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The Hutto family line begins in the USA begins in 1735. This is Laura's ancestry line that has been farming and homesteading in one form or another ever since. The Hutto family first settled in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
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The Hutto family is of southern German origin, or perhaps what is now Switzerland. The original orthography is "Otto". The name was pronounced somewhat differently by the southern planters and the spelling “Hutto” came to reflect the way it was pronounced.
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The family patriarch was Isaac Hutto, who was born around 1693, most likely in the southern Rhineland, possibly Switzerland. He there married Maria Catharina [surname unknown]. Isaac and family arrived in the New World on the Oliver which docked in Charlestown in July 1735, settling in a colony of German-Swiss immigrants in Orangeburg. The spiritual needs of this settlement were met by two Rev John Giessendanners, whose detailed records of baptisms, marriages and burials has fortunately been preserved and published.
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This Hutto line is unique in that there were no other Huttos that entered the country around the same time. It could be the unique spelling the name took on, but it is not difficult to trace this unique Hutto line through the generations.
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Records show that Isaac petitioned for 350 acres of land once he finished paying his servitude debt. At the time, his family consisted of himself, his wife, a son 15 years old (Charles), daughter 16 (Anna), daughter 13 (Sarah), son 12 (Peter), and a son 2 (Jacob). His grant of 350 acres was on Limestone Creek on Fenwick Street. He received the Royal Grant on 1 March 1744.
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In the mid-1800s, a number of Hutto ancestors moved to Alabama (primarily Clarke County) where they earned their land grants by homesteading.
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Laura's paternal grandmother was a Hutto. She was raised in Clarke County, AL. Her son, Laura's father, moved away from Alabama as an adult, first to Illinois and later to Minnesota.
As a child in Minnesota, Laura helped maintain the family garden, a half-acre garden that provided enough fruits and vegetables to last through the harsh winters. As is true in much of the fertile midwest, once the chance of frost is over, you just plant seeds and they grow extremely well (not much like Arizona). Laura grew up working the garden, canning and dehydrating foods with her family. Laura's father was an avid hunter, so the family followed a true homesteading tradition even it wasn't "cool" to do so in the modern 1970s and early 1980s. The family also maintained hay pastures for animal fodder on their 30 acres.
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After serving in the Army for 22 years, Laura had a desire to get back into gardening, farming, and animal husbandry. She has been doing so ever since.