Andrew Hunter (Methodist preacher)

Andrew Hunter (1813–1902) was a noted Methodist preacher, sometimes referred to as "The Father of Methodism in Arkansas."

Hunter was born in Antrim, Ireland and came to the United States with his parents when he was two years old. The family settled in Pennsylvania where Hunter received a common-school education. In 1833 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1835 he moved to Manchester, Missouri, near St. Louis, and began teaching school. In 1836 he received a license to preach and spent one year preaching to the Choctaw nation near Muskogee, Oklahoma and then appointed to a missionary school at Bayou Baynard, He was ordained a deacon in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1839 he became an elder in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the fall of 1842 he was made presiding elder of the Washington District, which comprised a large portion of Southern Arkansas. He served as pastor of what is now First United Methodist Church in Little Rock<http://fumclr.org/welcome/history/> twice, first appointed in 1842. He became one of the most popular preachers in Arkansas as well being well respected throughout the country. In 1866-67 he was elected to represent Dallas and Bradley Counties in the Arkansas State senate and was president of that body. In 1866 Hunter was elected US Senator from Arkansas by the State Legislature along with Elisha Baxter, however he was not allowed to take his seat in Congress due to disenfranchisement of Southern States at the beginning of Reconstruction.Augustus Hill Garland took his place instead. He was married in York, Pennsylvania, in 1844, to Anna M. Jones, and had four children.

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