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Description
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Wilson Price Hunt (1783 -1842) owned land on what is now Tyson property according to plat maps from 1838 and 1847. He moved to Missouri in 1804 and formed the Pacific Fur Company with John Jacob Astor in 1810. Hunt traveled to trade in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. He returned to St. Louis in 1817 and farmed and developed a parcel of land southwest of the city until his death. President Monroe appointed Hunt the Postmaster of St. Louis in 1822, a position he held until 1840.
Wilson Price Hunt and his wife Anne Lucas Hunt (m. 1836) were enslavers. In 1840, Hunt held four people in slavery. Anne Lucas Hunt was the widow of Wilson’s brother, Theodore Hunt, and the couple may have inherited people whom Theodore Hunt had enslaved. After Wilson Hunt's death, Anne Lucas Hunt continued to hold people in slavery, enslaving eight people in St. Louis Ward 3 in 1850 and St. Louis Central Township in 1860. A twenty-year-old man enslaved by Anne Hunt who had just been baptized died on April 29, 1844. In 1845 Anne Hunt held five people in slavery at St. Louis city block 181. She held one person in slavery in 1850 in Carondelet, and in 1855, Mary Rose, a 13-year-old Anne Hunt enslaved was baptized at Saint Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis. In 1860 Anne Hunt enslaved three people in the central township of St. Louis.
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Bio
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Wilson Price Hunt was born on March 20th, 1783. In 1804, he moved from New Jersey to Missouri. In 1810, Hunt connected with John Jacob Astor and they formed the Pacific Fur Company. A year later, Hunt was sent to lead an expedition for the company to the west coast, with the intent to establish a trading post with China. The Astorians, as they were called, were the first major party to cross the United States to the Pacific after the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1812, they arrived in what they named Astoria, Oregon. This route would later become the Oregon Trail. From Oregon, Hunt continued on to Hawaii and Alaska in his ship The Beaver. Another one of his ships, The Pedlar, was held by the Spanish in San Luis Obispo, CA, on smuggling charges. In 1817, Hunt returned to St. Louis and farmed and developed a parcel of land outside of the city (potentially his Tyson property). In 1822, President Monroe appointed him the Postmaster of St. Louis, a position that he maintained until 1840.
Hunt married Ann Lucas Hunt, the widow of his cousin, Theodore Hunt. They had no children. Hunt is listed as owning property on the Tyson land in 1838 and 1847.
Wilson Price Hunt and his wife Anne Lucas Hunt (m. 1836) were enslavers. In 1840, Hunt held four people in slavery. Anne Lucas Hunt was the widow of Wilson’s brother, Theodore Hunt, and the couple may have inherited people whom Theodore Hunt had enslaved. After Wilson Hunt's death, Anne Lucas Hunt continued to hold people in slavery, enslaving eight people in St. Louis Ward 3 in 1850 and St. Louis Central Township in 1860. A twenty-year-old man enslaved by Anne Hunt who had just been baptized died on April 29, 1844. In 1845 Anne Hunt held five people in slavery at St. Louis city block 181. She held one person in slavery in 1850 in Carondelet, and in 1855, Mary Rose, a 13-year-old Anne Hunt enslaved was baptized at Saint Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis. In 1860 Anne Hunt enslaved three people in the central township of St. Louis.
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Dates of Tyson Land Ownership
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1838
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1847
