History of the our Dunn Ancestors
Compiled by Cleo Griffin notes by Cleo are bold italic
This history was taken from a book 'A MEMORIAL TO CHARLES HENRY AND PRISCILLA JANE LINDSAY HAUCK VOLUME II PRISCILLA JANES ANCESTRY 'Assembled and written by Forrest R. Hauck, unless other wise indicated.
James Dunn and Mrs. James Dunn
James Dunn was b. about 1680, is the first line for any records, his birthplace and parents having eluded records in which we have searched. In fact, the only places James can be identified, are the land recors , for the sale of land to: my son William which William conveys " to my beloved sister Jennet Hunter, one tract of land in Union, being the same tract I bought of my father James Dunn " ( a month earlier).
Children of James Dunn and Mrs. James Dunn
A .Janet or Jennet Dunn b. about 1715 of Mansfield, Windham, CT, md. John Hunter
B. William Dunn b. about 1717 of Windham , CT. our direct line.
Sources: Deeds of Union, Tolland, CT, FHL F# 06191, pp 37, 74, 84.
William Dunn and Esther
William was born about 1717 to James Dunn and his wife, whose name is yet unknown. William married Esther whose earliest records are from Windham County, CT. William and Esther and family moved about 1759 to a farm in Sussex Co., NJ near New Town (Newton) when new lands in what was then in western Connecticut were being opened to settlement and where children grew to maturity. We have no records of the deaths of William and Esther.
Children of William Dunn and Esther
- Esther b. 19 Dec 1743;
- William Dunn b. 16 Aug 1745 D. 3 July 1778 at the Wyoming Massacre in Luzerne ,County PA
- Thomas Dunn b. 15 Oct 1747
- Hannah Dunn b. 10 Nov 1749
- Simeon Dunn b. 28 Jul 1751
- Samuel Dunn b, 1753 our direct ancestor
- Molle Dunn b. 29 Jul 1755
- Levi Dunn b. about 1757 d. 3 Jul 1778 at the Wyoming Massacre in Luzerne ,County PA
- Sarah Dunn b. 1767
Samuel Dunn and Elisabeth or Phebe Coykendal
Samuel was born in 1753 at Enfield, Hartford, CT. The fourth son and sixth child of William Dunn and his wife Ester who were residents of Hartford and Tolland Counties , owning land in the Town of Union before moving to Enfield where all of Samuel's older brothers and sisters and Molle, the sister just younger , were born. About 1756 William and Esther (Samuel's parents) moved their seven children to Sussex County New Jersey, which at that time, was still within what was believed to be the western side of Connecticut. The Family was added to or in or near New Town, Sussex with another brother and sister, bringing a total of four brothers and sisters for Samuel to grow among, work with and play with. This family and other Dunn which followed, rich with sons, established reputations for hard work and industry, a reputation which followed them all the way to Bear Lake, ID.
Here in New Town and Sussex County, Samuel grew into manhood. Here in New Town in December, 1775, he enlisted in the military service of the Jersey Blues, quartered at Trenton until January, 1776, when they were ordered to Quebec, Canada. Their march took them to Albany for a short time, past Fort Edwards and Ticonderoga to Crown Point, then to Montreal and Quebec on the plains, arriving sometime in February, 1776. Canada was occupied.
On 4 May the British "sallied out upon us and we retreated" to Sorel where Samuel and some other soldiers had Small Pox and remained for a while. They left by boat for Ticonderoga
Where he remained until his time was up. After being discharged in December, 1776, the soldiers were requested by General Gates to reenlist for six months, and Samuel did so. He served some of this time at Albany, NY, some at Philadelphia and Easton, PA where they were ordered to Greenwich, Sussex, NJ where they were discharged in June, 1777. He returned home to Newton.
About 1 April 1778 he enlisted for 9 months in the State Troops of Pennsylvania at Wilkes Barre, during which he and three of his brothers were engaged in a battle known as the Wyoming Massacre, against the Tories and Indian allies. Many women and children were killed, as well as some soldiers, brothers William and Levi among them. Samuel and Thomas escaped the slaughter. Much of his duty here in rich coal and farm lands along the Susquehanna River was the protection of the families in this wilderness area. His sister Sarah Adams and family were among those inhabitants.
