Ohio History Journal

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DARD HUNTER, THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE, AND

DARD HUNTER, THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE, AND

CHILLICOTHE

 

By LLOYD EMERSON SIBERELL

 

It is interesting to note that Dard Hunter was born in the

little manufacturing town of Steubenville, on the majestic Ohio

River. This town's chief bid for noteworthiness, so the inhabi-

tants and historians say, lies in the fact that it was one of

the very first settlements in the great Northwest Territory; some

claim it is second only to Marietta, Fort Steuben having been

erected there in 1789 and named in honor of that Prussian drill

master of the Continental Army, Baron Frederick William Von

Steuben. Steubenville's second claim to fame, so it seems, lies

in the fact that there was born there in 1814 that brusque and

intensely sincere man, Edwin M. Stanton, destined to fill the post

of secretary of war in President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet dur-

ing those trying times when brother fought brother.

Doubtless the history of Jefferson County entitled, "The

Pathfinders of Jefferson County," and "Addenda to the Path-

finders," written by Dard Hunter's father, William Henry Hunter,

and published by the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in

18981 would reveal many interesting facts to those interested in

the history of Dard Hunter's birthplace. Lack of space forbids

any further details upon that subject here. William Henry Hunter

was a very prolific writer and for twenty-five years was part

owner and editor of the Steubenville Gazette. Many of his ar-

ticles have been published by the Ohio Archaeological and His-

torical Society of which he was a life member and trustee.

The elder Hunter moved to Chillicothe in 1900 where he

took charge of the Daily News-Advertiser, the oldest daily paper

in Chillicothe, which is still controlled by members of the Hunter

 

In Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Quarterly (Columbus.

1887-), VI (1898), 95-313; 384-406.

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