| Notes |
- Mary Helen Haines notes:
Recently saw that Mary McFarland Hunter was born Sept 7, 1763 (not 1768) in Campbell Co. VA. Actually that would have been Bedford Co. at the time. There is a large gap between her birth in 1763 and the rest of the children. Something is not complete here.
There is conflicting reports in the history of James and Mary McFarland Hunter. I am offering the information I have found, but DO NOT KNOW for certain that this Mary McFarland of John and Mary Montgomery is tied to this James Hunter. It does seem that there are two James Hunters, and there could be two Mary McFarlands.
While many say that Mary McFarland who married James Hunter, did so in Bedford Co. others say it took place in North or South Carolina (see article below). Many say that Mary is the sister of Rachel McFarland who married John Hunter and the daughter of John and Mary Montgomery McFarland. From the records below, it would seem that James Hunter was living in Bedford in 1763.
The John Hunter who lived in Guilford Co. appears to be the uncle of this James Hunter.
James Hunter records in Bedford Co. VA:
Deed Book 1, p. 494, 1761. Alexander Hunter to James Hunter, 239 acres on south branch of Wreck Is. Creek.
Deed Book 2, p. 207, Feb. 16 1763. Alexander Hunter to James Hunter, 350 acres on branch of Wreck Island Creek south side of Fluvanna River, bounded by John Hunter's line. (This is now in Appomattox County--to west of town of Appomattox)
James Hunter is present in Bedford Co. in 1771, when he is witness to a document.
James Hunter records in North Carolina:
James does not appear in Deed Records until 1772 when her purchased 284 acres from Adam Mitchell for 84 Lbs. on both sides of Beaver Island Creek. (Guilford Deed Book 1, p. 176 on 8-11-1772)
In 1777 a James Hunter of Guilford sells to Martha McGee of Guilford 200 acres for 50 Lbs. land on a branch of Sandy Creek and Stinking Quarter, that comes from a Granville grant made in 1760. (Guilford DB 1, p. 468) (This grant may belong to the other James Hunter, unless James travelled to NC when he was 20, but he was busy in VA receiving land from his father. See above.
In 1778 George Hunt Allen of Buckingham VA sells to James Hunter of Guilford 250 acres for 63 Lbs. land on the north side of the Dan River (Guilford DB 1, p. 457)
Guilford/Rockingham Co. NC:
The following article was found in The Heritage of Rockingham County North Carolina 1983,
pub. by the Rockingham Historical Society. Found at the Dallas Public Library.
p. 9,10
"James Hunter and the Regulators. James Hunter, who settled on Beaver Island Creek in the western part of what would become Rockingham County, epitomized the nature of the Scotch-Irishmen who constituted much of the first settlement of the county....His parents were from Antrim County, Ireland and he was born April 8, 1740 at the forks of the Delaware River about six miles above Easton, Pennsylvania. The family moved, about 1754, to Bedford County, Virginia. When James reached adulthood he and some of his family, along with several other Bedford County families, moved into South Carolina near the Cowpens. There James married Mary McFarland. James and his wife and some of the Hunters and McFarlands went back to Virginia.
The next move is not clearly established but Hunter's grandson says that James settled on the Sandy Creek in Guilford County. He and another James Hunter living in the same neighborhood became involved in the Regulator movement then heavily concentrated around Sandy Creek. Because there were two men of the same name acting as Regulators, it is difficult to separate their activities. Both fought at the Battle of Alamance, had their homes burned in the aftermath and fled the colony. James Hunter, the Scotch Irishmen from Pennsylvania via Bedford, returned to North Carolina and settled on Beaver Island Creek near land his father had already occupied. (mhh note: The Alexander who purchased the land at Beaver Island Creek is James Hunter's brother. The land was purchased in 1777 and Alex. Sr. died in 1768. Alexander Hunter sells the land the next year to Robert Dearing. In 1779 James Hunter gets a 400 acre grant from North Carolina on both sides of Beaver Island Creek. The other Hunter in this area is John Hunter, who appears to be his uncle, brother of Alexander Sr.)
The colonial governor referred to James Hunter as the general of the Regulators, an informal designation indicative of some position of leadership. Until recently, James Hunter of Beaver Island Creek has been recognized as having been the general. In spite of efforts to conclude the other James Hunter to be that leader, the available scholarship still indicates James of Beaver Island as the Regulator general. (MHH: This has now been refuted, see below.)
Public Record
Beyond his Regulator activities, James Hunter had a significant public record. In 1778 he was elected a representative of Guilford County in the State Assembly and served in that office until 1782. In January 1781, as the armies of Greene and Cornwallis maneuvered prior to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Col. James Martin was ordered to call out the Guilford militia. James Hunter was major of the militia force which took an active part in the crucial battle.
In 1782 James was selected by the legislature as an auditor for the Salisbury District. In this same period he served Guilford County as Treas., Sheriff and presiding Justice. He was a Commissioner when Guilford County was divided by survey in 1785 and became a Justice of the new county of Rockingham. The governor commissioned him as Lieut. Col. of the Rockingham militia in 1787. He was a justice of the Salisburydistrict and chairman of the Rockingham County Court. He was an active Federalist and a hearty Presbyterian who built the church on his land on Beaver Island.