Wyoming Valley massacre
THE first severely bitter fruit of the alliance of Great Britain with the American savages was tasted in the Wyoming Valley in the summer of 1778. That valley is a beautiful region of Pennsylvania, lying between mountain ranges and watered by the Susquehanna River that flows through it. The first European known to have trodden the soil of the valley was Count Zinzendorf the Moravian, seeking the good of souls. The region was claimed as a part of the domain of Connecticut granted by the charter of that province given by Charles the Second, and was called the county of Westmoreland. The first settlers there, forty in number, went from Connecticut about the middle of the last century. When the old war for independence broke out, the valley was a paradise of beauty and fertility. As that war went on, and an alliance between the British and Indians became manifest, the people of the valley felt insecure. They built small forts for their protection, and called the attention of the Continental Congress, from time to time, to their exposed situation. When St. Leger was besieging Fort Schuyler, on the Mohawk River, in 1777, parties of Indian warriors threatened the valley, but the inhabitants there were spared from much harm until the summer of 1778.
Among the Tory leaders in northern and western New York were John Butler and his son Walter N. They were less merciful toward the Whigs than their savage associates in deeds of violence. John Butler was a colonel in the British service; and in the spring of 1778, he induced the Seneca warriors in western New York to consent to follow him into Pennsylvania. He had been joined by some Tories from the Wyoming Valley, who gave him a correct account of that region; and on the last day of June he appeared at the head of the beautiful plains with more than a thousand men, Tories and Indians. They captured the uppermost fort, and Butler made the fortified house of Wintermoot, a Tory of the valley, his headquarters. The whole military force to oppose the invasion was composed of a small company of regulars and a few militia. When the alarm was given, the whole population flew to arms. Grandfathers and their aged sons, boys, and even women, seized such weapons as were at hand, and joined the soldiery. Colonel Zebulon Butler, an officer of the Continental Army, happened to be at home, and by common consent he was made commander-in-chief. Forty Fort, a short distance above Wilkes-Barre, was the place of general rendezvous, and in it were gathered the women and children of the valley.
On the 3d of July, Colonel Zebulon Butler led the little band of patriot-soldiers and citizens to surprise the invaders, at Wintermoot's. The vigilant leader of the motley host, informed of the movement, was ready to receive the assailants. The Tories formed the left wing of Colonel Butler's force resting on the river, and the Indians, led by Gi-en-gwa-tah, a Seneca chief, composed the right that extended to a swamp at the foot of the mountain. These were first struck by the patriots, and a general battle ensued. It raged vehemently for half an hour, when, just as the left of the invaders was about to give way, a mistaken order caused the republicans to retreat in disorder. The infuriated Indians sprang forward like wounded tigers, and gave no quarter. The patriots were slaughtered by scores. Only a few escaped to the mountains, and were saved. In less than an hour after the battle began, two hundred and twenty-five scalps were in the hands of the savages as tokens of their prowess.
The yells of the Indians had been heard by the feeble ones at Forty Fort, and terror reigned there. Colonel Dennison, who had reached the valley that morning, had escaped to the stronghold, and prepared to defend the women and children to the last extremity. Colonel Butler had reached Wilkes-Barre fort in safety. Darkness put an end to the conflict, but increased the horrors. Prisoners were tortured and murdered. At midnight sixteen of them were arranged around a rock, and strongly held by the savages, when a half-breed woman, called Queen Esther, using a tomahawk and club alternately, murdered the whole band one after the other excepting two, who threw off the men who held them and escaped to the woods. A great fire lighted up the scene and revealed its horrors to the eyes of friends of the victims, who were concealed among the rocks not far away. Early the next morning, Forty Fort was surrendered, on a promise of safety for the persons and property of the people. The terms were respected a few hours by the Indians while John Butler remained in the valley. As soon as he was gone, they broke loose, spread over the plains, and with torch, tomahawk, and scalping-knife made it an absolute desolation. Scarcely a dwelling or an outbuilding was left unconsumed; not a field of corn was left standing; not a life was spared that the weapons of the savages could reach. The inhabitants who had not fled during the previous night were slaughtered or narrowly escaped. Those who departed made their way toward the eastern settlements. Many of them perished in the great swamp on the Pocono Mountains, ever since known as "The Shades of Death." The details of that day of destruction in the beautiful Wyoming Valley, and the horrors of the flight of survivors, formed one of the darkest chapters in human history. Yet Lord George Germain, the British Secretary for the colonies, praised the savages for their prowess and humanity, and resolved to direct a succession of similar raids upon the frontiers, and to devastate the older settlements. A member of the bench of Bishops in the House of Lords revealed the fact, in a speech, that there was "an article in the extra-ordinaries of the army for scalping-knives."
