Shasta County Biographies

WILLIAM HARRISON HUNT

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


William Harrison (Harry) was born September 26, 1868 at the family home in Oak 
Run. His parents, Daniel Granvil and Sarah Martha Heryford Hunt were both 
members of pioneer families in Shasta County. He worked on the family ranch 
which expanded to over thirty thousand acres under the management of Harry and 
his son George.
 
Octavia and Flora Irene Atkins (twins) were born at Balls Ferry August 16, 1873 
to Quintus Narcissus and Martha Adeline Hughes Atkins. Like their future husband 
they attended local schools and learned the domestic skills expected of women in 
those days.
 
Harry and Octavia were married in Millville May 1, 1893. They made their home on 
Clover Creek. They kept their food in a cave behind the house and raised some of 
their own food from the fields and a small orchard which was still producing 
some fruit in the middle of the next
century. They settled down and started their family of five:
 
Daniel; b Mar 31, 1894; d. Jul 14, 1977; m. Beatrice Marie Eddy; m. Nellie Bryant 
							Holden

Elsie May; b. Mar 2, 1895; d. Nov 18, 1958; m. William Hathaway

Roy; b. Aug 26, 1896; d. Feb 25, 1976; m. Nelita Mae Eldridge

George; b. Oct 20, 1897; d. Feb 25, 1966; m. Cleta Lorraine Meyer

Martha; b. Feb 13, 1899; d. Nov 20, 1900
 
Octavia died the day of Martha's birth and Martha died before she was two years 
old. Seven years after Octavia's death, Harry married her twin sister Flora 
February 4, 1906. They made their home in Oak Run where they had six more 
children: 
 
Flora; b. Oct. 6, 1906; d. Dec. 9, 1921

Nelda; b. Feb. 23, 1908; d. Jan. 7, 1994; m. Lloyd Macaulay; m. Stonewall J. Denham

Esther; b. Sept. 29, 1909; d Apr. 9, 1988; m. Almon Harvey Taylor

Hattie; b. Dec. 12, 1910; d. Sept. 9, 2000; m. Robert Bartell Sr.

Helen; b. Sept. 4, 1913; m. John Theodore Aberg

William; b. Jun. 9, 1919; d. Mar 24, 1922
 
The two families seemed like one and they were much closer than most "step 
families". Harry and Flora treated all the children the same and saw them off 
into the world. Dan attended Healds Business College and took time for WWI 
before devoting himself to the ranch with help from Roy and George. Nelda became 
a nurse, Esther and Hattie became teachers and Elsie and Helen were homemakers.
 
Harry and Flora lived in their home in Oak Run which was built by two of Flora's 
brothers. Harry was a member of the local Masonic Lodge. Harry died of pneumonia 
January 16, 1922.
 
This was a very difficult time for Flora; her daughter Flora had died a month 
earlier and her son William died in March. She remained in her own home until 
her death February 21, 1954. All three are buried in the Masonic Cemetery in 
Millville. 

Source:  Shasta Historical Society - Aug 2000