James Hunter died January 30, 1821. Recent questions about his precise activities during the Regulator conflict do not diminish his role as a patriot nor his substantial influence on the emergence and early government of Rockingham County." - Charles D. Rodenbough
MHH comments. Easton Pennsylvania is in Northhampton Co. on the Delaware River, across from Phillipsburg New Jersey.
Found on-line at http://www.ncdar.org/AboutJamesHunter.html
James Hunter was a distinguished patriot, soldier, and public official. He was born 8 April 1740 in Hunterton County, New Jersey. He is thought to have moved South with his cousins, James and Alexander Martin (their mother was Jane Hunter, James' aunt). All three distinguished themselves with public careers. His home was located about five miles northwest of present-day Madison, NC (this area was Rowan County, NC, until Guilford County was formed in 1771, then became Rockingham County in 1785). The first deed in Guilford County that refers to him says he is "of Guilford County" (Deed Book 1: page 176) dated 11 August 1772. There is some indication that he may have lived in Bedford County, VA, before settling in North Carolina. He married Mary McFarland in what must have been quite a romance--her sister Rachel married his brother John. Hunter renounced Allegiance to the King of England and took the "Oath of Allegiance to the Colonies" in Salisbury, September 1776. During the Revolutionary War, Major Hunter played an important role as a militia member, entering as a major in the company of his cousin, Col. James Martin. They fought in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, serving as militia under General Greene. After Guilford Courthouse, General Greene dispatched Hunter with a message to General Washington who was in New Jersey, "a dangerous and arduous journey." His faithful servant, Sam, who spoke of the experience in later years, accompanied him. He later was involved in the colonial occupation of Wilmington.Hunter served the public the rest of his life as a congressman (representing Guilford County in the State House of Commons, 1778-1782), High Sheriff, treasurer, auditor, court justice (1790-92 at Salisbury) and committee member (1795) on laying out lots of acreage at Rockingham County Courthouse. He also helped lay out the county's borders. When the new county was formed, he was appointed Justice of Peace for Rockingham County at the first session of Court in February 1786. He remained a militia member, promoted to Lt. Colonel of Rockingham County in 1787. He continued as a public servant until overtaken by age. He died of pneumonia 30 January 1821. His wife, Mary, was born 4 February 1743 and died 29 May 1821. They are both buried in the Hunter-Dalton Graveyard near his old Beaver Island home outside Madison, NC. This graveyard is still accessible and the stones are still readable.He and his wife had the following children: 1) Mary McFarland Hunter, born 7 September 1763, who married William Deering; 2) John Hunter, a twin, born 2 March 1769, who married Miss McNairy in Tennessee; 3) James Hunter, a twin, born 2 March 1769, who was killed by Indians; 4) Alexander Hunter, born 8 November 1772, who died unmarried in an accidental death in Tennessee; 5) Rachel Hunter, born 30 November 1774, who married Nicholas Dalton; 6) Samuel Hunter, born 4 February 1777, who married Rebecca Bruce; 7) Elizabeth Hunter, born 2 September 1779, who died at a young age; 8) Dr. Robert Hunter, born 16 June 1782, who married his cousin, Fannie Martin, daughter of James8, who died young.
References:
Dalton, Mrs. Hunter, Jr. "James Hunter." Rockingham Heritage Book. Wentworth: Rockingham County Historical Society, c. 1983
James Hunter." Early Families in Rockingham and Stokes Counties with Revolutionary Service. Madison: James Hunter Chapter DAR.
Hunter, David H. "The Major." Writings about his family's ancestry.
And here is another study that is now attached to the history of the Regulator Monument dedicated to James Hunter, Regulator. According to this, the James Hunter Regulator is a different man than the James Hunter legislator.
http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=K-61
MARKER K-61
JAMES HUNTER
Regulator leader. Outlawed after Battle of Alamance, 1771. Nearby house was burned by Gov. Tryon's troops.
Two James Hunters-one most noteworthy as a Regulator and the other a legislator-were prominent in North Carolina during the late colonial and Revolutionary periods. Erected in 1901 at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro and moved in 1962 to Alamance Battleground, the Regulator Monument-also called the James Hunter Monument-has the two James Hunters combined in the text about the Regulator to whom it was dedicated. Likewise the State Highway Historical Marker, placed in 1964, mixed facts concerning the two men. In 1953 a Rockingham County chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was established in honor of James Hunter, Regulator and legislator. Regardless of how the James Hunters became intertwined, Vearl Guymon Alger set the record straight in an article in 1977. Through Alger’s meticulous research into primary sources, most importantly deeds, Alger effectively identified the James Hunters and settled the controversy. Modern scholars now recognize the two as separate individuals.
