Wake Wednesday - John Hunter, born a slave, lived 112 years

We are lucky that Ernest Dollar, City of Raleigh Museum director, discovered John Hunter and his history so that his story can be shared today. In 2020, a short documentary was made about the discovery and connection to Theophilus Hunter and his Spring Hill Plantation. You can watch that documentary here.

John Hunter was an enslaved person on the Spring Hill Plantation, owned by Theophilus Hunter. John was well loved and lived a very long life. His obituary claimed 112 years. He was interviewed in the 1870's for an article in the Raleign Sentinel. His memories include Fayetteville Street while it was surrounded by wilderness and wild animals, the blood thirsty dragoons of Col, Tarleton, and local buildings burning in 1812.

Learn more by viewing Josh Shaffer's article from 2020 and the video at the N&O.

If you wish to read the interview with John Hunter that appeared in the Raleigh Sentinel in December 1876, you may find it at This NCDigital link. I tried searching several ways, but the text is quite blurry as shown in the photo attached to the N&O article. It may require some issue by issue browsing. Luckily in 1876 the Sentinel was only published twice weekly.

To read about the Hunter family reunion at Spring Hill Plantation in 2021 as told by John Hunter's descendants, see the article in Wake Genealogy Watch, Winter 2022, pp. 2-3.

John Hunter marker at Spring Hill

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