Ransom Hunter

Ransom Hunter was born to Mike and Julia Hunter in Charleston, South Carolina and spent his formative years on the Middleton plantation. where he lived with his parents until DECEMBER 19,TH 1835 , when he was sold away from his parents to HOYLE PLANTATION. Ransom Hunter became a master of carpentry, blacksmithing, and horse grooming, among other trades, as well as learning to play the piano, and was known to play the piano for guest visiting and lodging at the Hoyle home. Ransom Hunter was granted his freedom from the Hoyle plantation in 1860 before the war.

Hunter began purchasing land within ten years of the abolition of slavery. He conducted a total of thirty financial transactions for land deeds in Lincoln and Gaston counties between 1874 and 1913.[4] His first recorded land deed was a transaction with Robert Calvin Grier Love (R.C.G. Love), a prosperous merchant, banker and textile pioneer, who sold Ransom Hunter six acres of waterfront property on the Catawba River. Confederate General Daniel Harvey Hill (D.H. Hill) sold Ransom Hunter his second property in 1875. Later, Hunter sold land to two of the future mayors of Mount Holly, W. B. Rutledge and Abel Peterson Rhyne.

Hunter opened his first livery stable enterprise on Hawthorne Street in Mount Holly, North Carolina. He applied farrier and blacksmith skills, made horseshoes, and sold and rented a stable of draft horses. With his financial success at the livery stable he used his profits to purchase surrounding land. Ransom Hunter developed a community he named “Freedom”, as a refuge for fellow former slaves who were fleeing post-Civil War hostilities in the South Carolina upcountry. For the first time former slaves had their own plot of land to build raise a family. Initially, much of the land was plagued by soil so rocky that it was deemed unsuitable for farming and the Hunter family nicknamed the area, Rock Grove. However, Ransom Hunter, the businessman, saw value in the granite rocks. He employed the men of Freedom to dig up the rocks, then sold them to a company as material for the construction of local roads.[5] After removing the rocks much of the land became acceptable for home construction and arable for farming, and Ransom Hunter cultivated a significant portion, successfully growing acres of corn and cotton and groves of pecan, apple, peach and fig trees.[6] The development of The Freedom Community, progressed into a thriving community. Hunter opened a second livery stable on Main Street in Mount Holly, NC and a general store. Hunter built a large home for his family in Freedom. He raised livestock on his land. Other freed slaves came to Freedom to start businesses and work on the farm. Ransom Hunter had a desire.... To help the unfortunate by bringing former slaves and sharecroppers to what he felt was a promise land and a better life in ( WHAT WAS TO BE ) Mount Holly...!!! These families owe RANSOM HUNTER An overwhelming and sincere debt for bringing them up out of Horrible times TO Prosperity: The BURCHES, The Nixon's, The Friday's, The Grier's, The Truesdales, The RANKIN's, The Anderson's, The Buchanan's , The Sherrill's , The Slades, THE BAILEY's THE ROSS's ... and many more... Many of these family members were able to secure jobs ( WITH THE HELP OF RANSOM HUNTER ) at the first cotton Mill in Mount Holly, to provide for their familY. Hunter donated land for a school and two churches and land to become the first cemetery for negro people in Gaston County: Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and Rock Grove A.M.E. Zion Church, which is presently Burge Memorial United Methodist Church.[7] The CEMETERY, Is located on the corner of Hawthorne Street, and Catawba Avenue, where Ransom Hunter is Buried.. In addition to building two churches, Ransom saw the need to formally educate the children in the community. In 1887, Hunter formed a five-member Public School Committee and donated the land for the first school created for Black children after slavery ended, named the District 12 Colored School.[8]

Hunter sold land to Abel Peterson Rhyne and Daniel Efird Rhyne to build the area's first cotton mill in 1875. The Mount Holly Manufacturing Mill was constructed on the land which Ransom Hunter purchased in 1874 from R.C.G. Love. It was the fourth mill to be built in Gaston County and is the oldest surviving mill today. The name of the mill was derived from the famed yarn mill in Mount Holly, New Jersey, in hopes of riding the coattails of their success. The mill’s success and the prosperity of the area led local residents to petition the North Carolina General Assembly for the incorporation of Mount Holly in 1879. In 1913, Ransom Hunter sold the Mayes Manufacturing Company a stretch of land near the South Fork Catawba River and the Southern Railroad, where they built a cotton textile mill.[9]

Hunter married his first wife Rebecca and had 11 children. His wife, Rebecca died in 1890. He married his second wife, Maggie Wells Hunter, seven years later and had 2 children named Torrance and Elmina. (Mena)[10]Maggie Wells Hunter, died on January 9th 1940, AT THE AGE OF 79 YEARS OLD

Ransom Hunter died on September 24, 1918, at the age of 93. October 17, 2017 Ransom Hunter was featured and celebrated in the AT&T ( along with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction) 2018 Edition of The Heritage Calendar..The late Ransom Hunter – Born a slave and became one of the most well-known African-American entrepreneurs of Reconstruction-era North Carolina.. The Mount Holly Historical Society paid tribute to Ransom Hunters ' life by naming him their 2017 Historic Person of Year...in May, Mount Holly Historical Society paid tribute to Hunters ' life by naming him their 2017 Historic Person of Year. turned farmer and business owner, who served on public school committee and founded two churches that are still in existence today. From slave to baron After he was free from slavery sometime around 1860, Hunter acquired land around the corner of Hawthorne Street and West Glendale Avenue in Mount Holly. Dr. Eric Van Wilson, 58-Year-old great-grandson of Hunter, was one of eight descendants who were able to attend the Monday gathering. They were joined by Mount Holly Historical Society President Mary Smith, who spoke briefly about the reason the society's board of directors selected Hunter for honor.