CHARLEY O. HUNT.
Of the well-known citizens of Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, mention should be made of Charley O. Hunt, who, during his life in Audubon county, has engaged in many lines of business. Born on October 26, 1876, in Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, he is the son of Isaiah and Mary E. (Cloud) Hunt, natives of Milton, Pennsylvania, and Delaware county, Iowa, respectively. During the first two years of the father's residence in Audubon county, he rented land in section 36, of Hamlin township, and then purchased eighty acres of land in section 4, of Greeley township, but never lived on the farm. In the meantime, he purchased forty acres near Exira and a few years later sold the eighty-acre farm. He has followed farming all of his life with the exception of a few years, during which he was engaged in the butcher business in Exira. Isaiah and Mary E. Hunt have had four children, of whom Charley O. is the eldest. The others are George W., Lawrence W. and Mrs. Lillian M. Gilbert.
After completing his education in the common and high schools of Audubon county, Mr. Hunt farmed for his father for a time and later for himself. Subsequently, he engaged in the implement business for one year, purchasing the stock of John Peters at Exira and after this he returned to the farm. About this time he was married. After farming for one year, he sold out and moved to Converse county, Wyoming, where he took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. After living on this homestead for eight months, he relinquished it to his brother, Lawrence, and then began working for the Fremont & Elkhom railroad in the town of Lusk. After one year, he obtained work at Alliance, Nebraska, with the Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy railroad, working in the round house and machine shop and remaining with this company for two years. Mr. Hunt then came back to his father's farm, his father having been, in the meantime, seriously injured. The next summer he worked for Hansen & Petersen in the implement business at Exira and in 1902 moved to Valley Junction, where he worked as a trainman for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad until March 22, 1905, when he had the misfortune to lose an arm, an accident caused by defective bumpers and occasioned by coupling a train at Menlo, Iowa. About the first of July following, he returned to Exira, where he lived for about one year, conducting a restaurant and lunch counter, returning to his father's farm for the summer. In the spring of 1908, Mr. Hunt opened a billiard and pool room, which he owned up to the fall of 1914 when he sold a half interest to his brother, George, and took a position with H. P. Hansen in the garage as bookkeeper and collector.
Mr. Hunt was first married to Jessamine Andrews, a native of Audubon county. On February 9, 1907, Mr. Hunt was married to Grayce Campbell, a native of Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, and the daughter of Silas A. Campbell, who was a native of Wisconsin and his wife a native of Illinois. He was a soldier in the Civil War.
A Democrat in politics, Air. Hunt has served as township committeeman of the Democratic party for a number of years and in this capacity has attended state, district and county conventions in the interest of his party. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Pythian Sisters, in the latter of which Mrs. Hunt is also a member. She is also a faithful and devoted member of the Christian church.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 630-631.
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