Frances Hunter was born at sea after her parents set sail for America. She was the daughter of John Henry and Frances Mortimer Hunter. She married three times. First to James Lawrence, Jr. who died shortly after the wedding, second to Captain Matthew Arbuckle and third to Alexander Welch. She married Capt. Arbuckle on December 17, 1774 in Botentourt County, VA and they had four children, all males, James Harvey, General Matthew, Thomas and Samuel. Her marriage to Alexander came after Matthew's death and they had four known children; Agnes, Frances and two unknown. Ann Royal wrote a book on Greenbrier County and in her research she interviewed Frances, "I am now (1824) sitting on the site where this fort once stood, not the least vestige of it however remains. It is now the property of Mrs. Welch, whose house and garden stands within the limits once occupied by this fort. From Mrs. Welch, who is now in her seventieth year, I collected these particulars. She is now sitting by me and goes on to relate: " That she was one of the earliest permanent settlers of Greenbrier and lived within a mile of the fort just mentioned, which was called Fort Savannah. She was then the wife of a Mr. Arbuckle who was in the famous battle of the Point, and spent all his life in guarding the settlements. There was, besides Fort Savannah, another about eight miles northeast of it called Donnallys Fort...." But to return to Mrs. Welch, the most extraordinary woman I ever saw, she has been and now is possessed of much personal beauty. Although this female has spent her life in the western wilds of America; often running from the Indians and cooped up in forts among people as rude as the savages themselves, yet she is eminently qualified to adorn the most polished assembly. Her pleasing and courtly manners are unequaled and every was bewitching; and a mind unimpaired, she possess all the gaiety and sprightliness of youth; but her predominate trait is benevolence. God knows what she must have been in youth for she is irresistible now."