This week’s theme is “Favorite Photo” and while I had several favorites to choose from week, this candid photo of my great grandparents was one that I continued to come back to again and again, specifically of my great-grandfather, William Franklin Gunter. While I did not know my great-grandfather the family resemblance is strong between my great-grandfather and my grandfather, it would be easy to believe that this photo captures a fun-loving couple with a sense of humor they shared with their son. I believe this photo was taken before my grandfather and his siblings were born, possibly to celebrate their relationship or because they had a camera at their disposal.
William Franklin Gunter was born on 28 September 18861 in Winfield, Union County, Pennsylvania to Thomas & Ida May (Mills) Gunter. He was given the first name of his grandfather who was killed a month before the Civil War ended and his middle name was to honor a maternal Uncle who shares the middle name.
William Franklin Gunter married Esther “Maude” Sutliff (born 2 July 1889, died 16 December 1978) on 4 June 1913. They had three children together, William Thomas Gunter (1914-1981), Robert Leon Gunter (1915-2013), and Frances Leona (Gunter) Hofmeister (1929-2022). He and his father ran The Gunter Silk Mill, a silk factory, in a few Pennsylvania towns. During the Great Depression, they hired on more workers and gave bonuses to employees. The Gunter Silk Mill continued operations through WWII.
William predeceased his wife on 17 March 1974 in Shamokin Dam, Snyder County, Pennsylvania.
- “Mr. William F. Gunter,” (Danville) The Danville News, 18 Mar 1974, p. 5, col. 2-3 ↩︎
No Ancestor Left Behind 