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HUNTER, JOHN B., who was a retired farmer residing in Buffalo, Sangamon County, Ill., was one of the large landholders of the county, and had been very successful in a business way in the locality where he had lived since 1880. He was born in Bond County, Ill., February 9, 1825, a son of David and Elizabeth (Copeland) Hunter, natives of Dickson County, Tenn. David was a son of John Hunter, who was a native of county Donegal or Tyrone, Ireland. David Hunter was married in Tennessee, and about 1820 brought his family and household goods with pack horses to Bond County, Ill., where he entered prairie land at the edge of the timber, becoming owner of 300 to 400 acres. In 1846 he moved to Dallas County, Tex., took up land there and remained a few years, then returning to Bond County, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They had seven children who reached maturity, and of these John B. was the second.

John B. Hunter received his education in the district school and was reared on a farm. He lived with his parents until his marriage, April 2, 1844, to Martha Young, of Bond County, and he and his wife became parents of one son L. M., who died in Decatur, Ill., March 14, 1910. Mrs. Hunter died in April, 1845.

Mr. Hunter married (second), in April, 1847, Mary A. Robinson, of Bond County, and they had five children: Sarah J., now Mrs. Simeon White, of Walter County, Tex.; W. H., of Downington, Wyo.; C. W., died in Illinois in 1895; Amanda J., died at the age of fourteen years; James R., killed on the railroad in 1873. Mrs. Hunter died in 1863.

Mr. Hunter was married (third), April 2, 1865, to Elizabeth White, a native of Bond County, and they became parents of three children: John B., of Denver, Colo.; Otis J., living near Orchard, Neb.; Guy L., of Mechanicsburg Township, Sangamon County.

After his marriage Mr. Hunter moved to his farm in Bond County, to which eh added from time to time until he owned 2,500 acres, and was one of the most extensive farmers and stock-raisers in that county. In 1880 he sold out and moved to Lanesville Township, Sangamon County, where he bought land and became the owner of several hundred acres. In 1883 he purchased a farm in Mechanicsburg Township, to which he kept adding until he owned 549 acres, on which his son lives. Mr. Hunter also owned property in Buffalo. He had been retired from active life for several years. He was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which eh had held all the offices; was a Democrat in politics, a friend of education and progress and highly esteemed as a man of enterprise and good business judgment. His success in life was the result of his own enterprise and energy. Mr. Hunter died in January, 1911.