A Plethora Of Gunters

Lately I've been finding a lot of Gunters. The only problem is I'm not sure most of them have anything to do with my line. It seems for every one I find a few more come along with that person. I'm a little overwhelmed. The only way I can really explain it is like this; somebody just handed you a large bag of puzzle pieces and some of the pieces belong to another puzzle with a similar design--good luck putting it together! Argh.

At any rate, there is one Gunter I've been chasing after for a while, Henry J. Gunter a brick mason. I have no proof he is a relation (I'm thinking brother) of my ggg grandfather Richard William Gunter, just a sneaking suspicion. Why do I think this? Well, they were both living in West Ely, Marion County, Missouri in the late 1840's. They both got married a year apart in the same town, show up together as neighbors in the 1860 and 1870 census, and both enlist in Iowa with the same regiment for the Civil War. I requested the enlistment papers for both, only Henry's was found, and his birthplace is listed as Guilford County, North Carolina. Richard was born in North Carolina too. I can't find him on the 1880 census, and lose his trail. Incidentally, there is a Louisa Gunter that shadows them around, also born in North Carolina, who married the brother of Richard's wife. Again, I have no proof, but I suspect she is a sister (I've been chasing after her too). At the very least they could all be cousins to each other.

So last week, when I was chasing down Nancy Gunter's grave, which I blogged about here, I came across a snippet about an H.J. Gunter. It was transcribed/abstracted from the Pueblo Colorado Weekly dated 19 February 1874, stating that the widow of H.J. Gunter of Denver arrived in Pueblo that afternoon with the body of her husband. Richard ended up in Pueblo, Colorado sometime after 1880. Is this H.J. my Henry J. Gunter? It's possible, but I have to do more digging around.

Either way, what has been on my "to do" list for a long time is to look at probate/deed/land records for the areas where the Gunters lived in Missouri. I just need to sit down and figure out which ones to order from the Family History Library first. (sigh)