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The first white person to settle in what is now Marshall County was John Gunter, from whom Guntersville got its name. He was either a Welshman or Scotsman who was born in North Carolina, went to South Carolina as a child and migrated further south at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Gunter came to the great bend of the Tennessee River (near present George Houston Bridge) around 1785, where he was fortunate to find a salt deposit. He decided to settle near the river and trade with the Indians, the majority of which were Cherokees.

A Cherokee by the name of Chief Bushyhead, head of the Paint Clan, brought his beautiful 15 year old daughter, Ghe-go-he-li, to exchange for Gunter's salt. Gunter accepted the bargain and changed his bride's name to Katherine. Chief Bushyhead and Gunter signed a treaty stating "as long as the grass grows and the waters flow the Indians can have salt."

Gunter was described as a man of great ability and exemplary character. The Cherokees admired Gunter and accepted him into their tribe. After other white settlers arrived in the area, Gunter was called on by both the whites and Indians to act as mediator in disputes and treaties. Before his death in 1835, Gunter had become a wealthy landowner and an influential person of the area.
John and Katherine Gunter had seven children---three sons and four daughters. Their sons were: Samuel, who married A-yo-ku: Edward who married Elise McCoy first, and later Letitia Keys; and John Gunter, Jr. Their daughters were: Aky, who married Alexander McCoy; Catherine, who married James B. Vaught first, and later Oliver Lipe; Elizabeth who married Martin Schrimsher; and Martha, who first married Hugh Henry and later Dick Blackburn.

Samuel Gunter died in Alabama, never migrating to the Indian Territory, but he left a son, George Gunter, who became a captain in the Second Cherokee Mounted Guards during the War Between the States.

Edward Gunter, who fought for General Jackson at Horseshoe Bend, started a ferry across the Tennessee River in 1818. He was also called "Edmond" and "Ned", and had seven children by his two marriages.

John Gunter, Jr. was his father's favorite, but at 21 he was described as a wild and reckless spender. He moved to the Indian Territory and operated a store at Webber Falls and also owned a steamboat that plied between Cincinnati, Ohio, and his home town of Gunter's Landing. He died aboard his boat of smallpox and was buried below Morrilton on the Arkansas River.
Of John and Katherine Gunter's four daughters, only Aky is not mentioned in the will and it is presumed that she died after marrying Alexander McCoy. They did not have any children.

Catherine Gunter was born in 1811, and moved to the Indian Territory in 1838. The following year she married Oliver W. Lipe. They operated a store at Tahlequah and had several Negro slaves who cared for their farm. The Lipe's had six children: DeWitt Clinton Lipe, born Feb. 17 1840; Nancy Gunter Lipe, born in 1844 and killed in a skirmish near Fort Gibson in 1826; Jennie, born in 1846, married P. M. Blackstone and died in 1894; Clark C., born in 1853, died in 1901; Oliver died in infancy and Fanny, born in 1853, died when she was 16.

Elizabeth Gunter, born in 1804, married Martin M. Schrimsher at Creek Path in 1831. She died at the home of a son, John Gunter Schrimsher near Claremore in 1877. John Gunter Schrimsher was born in 1835, served as captain in the Confederate Army, was twice sheriff of Cooweescoowee District, Indian Territory and later served as judge and senator of that district. He was killed by lightning July 5, 1905.

Martha Gunter married Hugh Henry, whom her father evidently disliked very much. John Gunter, Sr. left Martha the same amount of money as his other children, but his will specified that her brothers be in charge so Henry could not get it. Martha later married Dick Blackburn and moved to Indian Territory, where they settled at Fort Smith, Ark.

John and Katherine Gunter's home was located at the foot of the hill near the present George Houston Bridge for many years. The large double-story house had a "dog trot" hall between the double partitions. The house was "L" shaped and had a large smokehouse at the end of the"L".

