Nigh onto Thirteen

Ira Augustus Hunt (Gus) was born in a log cabin on a mid-western farm in 1889. His father, Taylor Houston Hunt, had migrated to the area in 1880 and in 1886 had married Alice Wilson, a true native of the area, whose pioneer farmer's farmhouse had been burned to the ground in the Battle of Wilson Creek, the largest Civil War Battle west of the Mississippi River. They bought 110 acres of unimproved land near Dadeville, Missouri. They improved the homestead; they built a house which was constantly upgraded, several barns and other buildings, added to the land, and planted orchards and gardens so that in 1919 when they sold the farm it was the showplace of the county. Gus graduated from Drury College in Springfield in 1913, from Washington University in St. Louis in 1915, and from the University of Texas Law School, Austin in 1916. He practiced law in South Texas until the United States entered World War I when he was commissioned an officer. He remained in the military thereafter as a career. Gus was a raconteur. He told numerous stories about life on a family farm. His audiences could never hear enough of his tales explaining farm chores and animal habits as seasons progressed, particularly those about farm animals and wildlife.