Tuesday, December 13, 2005

And Here We Are!



My great grandfather William A. Hunter (1842-1928) and his wife and their children settled in this area in 1879. He was here about 15 years before when he was fighting at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the Civil War. He was shot in the knee and recuperated in the nearby town of Woodstock. After he was well enough to walk and the war was over he walked back to his home in Macon County, North Carolina, where his wife was waiting.
Within a year, he and his uncle Van Trammell (they were near the same age, most people thought they were brothers)had a heated discussion with a man who fought for the North. Van hit the man with a limb or a rifle and killed him. All evidence pointed to Van but his nephew William told the sheriff he was with him all day. Later the sheriff found out William told a lie and he too was involved in the slaying. They were wanted by the law. Van, a brother, and some sisters moved to Arkansas; William and his family moved to Texas.
Up until this point in time William went by the name of William Trammell. He was the son of Rebecca Trammell. Rebecca died before 1850 and he and his sister lived in the house of his grandparents, Jacob and Polly Trammell. He enlisted into the Confederacy with the name of William A. Trammell and also married Emaline Ray with the name William A. Trammell. But, possibly wanted for murder, he changed his name to William A. Hunter after he left.
Why did he pick the name surname Hunter? Because in 1842 his mother Rebecca Trammell sued Jason Henderson Hunter for Bastardy. Jason admitted he was the father and he was ordered to pay $100 a year in child support.
They tried to make a living in Texas but times were hard. They came back east and he looked up his friends he had made when he was recuperating from his wound in Woodstock, Georgia.
And now, about 126 years later I am here in Marietta, Ga., almost within the shadow of Kennesaw Mountain where he was wounded, and only 7 miles from his home in Woodstock.

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