Background
Hunter was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1841. He was the son of William and Mary (Godfrey) Hunter.
Whiteside Godfrey emigrated to Newcastle, Pa. about 1858.
congressman politician statesman
Hunter was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1841. He was the son of William and Mary (Godfrey) Hunter.
Whiteside Godfrey emigrated to Newcastle, Pa. about 1858.
He received his early education in Belfast, Ireland.
He began to study medicine in Philadelphia and was admitted to practice.
In 1861 he enlisted in the 45th Pennsylvania Infantry, being later assistant-surgeon and surgeon (149th and 211th Pennsylvania). After service in South Carolina, he was in the Army of the Potomac from 1862 to 1865, and was twice captured: at Gettysburg and at the Wilderness. In 1865 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and, attracted by oil discoveries, settled in Burkesville, Ky. Here he practised medicine.
Entering politics, Hunter soon became a Republican leader in Cumberland County. He was postmaster of Burkeville, 1860-73; representative in the legislature, 1873-74, 1874-75, 1881-82; and delegate to the national conventions of 1880 and 1892, in the former supporting Grant to the end. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1886 and 1894, he was an unsuccessful candidate in 1888, 1892, and 1896. The quiet but thorough way in which he organized the Republicans in his constituency earned him the nickname of "Gumshoe. " In 1895 he directed the state-wide precinct organization and canvass which gave Kentucky its first Republican governor, William O. Bradley.
In 1896 Hunter was nominated by the Republican legislative caucus for the United States Senate, but his election was opposed by Governor Bradley and his followers. He was several times within one vote of election, but the session ended in a deadlock. Renominated in 1897, after another long, bitter contest, he withdrew to allow the Republicans to elect W. J. Deboe. Hunter was minister to Guatemala and Honduras from November 8, 1897, to December 8, 1903. He seems to have been well disposed toward the governments to which he was accredited, opposing certain claims by citizens of the United States and suggesting arbitration in other cases. In 1901 he signed two treaties with Guatemala, on trade marks and on property tenure.
Returning to Kentucky politics, he was the real, though not the nominal, manager of the Republican gubernatorial campaign of 1903, which was unsuccessful. At the same time, he was nominated by a Republican convention in the eleventh congressional district, to fill the seat in the national House vacated by the death of Vincent S. Boreing, while D. C. Edwards was nominated by another convention in the same district and accepted by the district committee. The state committee decided for Hunter, however, and after a three-cornered contest, in which Hunter, Edwards, and John D. White, candidate of the "Law and Order" Republicans, all claimed the election, the House Committee on Elections awarded Hunter the seat. He supported the renomination of President Taft in 1912 and himself sought the senatorial nomination but later withdrew. Hunter for a. time owned the water and light company at Somerset, Ky. , and constructed a trolley line there. Later he sold his interests and invested in mines in Torreón, Mexico, which had to be abandoned because of disturbances. His last years were spent in Louisville, where he died.
In 1869 married Susan J. Alexander. Two sons and a daughter were born to them.