shape. On the way back as Parley was entering Santa Clara, the giant animal seemed to be taking his last steps, practically riding on the doubletree, with the bay pulling him and the wagon, along. Parley hoped no one would see him as he had to pass through the town to get to the camp. As he slowly moved through the village, the boy was desperately urging the colt to take a few more steps, and constantly tapping the bay with a willow so that he would keep dragging the vehicle along the road. Parley became more and more aware of the attention of the amused residents. One man yelled, "Hit on the other side, kid!" And everyone laughed. An eternity later, Parley managed somehow to get his outfit to the camp on the far side of town, his freckled face still flaming from exertion and embarrassment. Back in Leeds, after regular feedings, the newly acquired team did a pretty good job of freighting between Milford, Leeds and St George, and Parley was proud of the money he made.
When Bishop Crosby sold out his holdings in Leeds and moved to Arizona, he advised the Hunts to move to Bunkerville, Nevada as Idella and Weir lived there. The bishop in Bunkerville was a good friend of Bishop Crosby, and he would look out for their welfare. Arriving in Virgin Valley, Susan and her young family stopped at the old Gin Mill about a mile above the present site of Bunkerville. There were several houses there then, and the Gin Mill was a busy place during the cotton season. Bishop Bunker offered them fifteen acres of land near the Gin Mill, about six acres which was cleared for cultivation, but Weir and others talked them into settling across the River at Mesquite. They stayed in Mesquite about a year and a half and learned to love the people there. The Hunts soon moved to Bunkerville. It was too late to take the Bishop's offer, but they were able to buy a few acres from him and a few more from Steve Bunker and Orange Leavitt. Included in the purchase was a small one-roomed shack located on a hill, above the `Big Ditch' overlooking their farm. That first year, Parley,(who was twenty years old at the time), did some share cropping with the help of his younger brothers Nephi and George. Parley also worked for wages and cultivated the part of their land that was level. In his spare time the family cleared and leveled more of their own land. They all worked hard with what size and strength they had. Nephi was eleven years younger than Parley, so was about nine years old at that time. They had few animals and didn't know how they would get more; however, one day a man came traveling through town with a team pulling his rig with a lame colt following behind. Parley offered him ten dollars for it, and the man accepted; however, Parley didn't know just how he was going to pay for it or what he could trade for it. Actually when the bargain was made, it was a trade that they agreed upon, as they had no money. Parley took the man to their home, not knowing if they had anything at all that the man would accept for the colt. He found to his delight that his mother had just finished a lovely quilt, made of wool scraps and put together with Kentucky Artistry with a wool batt inside. The man was glad to allow six dollars for it, and with the grain that they could spare the deal was made. The colt grew and became the parent to all the horses they used on their farm for years to come.
Meanwhile the years passed. full of hard work and sad events of family deaths. The boys had built a new house for their mother, Susan. Parley finished it while Nephi was on his mission. It was built of native rock, using clay and sand and home kilned lime from the hills to put them together. They hauled the lumber all the way from Parowan (150 miles away). When the house was finished, it had three large rooms, built with such thick walls that it was warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Susan lived in this home until she died, and it still stands there on the upper end of Bunkerville. There is not much information on Susan Hunt in her later years. She was a hard working woman and cared for herself until the last when she became very ill. She had cancer of the breast and suffered a lot before she died. She outlived her husband by a good many years, rearing her family by herself enduring hardships and never complaining but doing the best she could with faith in God. She believed in caring for her own which she did. Her children learned a lot from her example of honesty, hard work, and faith in God. She left a large posterity and passed away on May 23, 1919. She outlived her husband by twenty eight years as he died in January 18, 1881. The family grew up with Parley never marrying; Nephi married Nora Leavitt, one of Dudley Leavitt's daughters. Parley filled a mission to the Southern States and Nephi, after marrying and having two small children, was called to the Central states, laboring mostly in Kansas. George married Christina Hansen, Aunt Sadie's daughter. Sadie was Nora's older sister. They were the parents of Austin, Alva, Ferlin and Dorothy. Since this history is on Parley's parents the information contained herein is during their life time doesn't contain much information about Parley after their deaths.Parley died in Bunkerville, June 13 1953 |
