"'128 Catherine St Kalamazoo, Michigan.
"'Editor of the Morning Star
"'Dear Sir:
"'I was born in Tunbridge, Vt. June 9, 1807 being one of thirteen children, five boys and eight girls. I was the seventh child.
"'When I was eight years of age my father moved to East Randolph, Vt. While there, at the age of fifteen, I was baptized by my father, the pastor, Elder Nathaniel King, and joined the Fresill Baptist Church.
"'My father worked on his farm six days in the week and preached on the Sabbath without salary. As I only had one brother older than myself, my sisters and myself helped my father out of doors when we were not in school. I could husk corn, rake hay, pull flax and do nearly all kinds of outdoor work. I also learned to do all kinds of work in the house. I could spin flax on the little wheel and tow on the big wheel. I helped make full cloth for the boys' clothes and flannel for the girls' clothes, which was pressed and colored. Everything was spun and woven, even the handkerchiefs. The cotton was bought in sacks, carded by hand and made into aprons. For amusement we had husking bees. The girls and boys would come and help husk corn. When our work was done, we would have pumpkin pie, fried cakes, and other good things that mother knew how to make.
"'In 1822 my father moved back to Tunbridge.
"'Sept. 11, 1827 I was married by my father to John Hunt, son of Deacon Simeon Hunt. Right after our marriage Mr. Hunt started for Michigan to buy government land. He was three weeks making the journey, first by stage, then by canal boat, then by lake to Detroit. Arriving there, he found every seat in the stagecoach reserved several days ahead. He then walked to Ypsilanti, road to White Pigeon, and proceeded on foot to Kalamazoo. The scramble at the land office is known only to the early settlers. He finally located his land twelve miles from Kalamazoo -- 200 acres at $1.25 an acre. It is now Van Buren Co.
"'He then returned to Vermont and in 1837, we started with four children for our future home in the far west. After three weeks of tedious travel we arrived in Kalamazoo where we stopped a few days while Mr. Hunt with some help went to our farm and put up a small frame house, 12 x 18. We felt that it was home if "ever so homely" and we were very happy, although the rain would pour through the cracks before we could get it shingled, and we had to use blankets for doors. The chairs and tables were roughly made. Indians were plenty in those days but we were not afraid. Our children went two miles to school.
"'With hard work and cheerful hearts we prospered. In about two years, meetings were held in a school house about five miles from my home near PawPaw which I attended. The first Quarterly Meeting, I think, was in 1840. I went on horseback and carried my baby. Now the church is in PawPaw and Rev. Anna Barton is the pastor. I am so far away I cannot meet with them now as I should be glad to, but my heart is with them and I hope to meet them in the great hereafter.
"'I have had nine children, six now living. We celebrated our gold wedding in 1877. In 1887 Mr. Hunt died.
"'In my other letter I wrote you that I had taken and read the Star ever since it was first printed.
"'Sincerely yours,
"'Eliza King Hunt.'"

-- from "The Morning Star", March 23, 1899

Note:Ypsilanti is 30 miles from Detroit, and White Pigeon is 38 miles
from Kalamazoo, so John Hunt did quite a little walking. The farm
he bought is on automobile route US 12, 12 miles west of Kalamazoo, now
owned (in 1932) by Polish people.

Note:"I think I remember that on g.grandmother Hunt's 90th birthday, she came
down to Schoolcraft, and there was an all-day reception there for her, which
was attended by friends and old settlers from all over that part of the country."
--Constance Earl Ellison