Jacob Hunter Trust

Grave Listing of the Jacob Hunter Cemetery

There are over 80 graves in the Jacob Hunter Cemetery and most are unmarked, or merely have pieces of sandstone as markers.

The people we know who are recorded as buried in this cemetery, and those we believe to be buried here, include:

Judith Lee Hunter, b. 1-6-1792 d. 8-8-1852; daughter of Braxton Lee (b. 1766 d. 1841) and Elizabeth Ann Hatcher Lee (b. 1768 d. 1807). Judith was born in Fluvanna, Virginia. She married Emanuel Hunter on 5-20-1808 in middle Tennessee on the same day that her father, Braxton Lee, married Emanuel Hunter’s mother, Mary Polly Dancer Hunter. She and Emanuel moved to IL around 1818. At the time of her death, she was living on the farm that now encompasses the Allen Hunter Cemetery. At the time of her death, there were three infants buried at what was to become the Allen Hunter Cemetery, all babies of the Reverend Allen Hunter and his wife Elizabeth Lee Hunter. The Jacob Hunter Cemetery was established around 1850. Jacob Hunter, for whom this cemetery is named, was Judith Lee Hunter’s oldest son.

Emanuel (Manuel) Hunter, b. 9-17-1787 d.1-7-1874; son of Jacob Hunter, the Revolutionary War soldier for whom the Jacob Hunter Trust is named, and Mary Polly Dancer Hunter Lee. Emanuel was born near Charleston in Richland County, South Carolina and moved to middle Tennessee with his family before 1798, when his father Jacob purchased land on both sides of Sycamore Creek. Emanuel married Judith Lee, daughter of Braxton Lee and Elizabeth Ann Hatcher Lee on 5-20-1808. Emanuel served in the War of 1812 and in the Black Hawk War of 1832. He moved the Hunter family to Illinois around 1818 and built a log home north and east of Marion and just south and east of White Ash. The Jacob Hunter Trust was able to acquire the remains of the original Emanuel Hunter log home in February 2005 and it was reconstructed on the campus of John A. Logan College in 2007. After the death of his wife, Judith Lee, he married Mary Bess.

Mary Bess, b. ca. 1811 d. nine days before her 81st birthday; Second wife of Emmanuel Hunter.

Richard Bess, b. ca. 1846; Son of Mary Bess and her first husband.

Henry Hunter, b. 1783 d. 4-13-1876; thought to be a son of Dempsey Hunter a Revolutionary War soldier (and a brother to Jacob Hunter (I) also a Revolutionary War soldier) and his first wife (name unknown). Henry served in Capt. Bird Nance’s Company of the Tennessee Militia in the War of 1812. He is credited with shooting British General Edward Pakenham on the order of General Andrew Jackson. He married Lucy Teasley (daughter of John Teasley and Lucy Hunt) on 3-30-1809 in Montgomery County Tennessee. She died 1-15-1850. In his later years, Henry Hunter lived with Jacob and Mary Hunter. He carved canes as a hobby. He was Jacob (II)’s uncle.

Jacob Hunter (II), b. 1-18-1809 d. 12-21-1874; son of Emanuel Hunter and Judith Lee Hunter. He was born in Robertson County, TN. He was a farmer, carpenter, and storekeeper. He married Mary Moore Duncan on 12-19-1833. The Jacob Hunter Cemetery is located on his home place and he cared for and buried many victims of cholera during the mid 1800s.

Mary Moore Duncan Hunter, b. 5-1-1814 d. 8-21-1896; daughter of John and Lydia (Spiller) Duncan. She was born in Tennessee. She married Jacob Hunter on 12-19-1833. Together, they had 9 children (Her obituary stated 11). She was known as a very kind woman and in her later years was lovingly called “Aunt Pop” by everyone, including her grandchildren.

George Washington Hunter, b. 12-23-1811 d. 9-7-1878; son of Emanuel Hunter and Judith Lee. He was born in Tennessee. He served as a private during the Black Hawk War of 1832 in Capt. Hoalman’s Company, Illinois Mounted Volunteers. He married Lydia Spiller on 1-20-1838.

Lydia Spiller Hunter, b. 10-6-1819 d. 2-8-1876; daughter of Benjamin Spiller and Elizabeth Benson. She was born in Illinois. She married George Washington Hunter on 1-20-1838. Together they had 9 children.

Mary Powell, Died in 1882 at age three or four. She was the daughter of John R. Powell and Susan Hunter. She was a granddaughter of Jacob and Mary Hunter.

James Powell, Died 7-30-1882 as an infant. He and his sister Mary, died 11 days apart with Whooping Cough. He was the son of John R. Powell and Susan Hunter, and a grandson of Jacob and Mary Hunter.

Two Odum Babies. One died 3-19-1899. These were children of Tom and Julia A. Duncan Odum.

Thomas Riley Hunter, b. 10-19-1834 d. 8-25-1866; Son of Jacob Hunter and Mary Moore Duncan Hunter. He was married to Susan Sanders, daughter of John D. and Martha (O’Neill) Sanders on 3-25-1858. Thomas Riley Hunter is the father of John Jacob Hunter, Clyde Hunter’s father, and Judge Robert S. Hunter’s grandfather.

Susan Sanders Hunter, b. 1840 d. 3-16-1864; Daughter of John D. Sanders and Martha O’Neill Sanders. She married Thomas Riley Hunter on 3-25-1858. They had two children.

Edgar Lewis, b. 1866 d. before 1900; son of George W. and Mildred C. Chapman Lewis. He was married to Mary Jane Sanders, daughter of Leander Anthony Sanders and Judia Ann Hunter (a daughter of Emanuel Hunter & Judith Lee Hunter).

Jesse Weaver, b. 1-1-1834 d. 9-15-1877; Died of tuberculosis. He was the husband of Cynthia Ann Hunter, daughter of Jacob and Mary Hunter.

Mary Emily Weaver Jackson, b. 10-12-1862 d. 5-22-1883; daughter of Jesse Weaver and Cynthia Ann Hunter. She married Charles Dick Jackson on 10-31-1880. They had one child Claude D. Jackson.

Thomas M. Weaver b. 5-16-1860 d. 5-15-1886; Son of Jesse Weaver and Cynthia Ann Hunter. He was an unmarried teacher.

George W. Weaver, b. 2-6-1872 d. 10-22-1893; son of Jesse Weaver and Cynthia Ann Hunter. He died of cancer of the stomach.

Mary Weaver, b. 11-18-1892 d. 3-18-1894; daughter of William Edgar Weaver (son of Jesse Weaver and Cynthia Ann Hunter) and Nancy Angeline Duncan (daughter of Milo Lemuel Duncan and Mary Katherine Ferges). Mary Weaver was Jacob and Mary Hunter’s granddaughter and Earl Leland Weaver’s sister.