I will give you what Mr. Wyeth had to say about John Gunter:

"John Gunter was born in North Carolina and the tradition in his family is that when a child, he was captured by an Indian tribe and taken to South Carolina."

"After he grew big enough to shift for himself, he escaped from his captors and took refuge with the Cherokees which whom he ever after made his home."

"He married a Cherokee women and possessing great energy and sense, he acquired considerable wealth and died in the fall of 1835 at a very advanced age, my impression is somewhere about 85 years. His wife died the same fall."

"He left quite a large family of children, all grown. The three sons, Edward, Samuel and John, were all well educated, intelligent men, the two elder sober, industrious habits and very highly esteemed. John, the youngest, about 21 or 22 years old when his father died, was somewhat wild and reckless and pretty much of a spend thrift. Four daughters, who were married, also survived their parents."

"Shortly before his death, the old gentleman had a will by which he appointed as his executor, Rev Wm. Potter, the Missionary at Creek Path Station. The will was dully probated in Jackson County, for Marshall County was not yet created and the executor entered upon the discharge of his duties."

"But soon h found it was much easier, or at least more in a accord with his feelings, to attend to the spiritual rather than the material of his charge, and soon resigned as executor."

"The old man Gunter had long been engaged in trade with the Indians, had a good quantity of cleared land, a large number f slaves and was supposed to have a great deal of money."

"When he died, the clearings were there, the slaves were there but the money could not be clearly seen. What had become of it? It was as generally believed as anything else that he had at least $5,000 in silver at the time of his death, but where was it?"

"All the nooks and crannies about the house and the stables were searched and nothing passed. Then the idea got out that the money was buried somewhere around and Mr. Potter told me that while executor, he had superintended digging about the garden and orchard, but nothing had been found."

It was said, however, that young John, who was his father's favorite, knew a good deal more than anybody else about that buried money, and I have it from very reliable authority, that he carried over to Huntsville, and deposited in the bank several thousand dollars in silver, which, from their appearance, were supposed to have been buried. The impression on my mind was and still is, that the man had found the place where his father had buried his coins."

"I don't know much about Indian law, but have been informed that when the father died, the child first got into possession had the best title, and as Edward Gunter had a good home and plantation about a mile south of his father's residence where William Allen Loveless now lives; and as Samuel Gunter had a good home and farm on Town Creek and as all the daughters were married and settled, naturally enough it happened that young John thought he had the best right to the home place and he took it."

"The home pplace of the elder John Gunter up to the time of his death was about 200 yards from the creek and very near the foot of the hill in what is now Guntersville. After his death, his son John built a large warehouse and a handsome store house adjoining about 50 yards from the creek. This was the largest house in the county, was painted white and was known to all over the county and beyond as 'The White House'."

When I came to Marshall County in 1836, John C. Johnson was living at the Gunter house and cultivating the farm. 'The White House' was occupied by Johnson, Rayburn and Co. They had by far the largest stock of goods in this region. Mr. Johnson also kept a boarding house. In 1836 he sold out to Col Nathaniel Steele."