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Alvah Dunnning (1816-1902) was a Adirondacks Mountains (NY) guide skilled in tracking and hunting. He is unfortunately credited with exterminating the presence of wolves and moose in the Adirondacks.

Dunning was a fierce recluse, stereotypically cantankerous, temperamental, and hard to get along with, according to A History of the Adirondacks by Alfred L. Donaldson, published in 1921. Dunning disliked people, especially women and the wealthy urbanites who hired him as a guide and would not consume what they killed.

Dunning’s death is ironic: he stayed in a New York City home overnight while attending a trade show, and in his ignorance had blown out the bedroom gas lamp. He died of asphyxiation.

URL: http://www.adirondackhistory.org/newguides/dunning.html

A 2012 article in the Kingston (MA) Journal describes the the life and eccentricities of the 19th-century hermit Dan Fuller. Information is based on an 1893 interview printed in the Boston Journal.

Fuller was said to have grown up in the forest and was most comfortable away from civilized life. He lived in a hundred square-foot hut crammed with belongings.

Fuller subsisted on hunting, including monies from town-paid bounties on rodents, and was said to eat only game (especially birds he had shot or trapped) unless he received gifts of other foods.

Observers described him as simple, honest, independent, and likely not capable of holding steady employment.

Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.

URLs: http://kingstonjournal.com/dan-fuller-the-hermit-of-kingston/
http://piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/lives-alone-the-story-of-kingstons-famous-hermit/