Sacramento
County
Biographies
DENNIS
ROCKWELL HUNT
Dennis Rockwell Hunt was born in Vermont,
April 23, 1820 his parents being Albinus and Hannah
(Robins) Hunt, both of New England descent for some generations, and both now
deceased, at about the age of seventy.
The family moved into the State of New York when D. R. was about two years old. In youth he got a limited education in the
district schools for four or five years, and at the age of twelve hired out on
a farm. From that time on he worked for
wages in different lines until 1848, when he bought, in partnership with his
brother, 150 acres, which he helped to till one year. In 1850, leaving the farm in charge of his
brother, he set out from New York by the Isthmus route for California, where he hoped to reap a golden
harvest. Arriving in due time in San
Francisco he made his way to the El Dorado, on the south fork of the American
River, above Mormon Island. After
spending about eight month in the mines with no large results he went to work
for W. R. Grinshaw, on the Daylor
ranch on the Cosumnes. After three months he was hired at $8 a day
to go to mining, but the enterprise not proving profitable he returned to work
on the same ranch. Before the close of
that changeful year, 1851, he filed his claim for 160 acres on Deer Creek, now
owned by S. B. Moore, of Lee Township, and in 1852 raised hay and barley on
his own place. But the fortune of life
was still adverse, and his whole crop of hay and barley, in stacks, to the
value of over $12,000, was destroyed by fire.
It took many years to recover from this heavy loss, but he held on to
the land, raised twelve more crops, and sold out in the autumn of 1863, being
then worth over $16,000. Mr. hunt went into the grocery business in Sacramento for six or eight months, and in 1865
returned to New
York,
where he bought a farm in Madison County, and stocked it with the expectation of
making it his permanent home. He,
however, soon found farming in New York was no longer congenial, and he sold out
the following year. Returning to Sacramento he purchased a livery and sale stable,
which he kept about two years. In the
autumn of 1868 he bought the 500 acres he still owns near Freeport, on the Sacramento.
He carries on a dairy business of about eighty cows, which is his chief
industry, supplemented by minor farming activities. In August, 1855, Mr. Hunt was married to Mrs.
Nancy A. (Tumwalt) Cotton, the mother of two sons,
Albert T. and Joel S. Cotton. Mr. and
Mrs. Hunt are the parents of five sons:
Major Clarence, born on the Deer Creek ranch in September, 1859; Frank
Linn, in October, 1862, at the same place; Mark Twain, in Sacramento, in November, 1865; George Grant, at Freeport, in December, 1870. Major C. has been twice married, having one
daughter by his first wife, Anna Thorne.
The second wife bore the name of Maud Hetherington until her
marriage. They are living at Tulare, where Mr. Hunt fills the position of
book-keeper, having the reputation of being an expert in that line. Mark T. is married to Miss Susie Hubbell, a
native of Marin
County, California.
They are the parents of one son, born in 1889. In 1885 Mr. Hunt moved his family to Napa for the better education of the
children. He there owns a residence, and
the half block on which it stands. All
the sons have been entered at Napa College at different times. Major C. won distinction in the business
course; and D. R., who is now following a full college course of four years,
will graduate in the class of 1890. The
youngest son is also a student there in 1889.
Mr. Hunt is a member of Sacramento Grange, No. 16; and has been a school
trustee about twenty years.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Page 521-522. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.