Mary Shafer Hunter: Strength, Service, and Pioneer Spirit
Mary Shafer Hunter (1848–1903)
Daughter of John Oliver and Hannah Casto Shafer
Born in Salt Lake City in 1848, Mary Shafer grew up surrounded by the pioneer strength and faith of her parents, John and Hannah Shafer, who crossed the plains with the Saints in 1849 and later settled in Granger after years of hardship and perseverance. Mary was born as her parents crossed the plain in Council Bluff and she inherited their same quiet determination and spirit of service—qualities that would define her life and the family she helped build.
In 1868, she married Jacob Hunter, a hardworking and enterprising young man who shared her pioneer heritage and devotion to family. Together, Mary and Jacob raised ten children, creating a home filled with love, labor, and faith.
As their family grew, Jacob sought a place where his children could learn the value of honest work and community life. In 1884, he sold three homes in Salt Lake City and moved his family west to Granger, purchasing a 165-acre farm near 2700 West and 3500 South. With the help of his father, Jacob built a strong stone home—its two-foot-thick walls a testament to the endurance that ran through both the Hunter and Shafer lines.
Life on the farm was steady but demanding. Mary managed her large household with grace and resourcefulness. She tended a thriving garden, preserved fruit, and raised her children with the same pioneer fortitude she had seen in her mother. Under her care, the Hunter home became a gathering place—filled with warmth, hospitality, and the comforting aroma of fresh bread and woodsmoke from the rock smokehouse her husband built nearby.
Mary supported Jacob’s efforts in improving the land and community. The Hunters were deeply involved in building drainage ditches that made the swampy Granger farmland productive, maintaining canals, and contributing to the local school district. Their work helped lay the foundation for a growing settlement that would one day become part of West Valley City.
Mary’s life was one of quiet heroism—the kind lived day by day in service to family, faith, and community. Her untimely passing in 1903, following surgery, left a deep ache in the family and community she had so faithfully nurtured. Yet her influence continued through her children and grandchildren, whose names and deeds became woven into the story of Granger’s growth.
Through Mary, the Shafer and Hunter families were united—two pioneering lineages whose determination and devotion shaped the very heart of early Granger.