John Gunter and his sons were living at Gunter's landing in October 1813 when Gen. Andrew Jackson and his army came through on their way to fight the Creeks. The army crossed the Tennessee River at Ditto's Landing (Whitesburg), marched across Brindley Mountain to Brown's Valley and camped for two days near Warrenton whole establishing a depot for supplies. The depot later became know as Fort Deposit.

While Gen. Jackson was waiting for his supplies to catch up with the main army, he raised a volunteer regiment of Cherokees to go with him and fight the Creeks. Edward Gunter was given the rank of major in the company, and Richard Brown was made colonel. When the regiment of Cherokees arrived at Horseshoe Bend, they were sent in to fight the Creeks in advance of Gen. Jackson's main army. The Cherokee regiment numbered only around 200, but inflicted a great deal of damage to the Creeks. Edward Gunter was wounded during the battle, but survived and was taken back to his home on the Tennessee River.

Col. David Crockett, the famous Tennessee pioneer and statesman, was one of the first persons to use the trail which Gen. Jackson's army cleared. Col. Crockett, along with several scouts, followed the trail while trying to catch up with Gen. Jackson.

John S.C. Abbot recorded Col. Crockett's trip, and his account of the famous scout's first glimpse of Raccoon (Sand) Mountain is particularly interesting, since it gives us a picture of what the area looked like in 1813. The exact location which Abbot describes is not known, although it was somewhere near the top of Sand Mountain, quite possibly near the present community of Mount High on Highway 205. Hog Creek, which winds through the Mount High area, could be the stream which Abbott refers to in his recordings. "Upon the banks of a beautiful mountain stream there was a wide plateau, carpeted with the renowned blue grass, as verdant and soft as could be found in any gentleman's park. There was no underbrush. The trees were two or three yard apart, composing a luxurias overhanging canopy of green leaves, more beautiful that art could possible create. Beneath this charming grove, and illuminated by the moonshine, which, in golden tracer pierced the foliage, there were six or eight Indian lodges scattered about.

Before John Gunter died in 1835, he named the Rev. William Potter, superintendent of Creek Path Mission, as executor of his will. The old pioneer had amassed a small fortune down through the years and left large tracts of cleared land, many slaves and around $5,000 in cash. Before the Gunter will was finally settled, several persons had died in gun battles, and it became one of the most talked about events in the early history of Marshall County.

Although Gunter left around $5,000 in cash, he didn't say where it was located. It was generally thought that Gunter had buried the money near his house, so the Rev. Potter formed an excavation party to dig for it. The money was never found. But Louis Wyeth noted that John, Jr. acquired several thousand dollars soon after his father's death.

If John, Jr. did find the money, he may have felt justified because the Indian law held that the first son to obtain his father's estate had the lawful right to it. John, Jr. took possession of his father's house and built a large store and warehouse some 150-yards away. The Gunter house was the largest structure in the county for many years, and when John, Jr. painted it white, it became known as the "White House".

John C. Johnson purchased some of the Gunter property from John. Jr. In the spring of 1836. Included in the sale was a boarding house, a land office and a large stock of goods. Johnson sold the property and goods in the fall of the same year to Col.. Nathaniel Steele.

Questions continued to arise over the legality of John, Jr.'s title to the property, and his right to sell it. In the meantime, the Rev. Potter, unable to settle the will, had become digested and resigned as executor. Sheriff Alexander Riddle of Jackson was named to take his place and immediately got a court order to sell the Gunter property and divide the money among the Gunter heirs, just as the will specified.

The property was sold to a company of men from Claysville for $1,500. The men included Wallace P. Macfarlane, Cornelius Allen, William Wiggs and George Allen.

When the property was sold to the Claysville men, Steele's title to the land became worthless, although Gunter had sold it to him in good faith. Steele vowed to get his property back or die trying, and the matter began to draw great interest locally. While many local people took sides in the feud, the Gunter children---the ones most concerned---stayed out of the quarrel.

One Sunday morning the whole thing came to a climax when Nathaniel Steele and his brother Graves Steele met near the Gunter house with the new owners of the property to settle the dispute one way or another. It soon became apparent that nothing could be settled verbally, and shooting erupted.

