Last July, I posted the hymn “My Dearest Friend”, by Mrs. J. M. Hunter. Though she wrote hundreds of hymns, her identity has eluded researchers. Her picture appeared in The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers (Anthony Johnson Showalter, editor. Dalton, GA: A. J. Showalter Co., 1904), but there was no biography. (Dick Adams at Cyber Hymnal says “The hymnology community has been trying to identify her for decades”) As others, I had been unsuccessful in my attempts to identify her. That changed last week. A friend asked for some help on this for someone who had noticed some critical pieces of information about Mrs. Hunter – that when she copyrighted “A Glimpse of Home” in 1901, Mrs. J. M. Hunter was living in Morristown, Hamblen County, Tennessee, and that an advertisement about that hymn in 1906 in The Herald and Presbyter indicated she was then living Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee. Armed with this new information, I set out to identify any Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Hunter who may have lived in those places at those times.
Long story short, a Mrs. J. M. Hunter turned up in these places, and subsequent research of the family movements left me with no doubt this was the hymn writer. Mrs. J. M. Hunter is the former Laura Bell Ogilvie, daughter of Thomas J. Ogilvie and Mary Ann Bell. She was born in Bedford County, Tennessee September 3, 1860. She married John Madison Hunter on December 16, 1879 in Bedford County.
Below is family information based on census and other records.
1870 - Bedford County, Tennessee
In 1870, Laura Bell is living with her parents and four siblings in District 6, Bedford County, Tennessee.
1880 - Marshall County, Tennessee
J. M. and Laura Bell are living with his mother, sister, and brother in District 16, Marshall County, Tennessee in 1880. J. M. Is listed as a farmer.
- M. B. Hunter 62 Self (Head)
- M. S. Hunter 28 Daughter
- J. M. Hunter 27 Son
- L. B. Hunter 19 Daughter-in-law
- W. W. Hunter 30 Son
- Robert Hunter 3 Grandson born in Kentucky
1882-1883 - Newton County, Missouri
Marion Bertram is born in Neosho, Missouri in 1882. See also the Springfield Daily Herald, May 20, 1883, page 3.
1885 - Miami County, Kansas
I found them in a Kansas State census in 1885, living in Louisburg, Miami County, Kansas. John is listed as a minister of the gospel. He and Laura have three children: M. B. (Marion Bertram), Laureola, and R. E. W. (It is assumed that R. E. W. is the same as Robert in the 1880 census, though he is only identified there as a grandson of the mother of J. M. Hunter, and not necessarily the child of J. M. and Laura. He is the right age, but shown as born in Tennessee rather than Kentucky.) I found a newspaper with a poem written by Laura when the daughter Laureola died in 1886. (This poem is attached to her Find-A-Grave memorial.)
1886-1887 - Anderson County, Kansas
Evidently the family was living in Anderson County, Kansas in 1886 when Laureola died, based on information in the obituary. See The Presbyterian Monthly Record (Volume 37, No. 2, February 1886, page 43) See also the Garnett (Kansas) Eagle (June 17, 1887, p. 3), where it mentions “Rev. J. M. Hunter has resigned his pastoral duties [in Central City, Kansas] and contemplates seeking a healthier climate.”
1888 - Florida
Florine Hunter was born in Florida, October 24, 1888.
Circa 1893-1898 - Monroe County, Tennessee
J. M. Hunter pastored the Madisonville Presbyterian Church. See The Knoxville Sentinel, Thursday, October 27, 1898, page 6; The Morristown Gazette, Wednesday, December 7, 1898, page 3; and The Chattanooga News, Sunday, December 8, 1929, page 5-C.
1900 - Hamblen County, Tennessee
J. M. Hunter was called to the Presbyterian Church in White Pine, Tennessee in December 1898. See The Journal and Tribune, Sunday, December 25, 1898, page 6. In the 1900 census, John M. and Laura B. Hunter are listed in Civil District 8, Hamblen County, Tennessee. They have two children, listed as Maryan B. (Marion Bertram) and Florine. The census also indicates that Laura had two children who have died previous to the census (mother of 4, 2 living). John is listed as a minister.
1905-1906 - Blount County, Tennessee
The Herald and Presbyter periodical, as well as the birth location of Herbert L. Hunter.
1910 - Highland County, Ohio
In 1910, they are in Jackson, Highland County, Ohio. Florine is still living at home, and they have a another son, Herbert L. Hunter. His delayed birth record says he was born March 16, 1905 at Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee (same place The Herald and Presbyter shows the family living in 1906). John is listed as a preacher. Laura is the mother of 5 children, 3 living.
