Col. DeWitt Clinton
Hunter, 1830-1904, part one
By Patrick Brophy
The Nevada Daily Mail, Nevada, MO. Thursday,
September 8, 2005
He's been called "our most notable citizen of all
times." His name graces a street. Franklin Norman is campaigning to get
the name affixed to a public building.
He named and surveyed Nevada. He was the first resident, attorney,
circuit and county clerk, and postmaster. He designed and superintended
the first courthouse.
Yet one suspects most Nevadans today have only a hazy conception of him,
and odds are strong most younger citizens and newer comers have never
even heard of him.
His story's been told time on time, but perhaps it's time it was told
again, especially in anticipation of his commemoration and the
dedication of his new gravestone in a colorful ceremony at the grave in
Deepwood Cemetery, at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 1, as a fitting part of
the Nevada-Vernon County Sesquicentennial observance.
Years ago the present writer wrote in these pages: "Jaeger Street? Yes,
Nevada just might have boasted a 'Jaeger Street' (or Jaegerstrasse?) if
a certain Swiss-German family hadn't decided to anglicize its name a
couple of centuries ago."
The startling thought was inspired by a 1986 correspondence with William
J. Hunter, of Orleans, Ontario, who wrote the Vernon County Historical
Society: "I'm compiling the history of the family of John and Barbara
(Bowman) Hunter who settled in Washington County, Tennessee, in 1783."
Mr. Hunter promised to send us a copy of his history when it was
completed, but seemingly it never was. Recent efforts to revive the
correspondence were unsuccessful.
"John Hunter signed the marriage bond of his son John as Johann Jaeger,"
William Hunter wrote. "Jaeger, pronounced Yeager, is German for
'hunter'; so it appears John anglicized his name about 1780-81 when
living in Rockingham County, Virginia.
"The name may well have been Swiss, as stated in the Vernon County
history's biography of DeWitt C. Certainly a tradition within an
Arkansas branch of the family holds that the family is of Swiss origin.
I suspect they may have been Swiss before being forced into the
Palatinate of Germany because of their religious beliefs."
Our subject was born while the family's western progress found them in
Illinois, in 1830; but by 1837 they were in Dade County, Mo., where the
father, David Hunter, was a justice of the peace. When northern Dade
hived off as Cedar County in 1845, he became one of its first judges
(now called commissioners) of the county court (now commission).
The third of David and Margaret (McBride) Hunter's four sons was named
DeWitt Clinton, after the builder of the Erie Canal.
He grew up on "the old home farm" in southern Cedar County, 'and in 1850
headed, like many another young man, for the California goldfields.
"Four years were spent in the mines, and he met with moderate success,"
but he grew homesick, came back to Cedar County in 1854, and moved on
over into Vernon the same year. He clerked for a time in a store, and
nothing is known of his schooling; "but his natural qualifications
becoming recognized he was appointed the first circuit and county
clerk."
Vernon was just getting organized, and young Hunter was "present at the
creation." This was the memorable 1855 first meeting of the county court
in Noah Caton's log cabin home three miles north of the present Nevada
Square. Locating and naming a county seat was a first order of business.
The Nevada neighborhood had acquired the name "Fairview," for its glades
of white oaks; but when the name was proposed, Hunter pointed out that a
Cass County post office already bore it. "Well, then, Hunter," the
judges retorted, "voz give it a name."
Hunter had spent his California years around Nevada City, and had
pleasant memories of that Sierra town. He proposed that name. The court
turned over the idea, and decided they liked it, and it was adopted. The
"City" would be dropped on incorporation in 1869.
Hunter, also deputy county surveyor, was hustled off to lay out the new
town. In May of 1856 he began work on a house, on Lot 8, Block 7
(southwest of the Square). A.G. Anderson had earlier begun work on a
"store house," but his structure was blown away in a windstorm, so
Hunter's frame home was the first building to be completed in Nevada.
"Hunter's house was used for a courthouse when court was first held-in
Nevada, and the Colonel built a smokehouse in which he allowed the grand
jury to deliberate!"
About this time Hunter married M. Kate Blake, and the Hunters became the
first resident Nevadans. Miss Blake was also a Cedar Countian, the
daughter of Dr. William G. Blake.
Hunter was assigned to design and superintend a new courthouse. Election
confirmed his appointment as circuit and county clerk.
The Federal government appointed him Nevada's first postmaster. In 1858
he was admitted to the bar, becoming Nevada's first attorney. He was a
founding member of two local churches, First Christian and Seventh Day
Adventist, and a charter member of the Osage Lodge No. 303, A.F. & A.M.
(Masons).
The Kansas troubles of the late 1850s led to the sending of the state's
major military force to Vernon and Bates counties, and the organizing of
local militia companies. As if Hunter didn't have enough jobs, he was
commissioned a lieutenant in the company raised in Nevada.
Late in 1860, he figured as the hero (or villain?) of an oft-told
incident. "An old Nevada Republican came to the polls to vote for
Lincoln, but Col. D.C. Hunter informed him that there was no Lincoln
poll book, and at last, in all good humor, derided the old man into
abandoning his intention." Voting was not secret in those days, but by
live voice.
Hunter actually only became a colonel the following year. "When the war
broke out, not unworthy of the principles which had been inculcated in
him, and a firm champion of Southern interests, he promptly identified
himself with the cause of the South, and entered the State service as
lieutenant. Upon the reorganization of the Vernon County Battalion
(essentially the force raised the previous year) he became colonel of
the 7th Cavalry Regiment, Rains' (8th) Division, Missouri State Guard
(the militia, today called the National Guard)."
"Its six companies bore names such as Vernon Rangers and Vernon Guards."
Officers of volunteers, up to the rank of colonel, were in those days
elected by the troops. Thus Hunter, a green 31-year-old lawyer, led some
300 to 500 men off to battle.
Many of such amateur officers proved to be duds on the battlefield.
Others, like merchant Nathan Bedford Forrest, turned out better leaders
of men than many West Pointers. Col. DeWitt C. Hunter fell
unquestionably among the latter. |
