Notizen zu dieser Person
Ernest was born before his mother married and would have been surnamed Ontis. Exactly 2 years later his mother married Henry Newton Hunt, who was known as Ernest's "step" father. Ernest and his other illigitimate brother, John Leslie, would have taken the Hunt surname at that time. In 1909 Ernest was adopted by Charles & Sara Bergen and was known by the surname Bergen until he ran away about 1918 and reverted to using the name "Hunt." The Court record of this adoption is in St. Louis MO index of old court records, located in Book 2256, page 232, date Oct. 5, 1909. The Bergen family immediately moved to Parsons KS for a few years, Ernest finally attending school only from Sept. 16, 1912 until Dec. 16, 1913 according to local school records, at which time the family moved back to Rock Township in Jefferson County MO. There Ernest was finally baptised Feb. 20, 1916 by the Presbyterian Church of Sulfer Springs.
The reasons Ernest gave for running away, from what he told me, was that his adoptive parents were "stingy" and never gave him enough to eat! They supposedly made scotch pudding and only allowed Ernest one small dollop while the "hired man" could take as much as he liked and go back for more! Ernest does not seem to have felt like he was valued as more than unpaid labor, which was often true of adopted children in that time and place. By 1918 he was on his own and he soon found work driving mules as a mule "skinner" or teamster, after he proved he could handle refractory animals. He'd already had experience with mules from farm labor he'd done with the Bergens and on neighboring farms.
Ernest claimed that he worked briefly for a traveling circus, but was possibly cheated out of his pay or somehow left behind. Later he "worked on the first hard surfaced road in Texas" and at some point he worked briefly as a "cowboy", but quit because he didn't like the fare of " beans-- just beans" day in and day out while riding herd! He mentioned going into the Army and being stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, but did not mention that he had deserted and spent the rest of his service at "hard labor" at Ft. Leavenworth Kansas! Nor did he mention his 1st marriage, soon after his release, in Wichita KS, which ended in divorce. All this I discoved only after his death.
Ernie had lied about his age, keeping the same birthday but adding a year, to facilitate his enlistment in the Army. The Certification of Military Service from the National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO: "This certifies that Ernest Hunt 6 456 784 was a member of the Regular Army from May 18, 1920 to December 22, 1922. Service was terminated by Dishonerable Discharge. Last Grade, Rank, or Rating-Private. Active Service dates, same as above." They further replied to my query that: "The only indication of place of entry we have is Parsons Kansas, Ernest's home of record at time of entry..." So it seems that Ernest had returned to that town he knew at some point after leaving the Bergens in Missouri and probably also after a stint as a cowboy and then the road work in Texas.
National Archives, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Record Group 153), Court Martial # 142721, Box 7463 6W2/38/7/C: Statement of evidence... in the case of Pvt. Ernest Hunt, 1st Co. C.A.C. Ft. Amador, C.Z.
1. Pvt. Ernest Hunt was delivered to me at the Balboa Police Station at 9:30 A.M. Nov. 22, 1920.
2. He was dressed in fatigue clothes at the time. He stated that he had left Fort Amamdor at 7:30 P.M. Nov. 21, 1920 and had gone to the oil docks. The foreman at the dock gave him permission..."
After his release from the Army, Ernest came to Wichita KS where the 1923 city directory has him working as a laborer and living in the basement of 121 South Dodge Ave. He soon met and married Violet Sparks and moved in with that family. The wife and her mother filed for divorce, Ernest was accused of not providing adequite support for her and being gone on frequent road trips, probably working, but possibly fooling around too. After all, he'd just gotten out of the Stockade where he'd spent two years at hard labor!
Ernest returned to Illinois and reunited with most of his relatives in 1924, after leaving his first wife. Meeting his brother Marcus at Mark Ontis' house, according to a letter written in 1942. He even drove as far as Lockport IL where both Gertrude and Stanley Ontis recalled that he drove a shiny new "Moon" make of Touring car which impressed them. He turns up in the St. Louis City Directory that year, living at 4909 A Spalding Ave., the only year he is listed there. He is listed as a student, perhaps because he may have taken some adult or vocational classes. His travels so far as Chicago seem to have led him into more stable occupation. Ernest went to work with the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Oramental Iron Workers Union, inititiated by local 179, a now defunct Chicago local, on July 15, 1925, his membership number 117459.
In later life he also witnessed cremations at a cemetery in Schiller Park IL. Working for Casper Korer was his last job worked before retiring. He'd also worked at the "Georgia Marble company" previously and also told me that he'd helped move and erect the Indian Statues in downrown Chicago, which occured in 1928, as well as many monuments in cemeteries, including the one in Appleton WI where he met his 2nd wife Alice, mother of his daughter.
Ronald
Schulz
