My Genealogy Hound

JAMES N. HUNTER, a leading farmer of Marshall County, is a son of Ephraim and Mary (Elliott) Hunter. The father was a native of North Carolina, and when a boy came with his parents to Tennessee. About 1808 they removed to this county, and here Ephraim was married. His family consisted of eleven children, only one of whom is living. The father was a Democrat and served many years as magistrate. He followed farming and merchandising, besides running a carding machine and cotton spinner. The father died in 1857, and the mother in 1864. She was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The subject of this sketch was born November 15, 1815, in Marshall County and while growing up worked in the factory and had very poor opportunities for schooling, attending the old subscription schools. At the age of twenty-two he began clerking in his father’s store, where he remained for ten years. He then engaged in farming and this he has continued to the present time. In 1848 he wedded Cynthia Hays, by whom he had nine children. The eldest son, R. H., is a rising young physician of Texas. In politics Mr. Hunter is a Democrat and he and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the days of militia, he held the position of colonel.