1916-1918 - Howell County, Missouri
A passport application of Marion Bertram Hunter in December 1918 shows his parents live in Willow Springs, Missouri. See also The Chattanooga News, March 28, 1919, page 6 and The Herald and Presbyter, December 8, 1915, page 14.
1920 - Cecil County, Maryland
In 1920, they are in North East, Cecil County, Maryland. Herbert is still living at home. John is listed as a farmer.
1930 - Cecil County, Maryland
In 1930, they are in Election District 5, Cecil County, Maryland. Florine is living with them again, listed as a school teacher. John is 77, and no occupation is listed.
1940 - Chester County, Pennsylvania
In 1940, Laura and Florine are living in Oxford, Chester County, Pennsylvania. John is deceased. Neither have an occupation listed.
1942 - Cecil County, Maryland
Laura Bell Ogilvie Hunter died February 5, 1942, at her home near Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland. She and her husband are buried at the Zion Presbyterian Cemetery located on the Old Zion Road in Cecil County, Maryland.
The family moved quite a bit, as John Madison Hunter pastored Presbyterian churches in Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, and Maryland. He was originally affiliated with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 29, 1882, p. 2), but later the Presbyterian Church USA – probably when he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Neosho, Missouri in 1883 and was “received by the Ozark Presbytery from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church” (The Neosho Times, November 8, 1917, p. 2).
Family Memorials on Find-A-Grave:
Herbert Leaman Hunter was born 16 March 16, 1905 in Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee. He died sometime after the death of his sister Florine in August 1976, since he is listed as a surviving brother in her obituary. His date of death and location of burial are unknown at this time.
Robert or R. E. W. Hunter may have been the son of John Madison Hunter by a previous marriage. According to the 1880 U. S. Census and 1885 Kansas Census, he was born about 1877 (3 years old in 1880 & 8 years old in 1885). John and Laura married in 1879. It is likely that John had previously married and his first wife died in childbirth. However, I have yet to locate a record of a previous marriage or a death of his first wife. If Robert is a child by a previous marriage, then there is also another child of John and Laura in addition to Laureola who died sometime between 1879 and 1900.
The movements of this family coincide with
what is known of the poetess Mrs. J. M. Hunter. In addition at least two
newspaper pieces identify her as a “writer of words for sacred music” and “the
author of a number of gospel hymns.”
“Mrs.
J. M. Hunter and little son, Herbert L. Hunter, of Willow Spring, Mo., spent
Thursday and Friday in the city enroute to northeastern Maryland, where they
will reside. Mrs. Hunter is a writer of words for sacred music and while in the
city visited her publishers.” (The Chattanooga News, Friday, March 28, 1919, p.
6)
It is not clear to me, but I believe that Mrs. Laura Bell Hunter probably received some compensation from a publisher for her hymns, who in turn supplied them for use to composers. Most of the songs with words by Mrs. Hunter appear to be copyrighted by the authors of the music.
A Prominent Gospel Hymn Writer
Many gospel songwriters used Laura’s hymns. In The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers, A. J. Showalter considers her among the “Prominent Gospel Hymn Writers” – along with Fanny J. Crosby, Jennie Wilson, Johnson Oatman, and J. S. Kimbrough. The Gospel Way (Anthony Johnson Showalter, editor. Dalton, GA: A. J. Showalter Co., 1923) includes 14 of her hymns, third only after prolific writer James Rowe (credited with over 9,000 published hymns, poems, etc.) and the editor, A. J. Showalter. The Maryville College Monthly, 1902-1903 has two hymns not in the lists Cyber Hymnal and Hymnary (this also has a poem written by Florine Hunter). The 1906 Herald and Presbyter has a poem and an hymn by Mrs. Hunter. She compiled at least one booklet of poems – Queen Fashion and Other Poems – mentioned in the Maryville College Monthly, 1899-1900. The Catalogue of Copyright Entries for 1909 (Part 3: Musical Compositions January-December, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1909) contains at least 46 copyrighted songs with Mrs. Hunter’s hymns.
Currently (19 June 2022), Hymnary.org lists 353 hymn texts by Mrs. Hunter, which does not represent her total output. Some of her hymns are included in various periodicals and probably were never set to music. Hymn Time/Cyber Hymnal lists 312 (19 June 2022). This needs closer examination, but it appears that perhaps 20 of the hymns at Cyber Hymnal may not be in the 353 listed on Hymnary. In addition I have found in newspapers and periodicals some two dozens hymns and poems that do not appear to be on either of these lists. Likely her poetic output is over 400.
No comments:
Post a Comment