Ransom Hunter

At the age of 13, in 1838, he was sold away from his family from a Charleston, SC plantation to the Hoyle plantation in Dallas, NC. While a slave, he taught himself how to read, write and perform arithmetic. He also became a master of carpentry and blacksmithing, among other trades. He married his first wife Rebecca and had 12 children, who were all slaves on the plantation.

One year before the Civil War broke out, the Hoyle family (owners of the plantation Ransom Hunter belonged to) decided it was too expensive to have as many slaves and granted him, his wife, and four of his 12 children freedom. The other children were sold. The Hoyle family gave him 80 acres of land along the Catawba River, which was harsh terrain and considered inadequate for agriculture. He named it Freedom. When he realized the rocky land was an important thoroughfare between Charlotte and Stanley, he established a livery stable for travelers to have their horses shoed. His wife, Rebecca died in 1890. After her death, he married Maggie Wells Hunter for which he had 2 children with.

At the time there were no known blacks to own property. Hunter built a large home for his family and worked vigorously to include cornfields and groves of pecan, apple and peach trees on the property. He also had farm land for chickens and cows. In addition, he had 2 livery stables and a general store. He would use his profits to purchase surrounding land. He sold parcels to former slaves from South Carolina who had been displaced after being emancipated.[2] Other freed slaves came to the farm to start businesses and work on the farm because they felt welcome. He then sold land for profit to A.P. Rhyne to build the area's first cotton mill in 1875[3] and then incorporate it to the town of Mt. Holly in 1879. The name derived from the famed yarn mill in Mount Holly NJ, in hopes of riding the coattails of their success. He donated land for a school and 2 churches: Mt. Sanai Baptist Church and Rock Grove A.M.E. Zion Church which is presently Burge Memorial United Methodist Church. He directly sold the land that was developed as Downtown Mt. Holly.

Ransom Hunter died on September 24, 1918, at the age of 93. A small headstone was replaced in 2014.