Joseph Hunter, one of the most distinguished pioneers of Southeast Missouri, came to New Madrid District in 1805, and located on a grant purchased from Joseph La Plante, near New Madrid. Very soon after he removed to Big Prairie, and with his brother-in-law, Samuel Phillips, located near the present town of Sikeston. Joseph Hunter was a son of a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, who immigrated to America from the North of Ireland prior to the Revolutionary War. During the early settlement of Kentucky the family removed to Louisville. A brother of Joseph, who had been an officer in the continental army, received a grant of land on the river above the town in what is still known as "Hunter's Bottom." The mother Joseph and a sister were killed by the Indians while in a flax-field near their home; a brother, Abraham, also met his death at the hands of savages. Nancy Hunter, another member of the family, is mentioned in connection with the history of Ste. Genevieve.
Upon the organization of the Missouri Territory, Joseph Hunter was appointed by President Madison a member of the territorial council. He had a large family, and his descendants are very numerous, embracing many of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens of this State. His eldest son, Milford, removed to Grand Gulf, Miss. The second son, Abraham, married Sally Ogden, and became the father of three sons and three daughters, viz: Issac, a judge of Scott County Court; Joseph, a wealthy citizen of New Madrid, and Benjamin F., living near Sikeston, one of the largest land owners in Southeast Missouri; Catherine, who married first Americus Price, and second Marmaduke Beckwith; Mary, who married Archibald Price, and Amanda. Abraham Hunter in his day was probably the best known politican in Southeast Missouri, and served for twenty years, successively, in one or the other of the branches of the State Legislature. James, another son of Joseph Hunter married Lucy Beckwith, and had two children: Joseph, killed in the battle of Pilot Knob, and Kate. David, a fourth son, married his cousin Nancy Phillips, by whom he had three children: Samuel, Betty and Jenny. Joseph Hunter, Jr., married Elizabeth Johnson, and was the father of two children: maria, who married Maj. James Parrott, and Ann, who became the wife of Joseph H Moore. Thomas, the youngest son of Joseph Hunter, Sr., married Eliza Meyers, and reared two children: Nannie Kate, wife of Col. Thomas Brown of Columbus, Ky., and Senator William Hunter. Of the daughters of Joseph Hunter, Mary married Andrew Gobiney, of Cape Girardeau, whose daughter is the wife of Hon. Louis Houck, and Hannah married Mark H Stallcup, of New Madrid County. Capt. William Meyers was the first settler on the site of Benton. He was a native of North Carolina, but had lived for a time in Tennessee. He was a commissioned officer in the War of 1812, and distinguished himself as an Indian fighter.
That part of Scott County formerly known as Tywappity Bottom, which extended from Commerce to Bird's Point, began to receive settlers as early as 1798; among them were James Brady, James Curran, Charles Findlay, Edmund Hogan, Thomas, John and James Wellborn, and Stephen, Josiah and Robert Quimby. About 1802 or 1803 Thomas W. Waters, a South Carolinian, located on the site of Commerce, and established a trading post and store, in partnership with Robert Hall. He also kept a ferry across the Mississippi. He died within a few years after coming to this country.
The first settlement in the territory now embraced in Mississippi County was made about the year 1800 by John Johnson, who obtained a grant of land, and built a cabin on or near the present Bird's Point. The next year Edward Mathews, with his sons, Edward N., Charles, Joseph, James and Allen, settled on what was then known as St. Charles Prairie, but which has since borne the name of "Mathews' Prairie." They were joined within the next two or three years by Charles Gray, Joseph Smith, John Weaver, George Hecker, and Absalom McElmurry. The last named married Elizabeth Gray, and in 1810 removed to Arkansas, but returned to the Prairie three years later. About 1805 Abraham Bird, the founder of Cairo, Ill., crossed the river, and established himself on the land previously occupied by John Johnson, where he remained until the overflow of 1814-1815. He then went to Louisianna, and a few years later his youngest son, John Bird, took possession of the homestead.