The settlements in the valleys of the Mohawk and Schoharie were great sufferers from Indian and Tory raids, during 1778. The Johnsons were anxious to recover their property and influence in the Mohawk country, and Brant, their natural ally by blood relationship and interest, joined them. Their spies and scouts were out in every direction. At a point on the upper waters of the Susquehanna, Brant organized scalping-parties and sent them out to attack the border settlements. These fell like thunderbolts upon isolated families or little hamlets in the Schoharie country, and the blaze of burning dwellings lighted the firmament almost every night in those regions, and beyond. Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, was laid in ashes in May. In June, Cobleskill, in Schoharie country, and the blaze of burning dwellings lighted the firmament almost every night in those regions, and beyond. Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, was laid in ashes in May. In June, Cobleskill, in Schoharie county, was attacked by Brant and his warriors, who killed a portion of a garrison of republican troops stationed there, and plundered and burned the houses. In July a severe skirmish occurred on the upper waters of the Cobleskill, between five hundred Indians and some republican regulars and militia. These marauders kept the dwellers in that region in continual alarm all the summer and autumn of 1778, and, finally, at near the middle of November, during a heavy storm of sleet, a band of Indians and Tories, the former led by Brant and the latter by Walter N. Butler, fell upon Cherry Valley and murdered, plundered, and destroyed without stint. Butler was the arch-fiend on the occasion, and would listen to no appeals from Brant for mercy to their victims. Thirty-two of the inhabitants, mostly women and children, were murdered, with sixteen soldiers of the garrison. Nearly forty men, women, and children were led away captives, marching down the valley that night in the cold storm, huddled together half-naked, with no shelter but the leafless trees and no resting-place but the wet ground. Tryon county, which then included all of the State of New York west of Albany county, was a "dark and bloody ground" for full four years.
Tiring of military duty, Samuel Dunn returned to Newton and his family where he met a Dutch girl Phebe Cokendall, christened Elisabeth after her mother but was known as and called Phebe all her life. She was the daughter of Daniel Kuykendall and Elisabeth Van Aken of Kingston, Ulster NY and Deer Park (Port Jervis) Orange county, NY. Where she was christened on 22 Nov 1766 in the Dutch Reformed Church.
Samuel began acquiring farm land in Phelps Township as early as 1801, when he purchased a 14 ½ acre lot 39 adjacent to Sodus Road about 5 miles south of Lyons, NY. He and Phebe had family in Wayne and Ontario counties in NY and in Sussex County, NJ. They also had family in Wyoming County on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.
It would appear from the birthplaces of their children that they did a lot of traveling between Phelps, and Newton in the early days of their marriage. Peter (their son) was born in Lyons, and buried in Phelps nearby almost 20 years later. Perhaps the older sons stayed in Phelps on the 14 ½ acres to work it. Between 1815 and 1818 he consolidated his holdings by adding selected acreages to it. Lot 43 with 100 acres in 1815, part of Lot 44 with 20 acres in 1816 and in 1818 50 more acres in Lot 44. Now he had 184 acres in one piece, enough to keep the Dunn's busy the entire summer months.
Phebe died 25 March 1811 at Lyons, where she had probably been visiting one of her children. She was only 45 years old but lived a full life, bearing 13 children to Samuel with all the work associated with child rearing. Her oldest daughter, Sarah Otto, at Lyons, already had five, with the sixth on the way. Phebe was buried in Rhea Cemetery which could be seen from her window. She was the second of Samuel's family to be interred there, following Peter, but four sons and a daughter, and at least 19 other family members lie there, probably more. Her inscription read: "In memory of Phebe Dunn wife of Samuel Dunn who died March 2, 1811 Age 45 years.
Rhea cemetery, also called West and Cuddeback under ownership by other parties, is really a family plot, located on private lands but dedicated for burial of the dead of the families living on either side of it. My wife and I drove past it several times before we learned who was buried there. We spent all afternoon righting head stones, dusting them off and copying their inscriptions. Then we cleaned up the area the best we could and prayed it would be safe from the elements. The fierce winter storms that pass through this area would have little trouble tumbling over those heavy, thin sandstone markers many of which are three feet high.
