Family History
The Life of Dr. Larkin Wesley
Hunt
Born Oct. 18, 1836, died at age
96 at Moody, Howell Co MO.
Great Grandson of Daniel and
Rebecca Bryan Boone
Photo courtesy of G. Vanwijnsberghe-Hunt, descendant in Belgium
Dr. Hunt was the son of Melissa Callaway and Wesley Hunt and a cousin of Susan Jemina Barnes (murder chronicled below).
Melissa Callaway was born 02 DEC 1816 in St. Charles Dist, Missouri died 28 JAN 1837 in Louisiana, Missouri.
Married: 24 OCT 1833 in Warren Co, Missouri to Wesley Hunt- born about 1814 in MO., death date unknown. She was the daughter of Larkin Callaway and Susannah Howell- son of Jemima Boone and Flanders Callaway. Jemima Boone is the "famed" Jemima that was captured by Indians in Kentucky, rescued by her father, Daniel Boone.
Oliver page 180: Melissa Callaway died in 1837 leaving a 3 year old boy (James T. Hunt) and a 3 mo old boy (Dr. Larkin W. Hunt).
After the death of the mother Wesley Hunt left the boys in the care of a neighbor and started to Illinois to his sister hoping to find someone to help care for the boys. He was never heard from again and was presumed drowned while crossing the Mississippi. The boys were raised by Dr. Lewis Hunt near Rhineland, MO.
Melissa Callaway was born 02 DEC 1816 in St. Charles Dist, Missouri died 28 JAN 1837 in Louisiana, Missouri.
Married: 24 OCT 1833 in Warren Co, Missouri to Wesley Hunt- born about 1814 in MO., death date unknown.
Melissa Callaway was the daughter of Larkin Callaway and Susannah Howell- son of Jemima Boone and Flanders Callaway. Jemima Boone is the "famed" Jemima that was captured by Indians in Kentucky, rescued by her father, Daniel Boone.
After the death of the mother Wesley Hunt left the boys in the care of a neighbor and started to Illinois to his sister hoping to find someone to help care for the boys. He was never heard from again and was presumed drowned while crossing the Mississippi. The boys were raised by Dr. Lewis Hunt near Rhineland, MO.
Dr. Hunt was a young practicing physician in Callaway County, Missouri when the census was taken in 1860, he was engaged to be married to his cousin, Susan Jemina Barnes ( daughter of Matricia Callaway, (another daughter of Jemina and Larkin Callaway) and William Barnes).
1860 Census Callaway County 18th District- Page 853. Enumerated July 18, 1860 by John Berry- Head of Household: (1) "Matricia" Barnes age 43 b. MO. Living in the same household: (2) S‘~~~~~~ Barnes female age 23 born MO.; (3) Lewis F. Barnes age 19 born MO; (4) L. W. Hunt physician age 24 born MO.
By September of 1960 Dr. Hunt's world was shattered by the murder of his fiancée, Susan Barnes by a slave.
The following year the Civil War started, and there was a lot of activity in Callaway County, a staunchly southern county. Many small skirmishes took place all over Callaway County and neighboring Montgomery County. Missouri was under federal marshal law prior to September of 1862, when the federal Adjutant General's office issued "General Order No. 140, appointing special provost marshals for each state" .
In July 1862, the Battle of Moore's Mill in Callaway County was fought, with casualties on both sides and a number of injured soldiers. It is believed that 1.Dr. Hunt was a confederate physician, with Captain W. Dave Craig of Callaway, under the command of General John B. Clark of Howard Co and cared for the injured at this battle. He likely was involved in other conflicts, but due to the lack of confederate records, proof is not available.
