John Hunter

The story behind this man leads to the story behind his mausoleum, which he had built for the benefit of his parents, siblings, and their spouses and children. The building has darkened over time since it was first built at the dawn of the 20th century, as seen at left. An obelisk was also erected at the rear of the lot with the Hunter name inscribed at the base. Although he was unmarried for all but the last 5 of his 79 years, the mausoleum includes the remains of a dozen relatives. Above ground lies John Hunter and his adopted son, while 11 others are in a brick-lined underground vault directly beneath.

The Hunter family arrived in Philadelphia from Ireland, part of the massive influx of Irish citizens due to that country’s tragic famine. An 1850 census record says John’s parents were John (1810-1858), a grocer, and Jane (1813-1905), whose maiden name was Chambers. Two uncles lived there who influenced young John; William Hunter and James Chambers were both saddle makers and that’s how John picked up the trade that would define his career.

Three sisters were added to the family: Jane (1852-1905), Rebecca (1853-1926), and Martha (1854-1869). They grew up at 1302 South Street but Martha died as a teenager in an Atlantic City drowning accident. Jane married in 1881 but her husband (who was also a “saddler”) left her a widow and childless in 1884. Rebecca married in 1872 but her husband left her a widow with four children in 1883. One of those little ones only lived nine months.

The 1900 census summarizes the Hunter family living together at 1172 South Broad Street this way: John ran a prosperous harness manufacturing business, providing a wealthy lifestyle for his mother Jane, his sister Jane, and his sister Rebecca and her three now-grown children. Two live-in servants carried out the daily affairs of the household.

The real family story, however, is much more complex. Coming from a Presbyterian background, it could be imagined that Jane Chambers Hunter may have been indirectly related to Pastor John Chambers, who started a church that was renamed in his honor after he died in 1875, Chambers Memorial Presbyterian Church. There’s no proof of any relation, but it is known that Jane and John were regular members of that church.

It merged in 1897 with a church founded by Dr. Samuel Wylie, originally known as First Reformed Presbyterian Church. His son was the pastor in the 1870s when Rebecca Wilson brought her children to be baptized, and sister Jane was married there. (Chambers-Wylie Memorial Presbyterian Church built a Gothic Revival-style sanctuary at 315 South Broad Street in 1901, and John was a major benefactor. The congregation disbanded 100 years later but the building remains alive and well on that part of Broad Street called the “Avenue of the Arts” as the home of Broad Street Ministry.) 

The Hunters were a tightly-knit family, all involved in the raising of the Wilson children after their father died. Rebecca’s first girl was named Jane Hunter Wilson, living nine months before succumbing to cholera in 1874. That November she gave birth to John Hunter Wilson. Then Gertrude followed in 1876 and Joseph in 1881, just before her husband died in 1883.

What happened next was unusual: Rebecca’s brother legally adopted John Wilson. Exactly when and why this happened is unknown. During her married life, she and Joseph Wilson resided at 2143 Bainbridge Street, eight blocks west of the Hunters, but the 1880 census lists John Wilson, age 5, living with the Hunter family, not the Wilsons. 

His name was still John Hunter Wilson, described as a nephew in John Hunter’s household on South Street, living with John, his mother, her sister Martha Chambers, and John’s other sister, Jane. Rebecca moved back in with the Hunters after Joseph’s death and would have therefore been involved in raising John, just as she was with her other two children. But at some point after being raised in the Hunter household and before going to college, John Hunter Wilson changed his name to John Wilson Hunter, and he went by that name for the rest of his life.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1897 and earned his M.D. in 1900. The young physician built a prosperous practice on Pine Street and got married but had no children. This is his passport photo before they toured Europe in 1921. Then he retired at age 50 to enjoy the country life in Maryland, halfway down the Delmarva Peninsula. He died there 18 years later of prostate cancer.

Meanwhile, John Hunter’s life revolved around much more than his day job. He made wise investments in real estate so that in 1900, he listed his occupation simply as “gentleman.” He had invested in real estate, owning over 600 properties by 1906. He was a founding board member and vice-president of Southwestern National Bank of Philadelphia from 1887 until his death in 1917. Their main office is shown here after it was built in 1901 at the southeast corner of Broad and South St.

On top of that, he was president of the board of managers of the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association during that same time frame. However, the secretary of that board (and son of the co-founder), Horatio Pennock Connell, was the guiding force during those years. The board approved a land purchase in 1907 to create sections A through L, the “alpha sections.” In 1911 it also accepted a $150,000 payment from the city for 24 acres along Cobbs Creek. The city needed the land to build Cobbs Creek Parkway, essentially splitting the cemetery in half with a public highway. 

Jane Chambers Hunter died at age 91 on January 21, 1905. By that time his mausoleum had been built at Mount Moriah, so she joined several relatives who had already been relocated there. Less than five months later, John’s sister Jane died from stomach cancer at age 53.

Later that year John learned about the needs of a Presbyterian home for the elderly that was recently established for those who were not as well off  as his mother. He gave $30,000 to build and furnish the Jane Chambers Hunter Memorial Chapel at the Presbyterian Home for Aged Couples and Aged Men. It was a central part of the home at 4700 City Avenue until it closed in 2007.

Having been responsible for the final expenses of these and others that had passed on (including his sisters’ husbands and his aunt), John was on a first-name basis with the undertaker. That man, Thompson Carson, had been in the business since 1867 and it continued under his son’s direction after he died in 1910. 

Thompson Carson was also on the board of Mount Moriah, and the two families were even close, geographically. His business and home was in the 1300 block of South Street, the same block as the Hunters. Then he moved in 1902 to 1213 South Broad Street, where they could have actually waved to each other as neighbors, since the Hunters moved to 1172 South Broad a few years before that. They are even close in their final resting places; Thompson Carson’s mausoleum is shown here on the left, next to the Hunter plot on the right.

So it was no surprise that John knew Thompson’s widow, Elizabeth Ferguson Carson. A note from a descendant even claims they had known each other since childhood. It may not have surprised anyone that he asked her to marry him in 1912 and she so quickly said yes after being the wife of another man for 45 years.

But their married life was cut short by John’s death in 1917. There was no noteworthy story about his life in the papers except the usual obituary in the classified section. Attempts to locate his will and death certificate have not ben successful.

After Elizabeth died in 1921 her children buried her in the Carson mausoleum. Rebecca Hunter Wilson was interred in the Hunter mausoleum in 1926, so the last to be laid to rest here was her son, John Hunter’s adopted son, Dr. John Wilson Hunter.