Captain Jefferson Hunt led the largest party of forty-niners from Salt Lake to California and guided the first Mormon pioneer settlers to San Bernardino. In 1851 he colonized Huntsville, and in 1860 he represented Weber County in the Utah Territorial legislature. In 1863 he was instrumental in planning Huntsville and Valley Irrigation, directed the building of the first school and meeting house, and served as the first Branch President of Huntsville until 1865.