Untitled Document

Obituary of David Wilson Hunt

The Moline Daily Dispatch, Oct 18, 1930

David W. Hunt, a resident of Rock Island County since 1847 and of Moline since 1862, died in his home at 621 18th St., Moline, at 5 this morning. He was 91 years old. Mr. Hunt, who was a former president of the Moline Tool Company, being succeeded by his son, Wilson P. Hunt, had been ill for several months. Heart disease caused his death. David WIlson Hunt was born in Chelmsford, MA, on April 27, 1839, and was a son of Eliphalet and Persis WIlson Hunt. He was of English and Scotch-Irish stock, his father's ancestors having settled in Concord, MA, about 1630, and his mother was descended from one of the first settlers of Londonderry, NH.

As a boy of 8, David came to Rock Island County with his parents in 1847. Twenty days were required for the trip from New England. They travelled by train to Cumberland, MD, then took a stage over the national road to Brownsville, PA, then by boat down the Monongahela and Ohio rivers and up the Mississippi to Rock Island, with a portage around the rapids at Keokuk. From that time until his death his home had been in Rock Island County, with the exception of four years spent near Alma Centre, Wis., in what was the heart of a lumbering district. He returned to this county with his parents in 1852. In 1862 he moved with his widowed mother to a farm in what is now the east part of Moline, where in 1872 he began operating a dairy farm. This farm, now within the city, has long been cut up into building lots, being the additions known as Midway and Ridgeview.

In 1892 he sold his dairy business and moved to Moline proper where he has since lived. He was married in 1868 to Mary Wells of South Moline, who died in 1913. SIx children were born to this union. They are Eliphalet C. Hunt and WIlson P. Hunt of Moline, Francis W. Hunt of Toronto, Canada, Mrs. WIlton Parsons of Moline, and Mrs. Joseph H. Jenkin of Detroit, MI, all of whom survive, and Samuel H. Hunt, who died in 1922. Mr. Hunt was nominally a Democrat in politics, but was generally quite independent. He never sought public office, but while living in South Moline he held for long periods the offices of school director, township trustee, and highway commissioner. He always took a deep interest in public affairs and was well informed on the early history of the country. His independence in political affairs was carried far and was also shown in his refusal to ally himself with any church or lodge. Mr. Hunt as a child and a young man was always delicate of health and he attributed his living to such a great age as being due to good habits and right living.

He was quite active until his last illness, although he had been blind since 1921 . Mr. Hunt was president of the Moline Tool Company from 1903 to 1910. His son, Wilson P. Hunt, is now president of that company, and his other son, Eliphalet C. Hunt, is treasurer.

Funeral services for Mr. Hunt will be held in Knox Funeral Home at 2 Monday afternoon. The Rev. W.R. Hodgson of the First Congregational Church will officiate. Burial will be in Chippianock Cemetery, Rock Island. Friends are requested to omit flowers.

Submitted by Linda Cohn

Illiois Ancestors