1870 Census found him living in Loutre Township, Montgomery CO.,Mo. in the household of Killis Terrill. Age 36, occupation physician
"Dr. Hunt practiced medicine for 35 years at Rhineland, Mo. . He was married at Rhineland, on 18 July 1876 to a French lady named Bertha de Guentz . " Two children were born, and in 1882, Bertha took her two sons back to France. To the home of her aunts, the sisters Moutier of Condé/Escaut
One son died en route, the other was Leon de Guentz " ( He was about 20 years older than Bertha )
"(Parents of Bertha) Anna de Guentz was "sponsor" on 25 January 1879 of Leon de Guentz **our grandfather. ( My assumption on "sponsor", a christening at St. Martin's Church) Her husband was Frans Xavier de Guentz, born in France, place and date unknown. Anna is buried at St. Martin’s Cemetery
( Mont. Co.) b. 11-10-1836 d. 1-14-1882." Bertha must have gone to France after the death of her mother.
Anna deGuentz nee Moutier in Condé/Escaut France on 11 October 1836. In her birth record in the North Departmental Archives in Lille, France, her name is Alphonsine. The record of the St-Martin's church in Starkenburg (Rhineland) names her Alphasing de Guentz who died of cancer on 14 January 1882 aged of 44 years. On the same register she is called Anna de Guentz as sponsor on 25 January 1879 of Leon de Guentz our grandfather. Her husband was Frans Xavier de Guentz, born in France, place and date unknown.
880 Census: Lower Loutre Township, Montgomery Co.,MO
Hunt, L. W. age 44 b. Mo physician
Living alone and head of household, no wife, no children.1880 Census: Loutre Township, Montgomery Co.,MO
DeGuantz, Annie (head of household) age 40 or 48 b. France
DeGuantz, Leon age 22, b. LA farmer
Hunt, Bertha age 23 b. Mo. daughter assist housekeeper parents b. France
Hunt, Leon A. son age 01, b. MO.
( 1Finally lived in Belgium near Tournai with his mother. He never heard from his father and died in Brussels in 1928)
1 "He (Dr. Hunt) gave the Hunt-St-Joseph cemetery to Rhineland"
Dr. Hunt's brother, James Thompson Hunt, moved to Howell County and about 1900, Dr. Hunt moved also. He had retired, but the people of the area convinced him to continue to practice medicine for a few years.
From G. Vanwijnsberghe-Hunt.
- In 1900 he is as boarder in the family Collins, in Benton Twp, Howell Co, Mo.
In 1910 he is in the same family
In 1920 he is as boarder in the family Cameron, in Mount Calm, Fulton Co, Ar.
In 1930 he is still in the same family.
He died on 16 April 1934 in Moody and is entered in the Moody Cemetery.
Dr. Hunt spent nearly all of his life as a "boarder" in someone else's home, beginning as an infant, aged 3 months, completely orphaned by the death of his mother and the presumed death of his father in the first year of his life, through the end of his life at the advanced age of 97. Only in the 1880 census is he listed as living alone.
Dr. Hunt died on 16 April 1934 in Moody, MO. and is buried in the Moody, Howell County, MO. Cemetery.
His brother, James Thompson Hunt ( son of Melissa Callaway and Wesley Hunt) was born was born 27 Aug 1834 in Louisiana, Pike, Mo. He died 24 Feb 1902 in West Plains, Howell County, Mo. James married Martha Lucretia White on 12 Jun 1861 in Readsville, Montgomery, Mo.
Martha Lucretia White was born 16 Dec 1831 in Montgomery Co, Mo. She died 18 Aug 1920 in Montgomery Co, Mo. ( death not found in Mont. Co. Cemetery records)
Susan Jemima Barnes was engaged to marry Dr. Larkin Wesley Hunt,
( b. 18 Oct 1836 and died at age 96 at Moody, MO.) who was also in the household in the 1860 census. Dr. Hunt was a cousin and son of Melissa Callaway and Wesley Hunt. Melissa Callaway was the daughter of Larkin Callaway and Susannah Howell- son of Jemima Boone and Flanders Callaway
Callaway County History, 1884, from Newspaper 1860
ATROCIOUS MURDER – THE MURDERESS HUNG BY A MOB.