The widowed Samuel, now 58 years old with seven children under 16 years of age, the youngest less than a year, needed help. He found it in that person of Barbara Hiles, age 32, parent age not known. They were married 4 August 1811 at Canandaigua, the county seat of Ontario County, and commenced raising an extension to Samuel's family.
In 1820 Samuel sold the Phelps farm to his sons, James and Jesse, and moved with his extended family and other children yet at home to Arcadia, Wayne, NY, and a few miles north of the farm. He remained for about 15 years and where 2 October 1832, he filed an application for a pension for his service in the Revolutionary War under the terms of the Act of Congress as approved 7 June 1832. His application was approved.
In 1835 Samuel and his remaining family members moved to Wayne County, MI Territory, to be close to his children. So stated in his request to Albany, NY Pension Office to have his pension check mailed to the Detroit office. He died 6 October 1836 at Plymouth, Wayne, MI Territory and was buried at Livonia, Wayne MI.
MEETING MINUTES
Cemetery Board of Trustees
February 26, 2001 – 7:00 pm – City Hall
NEW BUSINESS – Chairwoman Olson presented to the Board a status report on the confirmation of burial of Revolutionary War Veteran Samuel Dunn in Riverside Cemetery. She has been in contact with the Plymouth Historical Museum, who has also been researching the matter in an effort to procure a historical marker for the cemetery. There is some conflict in that there are reports that a Samuel Dunn is also buried in Parkview Cemetery in Livonia. Chairwoman Olson assured the Board that she will continue to keep in contact with Museum staff on this matter. These was from a recent board minutes of Plymouth Historical Museum.
Barbara lived in Jackson and Hillsdale Counties, MI until October 1858, when she moved to Junius, Seneca, NY, about ten miles south of Lyons, Seneca, NY, to live with her daughter Nancy Ann Snyder. We have no record of Barbara's death or burial.
Samuel Dunn's Pension Records
State Of New York, Wayne County
On this day of October in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty two personally appeared in open court before the judges of the Court of common Pleas of the County of Wayne now sitting Samuel Dunn, a resident of the town of Arcadia in the County of Wayne and State of New York aged Seventy nine years, who being duly sworn according to law, doth on his oath make the following Declaration in order to obtain benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832. (Note by the time this pension was granted many soldiers had died)
That he entered the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated.
In the month of December in the Year 1775, I enlisted into the State Troops of the State of New Jersey at New Town in the County of Sussex in said State for a term of one year and served the same under Capt. John Budd Scott, James Maxwell and a man Higgs were Lieutenants, all three of said officers lived in said New Town and the company was in the regiment commanded by Col. Maxwell (who was uncle of the Lieutenant) of the same town, his regiment was usually called Maxwell's Regiment and some times called the Jersey Blues—The company to which I belonged marched from Sussex court house in the town of New Town the latter part of December to Quakertown and shortly thereafter to Trenton and took barracks staid till some time in January following & was then to Quebec in Canada and marched to Albany where we staid a very short time, and started for Crown Point and in going there passed Fort Edward to Ticonderoga and then to Crown Point---went from there to Montreal and then on to Quebec, where we arrived sometime in February on the Plains --- staid there till 4th May when British sailed out upon us and we retreated the march where I and a number of the soldiers had the small pox and staid some time—I was with other of the Troops taken to Montreal and by water to Ticonderoga, but cannot state at what time we arrived at the latter place. We staid at Ticonderoga till my time was out and was discharged.
At the time I was discharged as above in December 1176 at Ticonderoga Genl Gates who was there requested the soldiers to volunteer and I did, with many of my company volunteer to serve for six months and did serve the same in the same troops as before stated. Lt. James Maxwell commanded the company I remained in Capt Scoot acted as major at Crown Point Liet Higgins had previously died at Ticonderoga, and I believe we were attached to some other Regiment but do not recollect who commanded it. Shortly after volunteering we were sent across the Lake Champlain to Mount Independence and from there to Albany where we arrived in the month of January I believe 1777, staid there but a short time and were ordered to march to Philadelphia and marched to Eastton in Pennsylvania and were there ordered to Greenwich Sussex County, State of New Jersey, and marched to that place and was there discharged in the month of June & went home to New Town.
