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ROBERT P. HUNTER, M.D.
ROBERT P. HUNTER, M.D., the oldest physician now engaged in practice at
Leechburg, Armstrong county, has in the forty and more years of his residence
in that community so thoroughly identified himself with the general welfare
that he is recognized as one of the most public-spirited and prominent men
there. He is at present representing his district in the State Legislature,
has long been active in public life, has taken part in religious work and in
all other movements for the moral uplift of his fellow men, and has been an
influential factor for good whose impress cannot fail to be permanent.Dr. Hunter was born in Blacklick township, Indiana Co., Pa., Jan.23, 1837,
and his grandfather, Robert Hunter, was one of the pioneer settlers in that
county. Robert Hunter was born in 1782 in Westmoreland county, Pa., and died
in 1861 at Jacksonville, Indiana county, at the age of seventy-nine years. His
wife, Mary (Lawrence), a native of New Jersey, was born in 1781 and died in
1868, at the age of seventy-seven. They were the parents of fourteen children,
most of whom reached maturity.John M. Hunter, son of Robert, was born June 12, 1807, in Indiana county,
Pa., where he passed all his life, dying at Blairsville, March 28, 1868. He
followed the trade of shoemaking for the most part, though during 1854 and
1855 he was engaged as a foreman on the Pennsylvania canal, of which his
son-in-law, W. F. Boyer, was then superintendent. On May 30, 1830, he married
Annie Reese Banks, who was born in Pennsylvania, Oct. 10, 1810, and died Aug.
16, 1875, at Leechburg, where she was living with her son. Mr. and Mrs. John
M. Hunter had children as follows: Joshua Banks, born Nov. 5, 1832, who served
in the Civil war; Mary A., born Oct. 23, 1835, now deceased, who was married
in 1855 to W. F. boyer; Robert P.; William I., born Sept. 29, 1839, who is
deceased; Flia M., born Aug. 16, 1842, who married Dr. W. H. Kern, of
McKeesport, Pa.; Morgan R., horn April 4, 1844, who served as a soldier in the
Civil war; Dr. John A., born Aug. 20, 1846, who was elected to the
Pennsylvania Legislature on the Republican ticket (lower house) in 1874 and
died shortly afterward (he was a soldier in the Civil war, and J. A. Hunter
Post, No. 123, G. A. R., of Leechburg, was named in his honor, Dr. Hunter
having been a very well-known and highly respected man); Dr. Milton C., born
Aug. 7, 1850; J. Irwin, born June 19, 1852.Robert P. Hunter attended the schools of the locality in which he was
reared, and in his young manhood taught school for five years during the
winter terms. For two years he was employed on the Pennsylvania canal under
his father In 1862 he began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. M. R.
Banks, of Livermore, Pa., and in 1864 began to attend lectures at Jefferson
Medical College, Philadelphia. He began practice before finishing his course,
on May 9, 1865, opening an office at Leechburg, where he practiced four years
before he was able to complete his studies. He had devoted all his surplus to
the furtherance of his preparation for practice and finished the full course
at Jefferson Medical College, graduating with high standing March 13, 1869. He
has been located at Leechburg ever since, and has been highly successful in
his professional work, winning and retaining the confidence of a large
patronage. He has taken advantage of his wide acquaintanceship throughout this
territory to exercise his influence for good whenever possible, and though
busy with his practice has found time for other things he con siders just as
necessary to a useful life among his fellow men. He has always shown his
willingness to support any good movement started in the locality, and thus his
interests have been very diversified. He was among the first-in 1878-to bring
shorthorn cattle to Armstrong county, giving the farmers the benefit of
improved stock. He has long been an ardent Prohibitionist, and on June 29,
1882, was made president of the Armstrong County Prohibitory Amendment
Association, a temperance organization which met in Kittanning upon that date.
In 1873, he was one of the organizers of the Leechburg Bank, and served as one
of its directors until 1880. For two terms he served as chief burgess of
Leechburg, and in 1911 he was elected to represent his district in the State
Legislature; he is taking an active part in the work of that body, serving
upon the committees on Congressional Apportionment, Counties and Townships,
Railroads, Ways and Means, Educational, Retrenchment and Reform. For twenty
years he was a member of the Leechburg school board, during most of that
period being president, and it was during his incumbency that a fine high
school was erected. Dr. Hunter was one of the organizers of the Apollo pension
board, became its first president, and has continued to hold that position to
the present time. He is serving as a trustee of the Soldiers and Sailors’ Home
at Erie, Pennsylvania.On Dec. 29, 1875, the Doctor received a commission from Governor Hartranft
as surgeon in chief on Gen. Harry White’s staff, 9th Division, National Guard
of Pennsylvania, and served in that capacity during the Pittsburgh railroad
and labor riots.Dr. Hunter is a leading member of the Presbyterian Church at Leechburg, of
which he has been an elder many years. He served a long period as
superintendent of the Sunday school. In 1887, he was a delegate from the
Kittanning Presbytery to the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church which
met in Omaha, Nebr. In 1863, he was made a Mason in Loyalhanna lodge, No. 275,
F. & A. M., of Latrobe, and now holds membership in Leechburg Lodge, No.
577, of which he is a past master; he is also a member of Orient Chapter, R.
A. M., at Kittanning.On May 18, 1875, Dr. Hunter was married to Rebecca Hill, who was born in
Armstrong county, June 30, 1853, daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Kuhns) Hill.
They have had the following children: John A., born June 18, 1876, died May
27, 1892; Lida A., born Jan. 10, 1878, died Nov. 2, 1897; Robert K., born Oct.
19, 1879, graduated from the Leechburg high school, took a business course at
Clarion, Pa., and is now in the government employ at Freeport, Pa.; Marion D.,
graduated from the Leechburg high school and later studied at the Lake Erie
Seminary, a school for girls.Source: Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H.
Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 2001 by Laurel Morris for the
Armstrong County Beers Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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