Mom's side:
THE HUNT and MOSS FAMILIES

Our mother's parents were Ernest Leon Hunt and Georgia Alice Moss.

Their ancestors, the Hunts and the Mosses, came to the United States before it was a country!
They may have served in the Revolutionary War (I'll try to verify this tidbit in the future).

The Hunt family emigrated from the East Anglia region of England in the early 18th century and entered America through what is now Culpepper County, Virginia. They worked their way into the western end of Virginia, and automatically became West Virginians when that region seceded from Virginia to side with the north during the Civil War.

The Moss family came to America in 1712 as part of the first major wave of Scots/Irish immigration. They settled in western Pennsylvania, concentrating in and around the town of West Alexander. Some of them served in the state militia during the Civil war.

Georgia Moss and Ernest Hunt married in (?) and built their home in Burton, West Virginia where they raised three daughters including our Mom, and four boys.

THE MOSSES:

The Moss Family of West Alexander, in western Pennsylvania., circa 1910.
Their property fronted what was then called The National Road (today's Route 40).
Seated in front are Samuel Moss and his wife Rachel Crowe.
Samuel married Rachel after the death of his first wife (name unknown).
Standing behind, from left, are their children Jane, Joseph, Georgia,
James Woods (known as Woods to everyone), and youngest child Margaret.
Missing from the photo are Byrd and John, Samuel's children from his earlier marriage.
Both were probably married and living elsewhere at the time of this portrait.

Rachel Crowe Moss holding Edward Egan (or Eagin), a relative, circa 1913.

James W. "Woods" Moss, from an undated newsclipping.
Woods lived almost a century and spent his final years
with his family in Westchester County, New York.

Class photo, circa 1910.
Georgia and Margaret Moss earned their teaching degrees
at State Normal School in West Liberty, West Virginia,
just across the state line from West Alexander, PA.
The institution today is known as West Liberty College.

Georgia and Margaret, from the class portrait above.

A postcard of Georgia (center) and, presumably, her classmates from State Normal.
At five-foot six, she was a fairly tall woman for that time.

And here's Georgia's students (date & location unknown). Georgia stands to the right.

THE HUNTS:

Here are most of the surviving children of Thomas N. Hunt and Mary E. Hoge,
posing with their widowed mother circa 1920.
Top row from left:
Richard, known as Dick,
Elizabeth, also known as Margaret,
Mary
and Emila, known as Emmy or Emily.
Bottom Row from left:
Saul, the twin brother of Dick,
Levi,
their mother, known as "Grandmammy" to her grandchildren,
John,
and Ernest, who married Georgia Moss.
Missing: Katherine, known as Kate

Kate (Katherine Hunt McNeeley) in a 1953 photo.
A relative, who shall remain nameless, remembers that
"She was the Dickens, but she was a load of fun."

Here are the wives of the Hunt brothers, starting from left:
Orie, wife of Levi Hunt,
Georgia Moss, wife of Ernest Hunt,
Blanch, wife of Dick Hunt,
Ellen, wife of Saul Hunt,
and Salome, known as Lomie, wife of John Hunt.
(John's wife was named Salome?? Insert your "lost his head" joke here)
Oh yeah, John worked as a funeral home director in Burton.
The child is Georgia's son, Joseph.
Date: 1920's.

The home of Georgia Moss and Ernest Hunt and their seven children
in Burton, West Virginia, as it looked in 1953.
Us kids always knew it as "The House on the Hill".

While Georgia and Ernest's home was under construction,
they lived next door in this cabin
that had been built by the previous landowner.
It remains standing to this day! (photo from the 1970's)

Here's three of their boys, Joseph, George and Sam. Barely visible under the tree's shade at far right is our Mom, just a tiny girl then. They were true farm boys, doing everything from planting and harvesting to milking and butchering to provide food for the family table. Not pictured is brother Tom, who may have been too ill at the time to pose for this picture. Tom died in 1938 at the age of 15 due to a congenital heart defect that, alas, could have been fixed by today's surgery. George, Joe and Sam served in WWII and made it through.

In 1934, Ernest Hunt was walking along the railroad tracks at night
when he was struck and killed by a passing train.
(The details of the tragedy have been lost to history). Georgia never remarried.
With Ernest gone, eldest daughter Ruth. (above) helped to keep the family going
with her income as a schoolteacher.

Left: Joseph Hunt holds his daughter Jo Ellen. Right: Samuel Hunt in service during WW2.

Left to right: My paternal grandmother holding up George's son Doug, Georgia Moss Hunt,
Georgia's daughter Margaret, and George's wife Dorothy holding her daughter Sheila.

In the1950's, Margaret Moss (front), Georgia Hunt (seated behind)
and Ruth Hunt (standing next to her taller sister Margaret) visited New York City.
For Ruth, Georgia and the elder Margaret, this was their first trip to the Big Apple ever.
Of them, Georgia had travelled the least; just visiting the State Capitol of Pennsylvania in Harrisburgh
had been a major event for her.

Though she saw little of the world, Georgia said she bore no regrets because she knew
she would be seeing plenty of wonderful things in Heaven (which I hope she did).

Georgia Hunt, from a 1960 home movie. She died in her sleep the following year,
5 days shy of her 72nd birthday.

Family Tree

Back to THE MARTENS CHRONICLES