NO HEADSTONE
1. Ad from Corpus Christi Ranchero, 1860, p. 3
2. Biography
History of John Luce Hunsaker
In his journal, Abraham Hunsaker, the younger brother of John Luce Hunsaker, wrote: “My brother, John, had gone to Galena to work in the lead mines. He stayed 2 or 3 years and made considerable and he then bought a lead (mine) and gave all he had made and went in debt or promised more. The man had place some (ore) in the lead mine (and) made him think it was a very rich mine, but my brother was mistaken—it was no count and he came home in debt some 4 or 5 hundred dollars. It was not exactly by my father’s council for him to go to the mine, but by my brother’s request.â€
John Luce Hunsaker married Martha Lemmon in about 1832. They had three children in the Quincy area, Adams county, Illinois—Melvina Hunsaker was born on June 24, 1833, Adolphus Hunsaker was born in January 1837, and Oscar Fitzallen Hunsaker was born 15 March 1839.
Abraham, his brother, wrote of the following incident, in his journal: “On the first Monday of November in 1840, on the day General Harison was elected president of the U.S.A., on this day my brother John was healed of a very survear sickness. He had been under Doctor Langrum for several days. He was beginning to believe a little in Mormonism but was to(o) proud to say so publicly. On the day Harison was elected there was severall folks in his house for he lived in the villige of Payson keeping store where the election was held. He became very sick and there was severall mormons in his house at the same time. My brother called on David Evans to pray for him; he accordingly done so with the assistance of Bro. Weeb and the Lord heard their prairs and healed him so he rose up out of bed and ate his dinner and went to the poles and voted. He was tolerable hi spirited and did not lik to eald (yield) to Mormonism. He began to dought (doubt) in Mormonism and thought he would not acknowledge the hand of the Lord in it and was taken sick again and was sicker than he was before so he sent for the elders again and they laid hands on him in the name of Jesus and (he) was healed instantly. But he being so proud, he was determined not to acknowledge Mormonism and yeald to that despised society and his mind was darkened thre, 3, times so he was taken sick again and was almost dead when he again sent for the Elders and the(y) praid for him again and he was healed almost well when he then declaired he would testify that the Lord had healed him for 3 times if it was the last words he had to speak. So he was baptized into the Church of Latterday Saint and started of(f) some 220 mile(s) to St. Louis to purchase good(s).â€
Even though John had joined the Mormon church, he did not stay with the church. According to the book, “A History of the Hunsaker Family in Early America and Switzerlandâ€, John Luce Hunsaker left the Quincy area some time after 1845. He went to Calaveras, Texas, with his wife and three children. While living in Texas, two more children were born into the family: John Walter Hunsaker, born in 1849, and Cora Bell Hunsaker, born in September 1852.
By early 1850s, John had settled in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was running a general store there. The old Hunsaker building was erected at the People’s intersection in Corpus Christi in the early 1850s.
His wife, Martha, died 12 May 1860 and was buried in Old Bayview Cemetery in Corpus Christi.
His younger brother, Abraham said he was expecting John L. to move to Utah. According to Israel Hunsaker, John L. started for Utah with a herd of cattle and sheep and one of his sons to help him, and got as far as the very first little town, Santa Clara, in southwest Utah where he died on Christmas Day, 1863, and was buried on New Year’s Day, 1864. It is believed that he was buried with his wife in the Old Bayview Cemetery in Corpus Christi, although there is no grave marker there, and it was some 900 or more miles from were he died.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell
