(5 Sept. 1850-27 Aug. 1912), cattle breeder. Born near Closeburn, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Parents: William Hunter and his wife Margaret Kellock. At the age of about 18, Robert Hunter came to Canada with his brother John. He worked north of Toronto, then returned to Scotland about 1870, probably after the death of his brother. Robert Hunter was married in 1875 to Agnes Boden (25 Dec. 1854-14 Dec. 1915), who was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. (sp. Boddan, Bodden also found). After a period as a farmer, on a rented property on the south shore of Loch Lomond, Robert Hunter returned to Canada in May 1888, accompanied now by his wife and four children. (Other children were born in Canada) Later that year he rented the 450-acre farm of Roderick McLennan in the 4th Concession of Lancaster Township, GC. (Lots 37 & 38; this man was not R. R. “Big Rory” McLennan)
In 1888, being unable to purchase the McLennan property, as he wished to do, Hunter bought a farm near Maxville. For some years, he worked both farms with the help of his sons. He moved the herd of prize Ayrshires, which he had been building up since shortly after his arrival in Canada, to Maxville. Leaving his sons to manage the Maxville farm, and having terminated his involvement with the farm in the 4th of Lancaster, he undertook the management of a model dairy farm at Lachine, Que., for William Watson Ogilvie of the Ogilvie flour-milling family and afterwards for his son A.E. Ogilvie. After one of his sons took over the Lachine position, Robert Hunter returned to Maxville and his property there about 1906. The original Maxville-area farm of the Hunter family, purchased in 1889, was called Springhill Farm, and was on the North 1/2 of Lots 4, 5, and 6 in the 18th Concession of Indian Lands, Kenyon Township. In 1906 another property adjoining it on the North 1/2 of Lots 7 and 8 in the same concession was purchased; the Hunters called this new acquisition Hillview Farm.
By the time of his return to his old base at Maxville, Robert Hunter was widely known as an Ayrshire breeder. He often showed his cattle at major fairs. Robert Hunter was director of the Canadian Ayrshire Breeders’ Association for 12 years, and was its president in 1906 and 1907. From 1898 till his death in 1912, he is said to have visited Scotland every year to purchase further quality Ayrshires. He was also involved in the breeding and importation of Clydesdale horses. A part of his business was the importation on consignment of cattle and horses from Scotland to Canada. On 28 June 1911, at Springhill Farm outside Maxville, in a major sale which was very widely attended and attracted much attention, he sold off his Ayrshire herd. (Glengarry News 30 June 1911) A report in the Canadian Ayrshire Herd Book (Vol. XXII, 1913, pp. xxvi-xxvii) called the prices “a world’s record.” The sum of slightly over $40,000 realized by the sale is said to have astonished contemporaries, and most certainly it was huge by the frugal GC standards of the time. For $40,000 it would have been possible to buy (unstocked) about two dozen fairly standard GC farms in 1911. It is not clear why the sale took place, except that Robert Hunter was in ill health. He died the next year at his farm near Maxville. (seven children surviving him)
After his death, his wife moved to Grimsby, Ont., where she died. They had a son also called Robert Hunter (Robert Hunter the younger, 1879-1965). Two grandchildren of Robert Hunter 1850-1912 (children of Robert Hunter the younger) have written brief memoirs of the family, namely William (Bill) Hunter (22 Nov. 1911-1 Nov. 1989), who was a farmer east of Maxville, and his sister Mrs Catherine Elder.
Glengarry News 30 Aug. 1912 (portrait) * Minutes of Annual and Directors’ Meetings of the Canadian Ayrshire Breeders’ Association 1913, pp. xvi, xix, xxxv (presumably in Canadian Ayrshire Herd Book 1914) * Hunter gravestones, Maxville Cemetery * Hunter family memoirs by Bill Hunter, Manor Chatter Oct. & Nov. 1991 (photoc. also of MS in present author’s collection) and by Mrs Elder, Manor Chatter May 1995 * Maxville (1991) 401, 582-584 (with photographs) * Campbell (1990), 440-447 (geneal. hist. of the family in Canada through the line of Robert Hunter the younger, with pictures) * material kindly supplied, 1997, by Ayshire Breeders’ Association of Canada, includes fine portrait probably from their publications * Ross, Lancaster, 197 * obituary of William Hunter, GN 29 Nov. 1989 * W.W. & A.E. Ogilvie: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. XII and Morgan (1912) * Robert Hunter elected vice president of Canadian Ayrshire Breeders’ Association, GN 17 Feb. 1905 * Hunters ship carload of Ayrshires to Toronto fair (to tour other fairs before returning), GN 1 Sept. 1905 * Mrs Hunter and others of the family leave GC to live in Grimsby, GN 11 April 1913