About the first of April in the year 1778 I enlisted into the State Troops pf the State of Pennsylvania at Wilkes-Barre for a term of nine months, and severed the said term in Capt Spaulding's or Baldwin's Company. Daniel Gore was Lieutenant, and the Company was Col. Butler's Regiment—Butler, Spaulding or Baldwin and Gore all lived in Wilksbarre during this service I was in the battle at the Massacre at Wyoming by the Tories and Indian's, which I believe was about the first of July. after this Massacre our Troops retreated into New Jersey and returned to Pennsylvania again at the time of the Battle and Massacre. I had brothers there who with myself were in the Battle, two of my brothers were killed in that engagement, considerable part of this term of service I was engaged in the frontiers and along the Susquehanna River and guarding and protecting the inhabitants. In all the service herein stated I served as a private. I have no documentary evidence to prove my said services, and I do not know any person, whose testimony I can procure, who can testify to my services in the revolutionary war, except Jonathan Catteral & Sarah Adams whose affidavit accompany this declaration .
To the interrogatories, required by the Regulations of the War Department, to be propounded by the court to him, he the said Samuel Dunn answers as follows; (Note; he was interrogated 6 times stating what has been written above. In the seventh interrogation he lists the following men as knowing of his service vis: Israel Beal, James Otto, George Van Ostrand, Andrew Finch, Joseph Crandall, Daniel Margart, Jasper Wood beck, Henry Towar , Levi Geer and Ezekiel Price. Also were the affidavits of Andrew Dorsey and Otto Dorsey) I, Cleo did not type the interrogatories as they duplicate what was stated earlier except he stated that Liet Greer was killed at the Massacre and he helped bury him. In the above mentioned book are also copies of Samuels hand written application for the pension record.)
Sources: FHA & FGRs ; History of Enfield, CT v-2p 1659; FHAB# 974.787/v22n; Historical Index of Sussex Co NJ; 1872 Sussex History Society ; Rhea Cemetery Records, at Phelps, NY; Plymouth and Livonia Cemetery Records at Plymouth, MI ; US Census 1810, 1820 and 1830; FHL # 24921; Samuel Dunn Revolutionary War Pension file, W-7048 BLWt 26927-160-56 ; FHL F# 970869, pp 322-326; Deer park Dutch Reformed Church Register, FHLf#10119517. otme 3, pp246; History of the Kuykendall Family by Dr Kuykendall , at Sussex Historical Society , Newton, NJ; History of Wyoming by PA by Miner, 1845, FRL F#823634. pp240-243; FGR of Samuel Dunn Family from Sussex Historical Society and Wayne County Historical Office for Phebe;s parentage, James Dunn Book Church Historical Dept. File #MS/d/1707/fd2; and record previously mentioned. Family group sheets and pedigree are attached.
Children of Samuel Dunn and Phepe Coykendal
A Sarah Dunn b.3 Sep 1781,
B Peter Dunn b.16 Aug 1783
C Ester Dunn b.16 Aug 1785
D Daniel Dunn b. 8 Dec 1788
E Samuel Dunn b. 28 Mar. 1791
F James Dunn b. 28 Jun 1793. This is our direct line.
G Thomas Dunn b. 12 Oct 1795
H Jesse Dunn b. 14 May 1798
I Lucy or Lucinda Dunn b. 13 May 1801
J Phebe Dunn b.6 Jun 1804
K George W. Dunn b.12 Mar 1806
L. Jefferson Dunn b. 11 Feb 1808
M Betsey Dunn b. 23 May 1810
Children of Samuel Dunn and Barbara Hiles
N Nancy Ann Dunn b. 1812
O Susannah Dunn b. 2 Mar 1813
P Diana E. Dunn b. 1815
Q Daughter b. 1819 d. 1819
(Note, compete information on children can be found in the book this information came from. You may be able to purchase this book by contacting Kent HAUCK, 572 E. 1625 S., Kaysville, UT 84037. If you need copies of the family group sheets, Cleo and provide them. The temple work has been done for these people many times.)
James Dunn and Sarah (Sally) Barker
James was born in Sussex County, New Jersey 28 June 1793, to Samuel Dunn and Phebe Coykendal their sixth child and fourth son. He spent his childhood in and around New Town (now Newton), NJ, Lyons, Wayne, NY, and Phelps Township, Ontario, NY, where his father purchased a farm on the Sodus road, now NY14, the Genesee-Lyons road. It was at this place he lived and worked that he met Sarah or Sally Barker, the sister of Permelia Barker, who had married his brother Daniel. About 1816, James and Sally was married and keeping house.
James and his brother Jesse bought the farm from his father in 1820 , when Samuel and his second wife and new family decided to move to Arcadia, Wayne, NY a few miles north of their farm and near Lyons . James and Jesse have 184 acres of land and it must have kept them busy. At this time the Erie canal was under construction and by 1825 it was completed and in use. It increased the value of the land in this area because of the proximity and the new markets it opened for all kinds of farm products. About five miles north of the farm was a canal barge terminal at Lyons.
New farm lands lose their plant nutrients fairly fast without renewal. So it is easy to listen to the merits of new lands being opened to the west, in Michigan. By 1835 many of the Dunn moved to Wayne County, west of Detroit to new land. John Barker, Sally's father had already moved to Plymouth and James and Sally soon followed. Brother Jesse had died that April of 1835.
. Moving by water was easy. Just load the wagons, hitch up the horses and drive them onto a barge at Lyons, find a comfortable seat on the wagons of the barge, ride the barge up the canal to Buffalo, transfer to the steamer going to Detroit, then drive the team and wagons across the few miles remaining to Plymouth and Livonia. Now we are back in the wilderness, again, to begin a new life as pioneers.
In 1839 and 40, James and Sally heard the Mormon gospel message from Orson Pratt on his way to England. Then Elder M. Sirrine, who baptized Crandall (their first son) 6 July 1840.
More of the family was baptized before 15 June 1841, when James and Sally with Thomas and his wife and son Thomas Jar., Lorin, Harvey, Permelia, John, Sarah and "13 others", unnamed, moved to LaHarpe, IL, about 8 miles east of Nauvoo, the Church Headquarters. (Note names listed were James and Sallies children. Thomas James Dunn our great-grandfather and James and Sallies third child was baptized 28 May 1839 by J. M. Adams and Steven Post; they ordained him a Priest 8 June 1839; He was ordained a Seventy by Joseph Young on 31 January 1841 in Nauvoo My records show James was baptized on June 1840; Therefore, He could not have been in Zion camp as it took place 1834. Cleo Griffin)
LaHarpe is a modest little town, named after one of LaSalle's men, and early French Trapper, Berrard de LaHarpe, who was caught short of his destination by a winter storm, built a stockade and wintered near the town. Here James and Sally bought 80 acres of farmland and just south of town a Half mile, and two lots now occupied by the fire station and library, the other by a bank. They also bought a lot in Nauvoo from Hyrum Smith.
La Harpe The missionary town of La Harpe is located 25 miles east of Nauvoo and eight miles north of Ramus on State highway 9/97. The designation of La Harpe as a "missionary town "is appropriate because it had already been settled by others and remained mainly "Gentile' town.
The earliest Mormon settler there was Erastus Bingham, who came in 1839. Bingham and other Mormons began doing missionary work; apparently, the most successful missionary here was Zenos H. Gurley, who reported that he baptized 52 people in six days.
The combination of immigration and missionary work led to the creation of a branch at La Harpe on April 17, 1841. This branch was part of the Ramus Stake because Ramus was less than 10 miles south. La Harpe and other Mormon settlements in Hancock County served as way stations for missionaries and Church leaders as they traveled. From " Iowa the Mormon Trail pp.23;24"
James Dunn's home in Nauvoo
When they moved to LaHarpe all but three of their children were under the age of 17, the youngest, almost five. Perhaps the younger children were able to get some formal education here, since, for the first time, they were living in a fairly well-established community. It was from LaHarpe that son Thomas volunteered in the Mormon Battalion and Crandall was called, first for a one-year mission to Wayne County, MI area, from February 1842 to February 1843, and latter to England, from 1843 to 1851. On 16 October 1841 he was ordained and Elder and on 17 November 1841 was given his patriarchal blessing, both by Hyrum Smith, the Prophets brother and /church Patriarch. In his diary, He mentions the relatives he visited in Wayne County, MI: Uncle Samuel Dunn, Rubens Woods (brother-in –Law) brothers Thomas and Uncle George W. Dunn. (Note : Cleo Griffin has a copy of Crandall's blessing.)