The Steele brothers and a man named Collins ran quickly to the Gunter smokehouse, which offered a perfect vantage point of the area. James McFarland was killed immediately, and Eli Feemsted was wounded and died a few day later. The Steele brothers and Collins were arrested following the shooting, but later released on bond.

The trio's trial came up a few months later at Claysville. Nathaniel and Graves Steele and Collins got another one of the Steele brothers to drive them to the trial in his surrey. In the meantime, some of the McFarland clan had laid logs across the road leading to Claysville and had stationed themselves in and old log house nearby. When the unsuspecting party came by, the Macfarlanes opened fire.

Nathaniel and Graves Steele were killed on the spot and the other Steele brother and Collins were wounded. This ended the most famous feud in the early days of Marshall County.

John and Katherine Gunter had many descendants, and the most famous of them was their great-grandson, Will Rogers, who was a movie star and popular humorist. He was killed in a plane crash in 1935, exactly 100-years after John Gunter, his great-grandfather, died. Will Rogers had already accepted an invitation from the Guntersville Chamber of Commerce to speak there before he was killed.

James B. Rogers of Beverly Hills, Calif. was a brother of Will Rogers. He wrote the following letter, dated July 8, 1947:

" I would like to state that I am not a Rogers family historian, however, the Indian side of the Rogers family came from Georgia. Robert Rogers, who was my great-grandfather, and who was part Cherokee, moved to the middle west with the great migration of the Cherokee tribe. His wife was named Sallie Vann.

"Robert Rogers, had two brothers, John and James. My grandfather, Clem Vann Rogers, was born near what in now Maysville, Okla. He married Mary Schrimsher of Dutch descent. Her mother was Elizabeth Gunter Schrimsher, who was half-Cherokee.

" My Schrimsher's grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee by the name of Katherine and her grandfather was John Gunter, a white man of Welsh descent who had settled in the old Indian Territory at a place that became known as Gunter's Landing.

"From this it would appear that John Gunter and Katherine Gunter would be the great-grandparents on the maternal side of Will Rogers."

Will Rogers' anniversary is observed each November 4 in Claremore, Okla.

Source article: Alabama Historical Quarterly, fall issue, 1947.

I'm told by Denbo family historian Barbara F. Grimes that Will Rogers was my 2nd cousin four times removed because my GGGGG grandparents, John and Katherine Gunter, were Will's Great grandparents.
-Bryan Mayberry

Barbara writes:

Letitia Denbo was not Edward Gunter's first wife. The wife
through whom he had our line was Elsie McCoy.

John and Catherine Gunter had several children. One of them was
Edward Gunter, through whom our line comes. Another was Elizabeth
Hunt Gunter, though whom Will Roger's line comes. Edward and
Elizabeth were sister and brother.

Edward Gunter and Elsie McCoy had several children, including
Jane Gunter. Jane Gunter and Leroy Keys had several children,
including Letitia Victoria Keys, my great grandmother, and I
believe, the great grandmother of your father, is that right?

Elizabeth Hunt Gunter and Martin Matthew Scrimsher had several
children, including Mary America Scrimsher. Mary America
Scrimsher and Clement Vann Rogers had several children, including
Will Rogers.

Mary America Scrimsher and Jane Gunter were first cousins,
because they both were 2 generations removed from John and
Catherine Gunter--had them as grandparents.

Letitia Victoria Keys and Will Rogers were second cousins,
because they both were 3 generations removed from John and
Catherine Gunter--had them as great grandparents.

That makes Will Rogers my second cousin 3 times removed, because
I am 3 generations removed from Letitia Victoria Keys, his second
cousin.

That would make Will Rogers your second cousin 4 times removed,
because you are 4 generations removed from Letitia Victoria Keys,
his second cousin.

I hope this is clear.

Sincerely, Barbara

Copyright 2003-2009 by BJM