San
Joaquin County
Biographies
OLIVER H. HUNT
A leading orchardist of the Linden
section of San Joaquin County is Oliver H. Hunt, whose highly cultivated and
productive French prune orchard, two miles northeast of Linden, is indicative
of the thoroughness and system with which Mr. Hunt conducts his horticultural
activities. He is a native of
California, having been born on the Hunt farm near Jenny Lind, July 1, 1871 the
second in a family of seven children born to Daniel and Sythronia
(Tyler) Hunt, natives of Maine and Missouri, respectively. Daniel Hunt crossed the plains with ox teams
in 1856 and settled in Calaveras County, where he engaged in mining; later he
freighted from Stockton to the mines until 1869, then began farming near Jenny
Lind and also conducted a butcher business.
The old Hunt homestead near Jenny Lind is now owned and farmed by the
youngest son, A. D. Hunt. Daniel Hunt
was a prominent Mason in his locality and he passed away in May, 1898 aged
seventy-one years, his wife surviving him until February 7, 1920 passing away
at Milton.
Oliver H. spent the days of his
boyhood and youth on his father’s farm, being early inured to its duties, and
his elementary education was received in the Chaparral and Douglas schools in
the vicinity of his home, which was supplemented by a course in the Stockton
Business College. At the age of
seventeen he became associated with his father on the home ranch, and when he
was twenty-one years old he assumed full charge of the home ranch, which he
conducted with marked success for the next seven years; meantime he bought 160
acres adjoining, which he farmed in conjunction with the home place.
Near Jenny Lind, October 20, 1897
Mr. Hunt was married to Miss Grace Lenora Lisenbee, born near Dixon,
California, a daughter of Charles and Eliza J. (Denton) Lisenbee, natives of
Kentucky and Missouri, respectively, the former of Scotch descent. Charles Lisenbee came to California in 1872
and first settled near Dixon, Solano County, then in 1880 removed to Jenny
Lind, where he farmed and where Mrs. Hunt was reared and educated. He passed away November 24, 1908 survived by
his wife until June 12, 1910. Mr. and
Mrs. Hunt have one daughter, Olive Lenora.
In 1907 Mr. Hunt disposed of his ranch near Jenny Lind and removed to
Linden, where he purchased sixty acres. Here
he has developed a fine French prune and peach orchard; he has a complete prune
dipping plant and a fine drying yard, where prunes and peaches are dried for market;
he also sells large quantities of peaches to canneries. In 1913 he installed an electric pumping
plant on his ranch with over 100 inches capacity. Mr. Hunt is a charter member of the
California Prune & Apricot Growers, and also belongs to the California
Peach & Fig Growers Association. He
has always taken much interest in the affairs of his part of the county, and
has served four terms as trustee of the Linden grammar school. He is a member of Valley Lodge No. 135, F.
& A. M., at Linden and of Stockton Lodge No. 5, Sciots, and with his wife
and daughter belongs to Linden Chapter, O. E. S. He is a member and has been secretary of the
Linden Lodge of I. O. O. F. for the past ten years, and belongs to the Modern
Woodmen of America and the N. S. G. W. in Stockton. In 1920 Mr. and Mrs. Hunt took into their
family Miss Selma Lisenbee, the orphaned daughter of her brother, James
Lisenbee, whom they are rearing as their own.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hunt are held in high esteem, and the kindly social
qualities with which they are endowed win for them the friendship and good will
of all.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1288-1291. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases