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George C. Hunt Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1637-1638 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	GEORGE C. HUNT, manager of the Hunt Abstract and Investment 
Company, of Rapid City, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, where he 
was born on March 30, 1850, and is the son of George and Charlotte 
(Belcher) Hunt, who were also natives of Massachusetts and were reared 
and educated in that state. The father was in the grain business there 
until 1854, when he moved his family to Henry county, Illinois, and 
there engaged in farming three years. In 1857 the family moved to Linn 
county, Kansas, where the father took up land and again passed three 
years in farming. In 1859 the drought destroyed the crops and the family 
returned to Boston, going by way of St. Joseph, Missouri, and traveling 
from there in the first train over the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad that 
carried passengers east. They remained in Massachusetts eighteen months, 
then in the spring of 1861 returned to Henry county, Illinois, where 
they remained until 1868. That year they moved to Iowa county, Iowa, and 
there the father bought land and once more turned his attention to 
farming. Mr. Hunt received the greater part of his education in Henry 
county, Illinois, being eighteen years of age when the removal to Iowa 
took place. At the age of twenty-one he quit the farm on which he had 
been working with his father, and went into the employ of a lumber 
company, working at both Walnut and Manning in Iowa. He served the 
company some time as clerk and bookkeeper and later was manager of one 
of its yards. In December, 1885, he came to Rapid City, whither his 
parents had come in 1877, the father taking up a ranch on Rapid creek 
and devoting his attention to raising stock. Prior to beginning this 
enterprise, however, Mr. Hunt's father and brother were engaged in 
freighting between Pierre and Sidney and Rapid City. Soon after his 
arrival at this place he secured employment in the office of the 
register of deeds for Pennington county, remaining so occupied from 
December, 1885, to April, 1887, when he was appointed county auditor, 
the first the county ever had. He held this office until 1891, at which 
time he opened an office for George N. Farrell, of Claremont, New 
Hampshire, for conducting a general land and loan business, which he 
managed until 1895. While serving as county auditor he had made a book 
of abstracts of titles to land in the county, and' when he resigned as 
manager of Mr. Farrell's business he opened an office for himself and 
started an enterprise in abstracting, insurance and dealing in real 
estate. He has the only complete set of abstracts for the county ever 
made and is therefore especially well prepared and equipped for the 
business in which he is engaged. In 1898 he organized the Hunt Abstract 
and Investment Company of Rapid City, which has been incorporated and of 
which he is the general manager. The company has an extensive business, 
one of the largest in the city, with real-estate interests in both 
Pennington and Meade counties. Mr. Hunt is a gentleman of great 
enterprise and public spirit in matters involving the welfare of the 
community in which he lives, and cheerfully and effectively gives his 
aid to every commendable undertaking for its promotion. He is a zealous 
and earnest Republican in political faith, and a prominent and active 
worker for the success of his party. His home has always been at Rapid 
City, where he has one of the finest residences in the town. 

	On February 9, 1876, Mr. Hunt was married, at Walnut, Iowa, to 
Miss Annie L. Benedict, a native of Ohio. They have one child, Charles 
B., who is connected with the Pennington County Bank of Rapid City.