Union City Times-Gazette, Tuesday, August 31, 1948
Emily Hunt 97 Today - By Paul Pickett
Mrs. Emmiline (Emily) Hunt, who lives with her daughter, Mrs. Sadie
DuBois, 427 Thompson street, Winchester, lacks just three years of
living through that proverbial “hardest first hundred,"
Mrs. Hunt is celebrating her ninety-seventh birthday anniversary today.
In better health and with better eyesight than most people twenty years
her junior, Mrs. Hunt definitely is happy about the whole thing.
Mrs. Hunt is one of Randolph county's oldest living pioneers, and has
lived in this county virtually all her life. She was born on August 31,
1851 on a farm near Huntsville. Her father, Joseph Botkin, also was born
on a farm near Huntsville and her mother, Harriet Ann (Cropper) Botkin,
came to Randolph county from Henry county, Kentucky, at the age of 11.
Mrs. Hunt has watched Randolph county grow from a complete wilderness to
one of the most productive counties in the state.
Emily is the only living member of a family of ten children. Her
brothers and sisters were: Bealie, Edward, Malinda Jane, Matilda Ellen,
Mary Eliza, Rebecca, Horace, Silas and Stacey Lincoln. Her father died
in 1891 and her mother passed away in 1905.
With a better memory than most younger people, Mrs. Hunt can remember
details of her childhood over eighty years ago.
When asked about the recent heat wave which sent the mercury near the
century mark, Mrs. Hunt remarked that it had been “warm,” but mentioned
a few dates in the 1860's and 1870's that were considerably “warmer.”
On September 3, 1879, Emily was married to Addison Hunt. The ceremony
was read by Harvey Patty, a justice of the peace, in the building now
occupied by Merrill W. Nichols, attorney. Mr. Hunt, who died in 1933,
also was a pioneer of Randolph county.
The Hunts moved to Winchester in 1902, and moved to the present Thompson
street address two years later.
Besides her daughter, Sadie, Mrs. Hunt has one son, Basil, living in Dayton.
Emily's grandfather participated in the Revolutionary war, her brother,
Bealie, in the Civil war, John B. Mills, a nephew, in the
Spanish-American war, her son, Basil, in World War One, and three
grandsons, Robert L Puckett and Wayne and Billy Hunt in World War Two.
Of interest to local school children, Emily's school last only six
months out of the year. In bad weather she was taken to and from school
on horseback.
Mrs. Hunt was not raised in an inflationary period, as her average
salary for housework when a child was one dollar a week, with a top of
two dollars. Her work was easy however, as she was only required to milk
three cows, churn butter, spin wool, pick beans, care for the garden,
bake bread and cook for a family of four.
Mrs. Hunt, although in good health, will not hold open house as has been
the custom. She has passed too many birthdays to get excited about them
any more. After all, there will be several more.
[Mrs. Emily Hunt did celebrate many more birthday anniversaries. She
died April 30, 1958, four months before her 107th birthday.]