The late James H. Dunn
of Clay
County was one of the characters whose life for
many years was most
honorably connected with the county's domestic
development and its
public affairs. His life here covered a span of
some twenty years, and
his death, December 31, 1901, terminated a
career of rare uprightness
and a life filled with substantial successes and
with sincere and
enduring friendships. He conducted one of the
large farms on Red River,
managing, as he did, some eleven hundred acres
of his own and his
wife's estate and devoting his time to its
substantial improvement and
successful cultivation.
On
becoming a resident of Clay County, Mr. Dunn
settled near Benvanne, and
it was in that community he was best known and
there his fastest
friendships were made. He came here from
Denison, Texas, near where he
owned and operated a farm and where his
citizenship shone with all the
brilliancy of a loyal and faithful man. He
became a citizen of Grayson
County at the close of the Rebellion, moving
there from Jasper County,
Missouri. From his boyhood he resided in the
latter state and there
received a fair education in the rural schools.
He joined the great
throng bound
for the gold fields of California in 1849,
crossing the plains, as was
the custom of the time, and engaging in mining
on the coast state. His
trip to the Eldorado can be said to have been
successful, for he gained
not only experience but some means, returning,
as he did, with several
thousand dollars which his sluice mining brought
to his account. He
returned home by the water route and, once more
in Jasper County,
engaged in handling cattle and in freighting
goods. The war came on
soon afterward, and he joined the Confederate
service and was
commissioned an officer with the rank of major.
He had charge of the
commissary under Gen. Jo Shelby, whose friend he
was, and continued in
the service till the end of the war.
At once upon his taking
up civil
life, he came to Texas and entered the
mercantile business at Bonham.
Later he was identified with Warren in a similar
capacity, and after an
experience of several years abandoned that life
and resumed farming. He
also dealt in stock, and he cast his lot with
Clay County in 1881 that
he might have more room and more freedom for his
operations.
James H. Dunn was born
near
Nashville, Tennessee, December 31, 1831. His
father was William Dunn,
in early life a merchant at Dunn's Cross Roads,
near Nashville, and
later a farmer and breeder of fine cattle in
Jasper County, Missouri.
The latter was born in Maryland, October 22,
1788, married Mary H. Henderson,
of Kentucky, and died in Jasper County,
Missouri. His wife was born
February 9, 1801. Their two children were James
and William, the
latter being born September 1, 1829, and being
killed while serving in
the Confederate army during the Civil War.
It was his popularity
as a citizen
and his honor and integrity as a man that
prompted his choice as a
public servant in Clay County. He was not by
nature a seeker after
public favors, but the choice to fill a vacancy
in the commissionership
of the first district fell upon him and he
accepted. He was elected a
number of times, as a Democrat, and filled the
office several years.
July 22, 1869, Mr. Dunn
was married
in Grayson County, Texas, to Miss
Dorthula Henry, born in Blount County,
Tennessee, and a
daughter of James
and Nancy (Kinnie)
Henry, of Virginia and Tennessee, respectively.
Mrs. Dunn
was one of nine children, but three of whom
survive, viz.: Caroline Camp,
of Montague County, Texas, and Arthur
Henry, of Grayson County. The Henrys came to
Texas in 1859
and settled in Grayson County.
1901
Denison City Directory
Joseph H. Dunn, groceries, coal, feed, hay, grain,
113 South Rusk Avenue. Residence 1526 West
Crawford Street.
1907 Denison City
Directory
Josephus H. Dunn, public weigher, 111 South Rusk
Avenue. Residence 1526 West Crawford Street.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunn were
never
blessed with children but reared and educated a
nephew, John W. Dunn,
now in Oklahoma. The household was identified
with the Christian church
and practiced Bible teachings in their daily
life. Mr. Dunn was a
gentleman of wide information, read the St.
Louis Republic for fifty years, was kind
and sympathetic
toward the unfortunate, had convictions, and
expressed them freely and
frankly when the occasion required. He was a
Master Mason.
[Source:
B. B. Paddock, History
and Biographical Record of North and West
Texas (Chicago:
Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp.
649-650.]
