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Guide to the Clifford B. Hunter Collection
2010.13
2010.13
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Title: Clifford B. Hunter Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 2010.13
Contributing Institution:
History San Jose Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2.2 Linear feet
(5 boxes)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1910-1960
Date (inclusive): 1886-1998
Abstract: This collection consists of photos, correspondence, school yearbooks, publications, and other papers relating to Hunter’s
education, businesses activities and genealogy. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs and Hunter’s genealogical
research.
creator:
Hunter, Clifford B.
Clifford Brooks Hunter (1908-1998) was a technology entrepreneur and founder of Hunter Technologies Corporations, and long-time
resident of the Santa Clara. Hunter was born in 1908 in San Jose, California to Augustus B. Hunter (1884-1960) and Mary Jane
Hunter (nee Malley). He graduated from Santa Clara Union High School (SCHS) in 1928 and went to work on various projects with
his father. Hunter married Delores Nalley in 1939 and worked for a time at Signal Oil Co. installing hoists and air compressors
before he began selling automotive equipment in the Santa Clara valley. Hunter stopped working after a heart attack in 1950,
but in 1968 began a circuit board company with his wife, their daughter Judi, and son-in-law, Jim Craik. Among Hunter Technologies’
clients were IBM, NASA-Ames, and the U. S. Navy. The company was sold in 1987, after nearly 20 years of being held by the
Hunter family. Hunter more or less withdrew from the company after its sale, but remained active in the Santa Clara community
as a Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce and Santa Clara American (the city’s weekly newspaper) booster, a scoutmaster, and a
50-year Mason. He was also active in planning class reunions for the SCHS class of 1928 and was very active in performing
genealogical research on the origins of his family, who had been early Santa Clara Valley settlers. Hunter was a long-time
friend with journalist Dick Barrett (another SCHS 1928 graduate), a former columnist for the Mercury News.
Clifford B. Hunter marked the fourth generation of Hunters in the Santa Clara Valley. Augustus Brooks Hunter (1826-1902),
was the first of the Hunter clan to reside in the area, deciding to locate to the Santa Clara Valley in about 1852 for health
reasons. Augustus Brooks Hunter married Ann Rebecca Rutledge (d. 1905) in 1855. Rutledge was a descendant of Edward Rutledge,
a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the cousin of another Ann Rutledge, who was purportedly the first sweetheart
of Abraham Lincoln. In Santa Clara, Augustus established a 160 acre ranch and a pear orchard. Augustus was elected to the
California Legislature in 1881, serving two terms, after which, in 1888, he became a San Jose councilman.
Frank A. Hunter (1860-1935), Augustus Brooks Hunter’s son, continued the family’s orchard interests until his death. Frank
married Lydia A. Ortley in 1882. Ortley was the daughter of Capt. J.J. Ortley, who sailed around the Horn to California in
1849 and later ran a fleet of packet boats that operated between Alviso and San Francisco, carrying quicksilver and produce.
Captain Ortley married Almira Wade in 1858, whose family came to California in 1849 through Death Valley as part of the Jayhawker
Party.
Frank’s son, another Augustus ‘Gus” Brooks Hunter (1884-1960), continued the family pear orchard after his father’s death,
and was the operator of an ambulance company and a Santa Clara County well inspector.
Conditions Governing Access note
The collection is open to the public for research by appointment.
Property rights reside with History San Jose. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact History San Jose
Research Library.
Clifford B. Hunter Collection, 2010-13, History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California 95112-2599
The collection was processed by an intern in 2010.
This collection consists of photos, correspondence, school yearbooks, publications, and other papers relating to Hunter’s
education, businesses activities and genealogy. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs and Hunter’s genealogical
research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Contact History San Jose for donor and accession information.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Alviso (Calif.)
Architecture--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Computer industry--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Electronic circuit design
Fruit trade--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)
Genealogy
High schools--California--San Jose
photographs
Pioneers--California--Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County (Calif.)
yearbooks