James Hunter, the Regulator, was born around 1735, probably in Pennsylvania. While his father’s name is uncertain, it is clear that he is the son of the “widow Ann Hunter” who purchased land in 1755 from her son-in-law Gilbert Strayhorn in Orange County. James Hunter acquired a land grant for 200 acres in Orange County (later Alamance) in 1757. Active in local affairs and displaying some degree of education, Hunter was at the forefront of the Regulator movement in the backcountry. He is believed to have helped write the “advertisements” and petitions, and was entrusted to deliver some of them. While he did not consider himself a military leader and is even said to have refused to assume command at the Battle of Alamance in 1771, Hunter later became known as “the General of the Regulators.” Following the battle, Governor William Tryon issued a proclamation outlawing Hunter and other Regulator leaders. Tryon took his troops through Hunter’s farm, which was about eight miles from battlefield. There they burned down his “dwelling house, Barn, & (etc).”
James Hunter, like many of the Regulators, sided with the King during the early days of the Revolution. He went to Cross Creek to join other Loyalists in February 1776, and then proceeded to New Hanover County. Hunter was captured at the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge and paroled a few months later. He took the Oath of Allegiance on September 6, 1776, and was accepted as a “free citizen” of North Carolina. James Hunter married Mary Walker. They had five children. Hunter died intestate sometime between October 1779, when he and a partner made and entry for a land grant adjoining his old lands, and February 1783, when Mary was named administrator of his estate.
References:
Vearl Guymon Alger, “The Case for James Hunter of Stinking Quarter and Sandy Creek: Regulator Leader, 1765-1771,” North Carolina Genealogical Journal (May 1977): 70-83
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, III, 237-238-sketch by Vearl Guymon Alger
William S. Powell, James K. Hunta, and Thomas J. Farnham, eds., The Regulators in North Carolina: A Documentary History, 1759-1776 (1971)
Marjoleine Kars, Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North Carolina (2002)
The will of James Hunter, dated 10 Sep 1817:
In the name of God Amen. I James Hunter of the county of Rockingham and state of North Carolina calling to mind the uncertainty of life and that all mankind sooner or later must die have thought proper now being in sound mind and memory to make this my last Will and Testament.
Imprimis Order and direct all my just debts be paid and my funeral expense which I wish to be plain and decent out of my estate, I have lately given some of my property away to my children, that is to say, to my daughter Mary Dearing one negro girl named Jinny and to my daughter Rachel Dalton one negro girl named Grace, both daughters of old Grace; to my son Samuel Hunter one negro woman named Amy and four of her children, Mucky, Caroline, Frank and the young sucking child; three hundred and fifty of the property of Amy and her children. I give to my grandchildren, James and Robert Hunter, heirs of my son Dr. Robert Hunter and the said three hundred and fifty dollars is in the hand of their Guardian-Samuel Hunter for their use to help their schooling; also I give to my two grand sons-James H. Dearing and Samuel Dalton a land warrant for 1,000 acres in the hands of Pleasant Henderson or Boling Fisher, in the state of Tennessee to be equally divided between them; also I give a negro boy named Shepherd to my grand son-James Hunter, son of Samuel Hunter.
All above given is to them and to their heirs forever and all accounts and claims of every description prior to this date with my children and legatees is fully settled Sept. 8, 1817. All the residue of my estate not above disposed of or given away to my legatees that God has helped me with-that is to say-all my lands one tract with their improvements where I live containing 1,000 acres on trail on Alison(?) River in the state of Tennessee held by a deed from Col. James Martin containing 2,000 acres one part of 1,000 acres a part of an entry of 5,000 acres on the Mississippi in the north west corner of Tennessee joining Kentucky, known by the iron bank held by a warrant from this State-to (?) Martin. The said warrant in my desk, the land given to me by his last Will and Testament.
All my negroes, Dick excepted, and stock of every description, all my plantation utensils of every sort and household furniture of every description and all other things belonging to me not mentioned in my Will and direction is-that all the above property not gave away before this date to be equally divided between my children and legatees and share alike including my two grand children-James and Robert Hunter, sons of my son Robert Hunter died; they are to have their father's full part to be equally divided between them. My servant, Dick Davis, it is my will and direction that he is set free and clear from claims of any person or persons whatsoever for his faithfulness and meritorius service to me and family in my lifetime.
It is my will that my negroes may be kept in the family except those of them that has husbands and wives, as my desire is-if they desire may be sold out of the family so that they may be near their wives or husbands; as my desire is to make their situation as comfortable as the nature of the case will admit, and hope and desire that they may be used as they were in my lifetime, with humanity and that all my property may be sold and divided otherwise as the majority of my legatees may think proper, so that each one may have equal part as above directed.
Also, direct that if my wife, should live longer than me, that she shall have a good and decent maintenance, either in her own home or: with her children as she may choose; that she may be fully supplied with all necessaries of life as well as in my lifetime; also, two negroes to attend on her such as she may choose, and if she choose to live in her own home-she is to have such of the household, and kitchen furniture as she chooses to keep and after her death- all to be divided as above directed.
Lastly, I constitute and appoint my sons Alexander and Samuel Hunter my Executors of this my last Will and Testament, hereby ratifying and confirming this to be my last Will and Testament. In Witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this 10th day of Sept. 1817. If my son Alexander now in the Mississippi country should not come here soon after my death, Samuel Hunter as above is my whole Executor.
signed James Hunter
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1740 - 1821 (80 years)
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