“On Saturday last one of the most cold-blooded and cruel murders was perpetrated, on the person of Miss Susan Jemima Barnes, that it has ever been our misfortune to chronicle. All of the white persons belonging to the house were gone to church, some two miles distant, and the negro woman was sent into the field to work. Miss Barnes lived about eight miles east of this city, with her brother and mother.
“Some time during the day, perhaps about twelve o’clock (as Miss Barnes had herself prepared dinner), she was most inhumanly butchered. It seems that she was sitting in the kitchen knitting at the time she was first attacked. Between the kitchen and the east room of the dwelling there is a small passage through which Miss Barnes fled and passed into the east room. There she was also attacked either with a shovel or a pair of heavy iron tongs. The shovel handle was very much bent, and was straight in the morning.
“From the east room she passed to the west, leaving a strand of the yarn, with which she was knitting, behind her. In the west room she was overpowered, knocked down, and her head so beaten and broken that not a whole bone remained, except the right cheek bone, which gave no indication of being fractured. Her brains were scattered over the floor, a large pool of blood under her head, and every indication of a terrible struggle having taken place between her and the murderer. There were the marks of bloody hands on the wall, blood on everything about the house, and an evidence that, in all probability, a knife had been used at some time during the difficulty, as Miss Barnes’s hand was very much cut.
“A coroner’s inquest was held by Mr. James L. Grant, coroner of the county, when the following facts appeared: -
“Several difficulties had occurred between Miss Barnes and the negro woman, Teney; and the negro, so long as no white man was present to punish her, was impudent and insolent. On Saturday morning the woman was sent into the field to shock corn. She wore a dress of rather peculiar color. In the afternoon, and before the murder was discovered, the negro was seen by one of the neighbors with a dress of different color. The negro said, at first, that she had taken that dress to the field with her and had changed there. Afterwards she said she had gone to the house and changed dresses there. Although the negro was suspected, there were no questions asked her, and she was narrowly watched. The investigation by the coroner continued till a late hour on Saturday night, when an adjournment was had until Sunday morning at eight o’clock. On Sunday morning about half-past ten o’clock search for the dress was made by Mr. William Booth and Mr. Solomon H. Thomas, and it was found concealed in a corn shock in the field where the negro had been working. It was brought down and shown to the negro. She at first denied that it was hers, but subsequently admitted that she had murdered her mistress. The dress was precisely the one described by the neighbor, Mrs. Miller, who saw her in the morning, and was all bespattered with blood.
“A large number of persons had collected, and the most intense excitement prevailed. The jury, however, went into the kitchen where the negro was and took her acknowledgment there, excluding everybody but the jury, officers and attorney. The woman’s statements were contradictory and unsatisfactory. She evidently did not expect detection, and had not prepared herself against such a contingency. So contradictory were her statements that the jury refused to hear her further, and prepared a verdict in accordance with the facts given by the witnesses and the confession of the negro.
“She was immediately taken in charge by the deputy constable, Mr. H. Willing, who proceeded with her with all speed towards Fulton. The excitement among the bystanders was so intense that the constable feared there might be some violence attempted. He therefore procured a horse for the negro and came on with all speed. He was, however, too slow. The crowd, incensed beyond endurance, put spurs to their horses and overtook Mr. Willing about three miles east of this place.
“There they demanded the body of the negro, and Mr. Henry Willing, finding himself surrounded by a company of some forty or fifty exasperated men, allowed the mob to take her from him – in fact he could do nothing else, without subjecting himself to the most imminent peril.
“We understand the mob took her a short distance from the road and hung her to a tree. We have heard that she was taken down and buried the same evening.
“Below we give the names of the jury empanelled by the coroner:
“James E. Dulin, William Craighead, George Harris, William Sanders, Samuel H. Dudley and John Craighead.”
1 refer: correspondence with G. Vanwijnsberghe-Hunt.