Walter Eugene Hunt , my GGrandfather, from 1874 to 1896, operated the business on the northwest corner of Main and Water Streets. Below are the entries in his 1874-1875 Ledger
and give a good picture of the supplies being purchased by Fayette area residents.  From the late 1840's to 1874, most products not produced locally where brought into the Westfield/Fayette Valley by drayers.  Men who used 5 to 7 hitches of oxen to pull big high wheeled freight wagons over dirt trails through the timbered hills and wet prairies.  In the early years the pioneer village of McGregor and the more established village of Dubuque functioned as Mississippi River ports to supply the settlers on the frontier to the west.  The supplies  to Fayette came up the Mission Road from Dubuque, or across the big ridge of hills from McGregor.  W.E. son, my grandfather, Walter Reuben Hunt told of his father and his father traveling through the deep forest to McGregor to sell Fayette area products and then to return with commodities to sell to the merchants in Fayette.  The trip would take many days to complete.  It is from these "merchandising" trips that the entry into the furniture store occurred.  
       Until 1874, the supplies to the Village were pretty basic, due to the time, effort, and cost of bringing in supplies by oxen, and later horse team.  By the late 1860's and into the 1870's railroads would be connecting Dubuque to the growing villages to the west as Marion and Cedar Rapids.  Supplies would at that time start to move up to Fayette from Eads Grove/Manchester and Marion/Cedar 
Rapids.
      By 1873 the railroad had pushed northward from the Marion area.  The real boom years for Fayette would start in 1874, as the railroad would bring a revolution in commodity movement.  On the other had, it would also mean the demise of many local industries, crafts, trades, as they could not compete with the commodities brought from "big business" elsewhere.  One can see, by studying the list of products sold that by 1875, a multitude of new items are available.  Note the types of fish and the appearance of  canned goods.  However the basic local grown plant and animal products still supply the staples for the community.  

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Mr. Hunt was born near Banbury, England, June 6, 1851, and with his parents came to Chenago County, New York,  when he was three years of age. At the age of four, in 1855, the family came to Fayette, Iowa.  Oct. 31, 1878, he married Amanda Thompson, who was born Sept 13, 1856, near Grannis Hollow, four miles southeast of Fayette.  Amanda migrated from Ohio to Brush Creek (Arlington) in 1853 with her family.  Mr. Hunt engaged in the furniture and undertaking business on the northwest corner of Main and Water Streets, from 1874 to 1896. In 1896, after failing health they decided to sell the business and move to a farm one mile southwest of the cemetery, or one half mile north of the road leading to the old Wilcox place, the first cabin in Fayette County (1840), and on the west side of the road. The Hunt's occupied this farm from 1896 to 1920, when they again became residents of Fayette and moved back into town to the house on the northeast corner of Main and Seventh Streets, which is at the south end of Main. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have been active in affairs of the Methodist Church, which Mr. Hunt contributing much labor on the remodeling of the church. They were also interested in Masonic and Eastern Star Activities.

In 1938 the many of the Hunt Clan gathered in front of the Legion Hall (the old Congregational Church of the late 1800's) in Fayette, to  celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of Amanda Katura Thompson, 82 and Walter Eugene Hunt, 87.  This would be the last major gathering of the Hunt Clan in Fayette.  By 1945 W.E. and his brother Reuben Wrench and wife Laura Farr Holmes (first row, 3 & 4 from the left) would pass away).  From that point on the Hunt Reunions would move to the west, many at the Bar 2 Ranch in Keating Oregon, or in the Dakota's.  Like many families of European descent, they next generations moved to search out new land to claim until it gone. The last of the Hunt's to make a living in Fayette is my grandfather (first row, second from left) Walter Reuben Hunt, and his wife standing behind him, Winnifred Mary Strayer.

Always active and interested and active in the Fayette community, Walter Eugene Hunt, age 89, and his wife of 62 years, Amanda Katura Thompson Hunt, age 84, take part in the 1940 UIU parade (above) moving north from the depot area down King Street.  Reuben Sr. Hunt originally brought the family to Fayette in late 1855 and settled on three lots just below College Hill on the east side, which he began work on the finishing of the Seminary (College Hall).  Reuben would become a chief stone mason on the project, and remain in Fayette the rest of his life as a stone mason, brick layer, builder.  Walter Reuben Hunt, son of Walter Eugene, would farm the area to the north of the Big Rock road, with the farmstead on the road leading to Albany, on the right side of the picture below, within sight of the old furniture store.  W.R.  was the last of the Hunt's in Fayette, passing away in 1977, ending 120 years of the Hunt family in Fayette, Iowa.

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