James Dunn also was a missionary, spending three months in 1845, August-October and February-May in 1846 on Church assignments. The first was a proselyting mission to Central New York, the second a work mission with a crew of 15 to prepare and make easier the way for the Saints on the road to Sugar Creek northwesterly to a large encampment. This crew while earning their keep along the way, built bridges, improved the roads, helped any travelers along the way who needed help., hunted game for food, got out timber for a barn in exchange for 38 bushels of corn priced at 87 cents a bushel, and did multitude of the chores that would be useful for those yet to come. James called his crew "the artillery", his writing, and spellings are good. One Sunday they heard the preaching of J. M. Grant and G. A. Grant, another of the Bros Gillet (Gillette) and Sherwood.
With one son on duty in the Mormon Battalion and another on a five-year mission in England, James and Sally decided to wait for their return before leaving for Utah with the Saints.
Accordingly, they sold their lots and 80 acre farm at LaHarpe in February and March of 1846, and made their way across the Mississippi River at Nauvoo, and made their way to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they lived for the next six years, preparing for the trek across the plains.
Picture of Pioneers camped on the Missouri River
While waiting in the southwest corner of Iowa, two events occurred, Pamelia married Ambrose Shaw 22 June 1846 and left for the west and Lorin also married and was planning to leave for the west when he died on 16 October 1850. Both of these events occurred at Mt. Pisgah, Union IA. (Children of James and Sally).
James Dunn and his family crossed the plains in the Captain Crandall Company, arriving in Salt Lake on 9 October 1852, moving to North Ogden, then Plain City, Weber, Utah and finally to Providence, Cache , Utah where they spent the remainder of their days together. James died in August 1872 and is buried in Providence; Sally survived him by 17 years, dying 16 November 1889 in Box Elder County where she was living with a daughter at the time of her death. (Note: I Cleo Griffin tried to find their graves. There are two old graves in the cemetery that were paid for many years by a Dunn but the cemetery records did not show who was buried there. I also visited the graves of Crandall and his wife in Beaver, Box Elder County but there was no grave there for Sally There is no present day cemetery of Providence they use River Heights cemetery and a lot of there records were lost..)
They left a fine group of children, all good pioneers, the first of the Dunn family to embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and becoming missionaries to help in the great job of spreading that gospel. We their descendents owe them a great debt of gratitude.
Children of James Dunn and Sarah (Sally) Barker
A Crandall Dunn b 11 Aug 1817.
B Laura Dunn b. 22 Sep 1819, d. 15 Jan 1823.
C Thomas Dunn b.2 Jan 1822 (our ancestor).
D Harvey Dunn b. 18 Apr 1824
E Lorin Dunn b.10 Apr 1827
F Pamelia Dunn b. 28 Jul 1830
G John Barker Dunn b. 2 Apr 1833
H Sarah Elizabeth Dunn 26 Jul 1836
o PROPERTY:
HYRUM SMITH: Block 10, Lot 3
T7R5, Sec 21, Block 5, Lot 4 (LaHarpe)
o T7R5, Sec 21, Block 7, Lots 4, 6 (LaHarpe)
NAUVOO RECORDS:
Members, LDS, 1830-1848, by Susan Easton Black, Vol 14, p 699
Nauvoo Death Record
HISTORY:
Mormon Redress Petitions, p 694
Member of Zion's Camp, p 93 and p 22
Nauvoo Data Bank
Early Minutes, Reorganized p 590 (There is another James DUNN, RIN#18509. This reference may not apply.)
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James did not join the church until 1840 therefore he could not have been in Zion's Camp as Zion's camp too place in 1834. However there was a James Dunn listed there. I found out through other records that their was in deed two James Dunn's , one coming from England he also lived in Providence UT .I have found Susan Eastman Blacks records to be incorrect on several occasions. Cleo Griffin
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Sources
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1. [S185] Book - Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtland, Ohio and Members of Zion's Camp, 1830-1839; vital stats and sources, Backman, Milton V., Jr., Compiler, (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1982), , p 93 and p 22
2. [S6] LDS - Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:1830-1848, 50 vols., Black, Susan Easton, Compiler, (LDS Church, Salt Lake City, 1990), 1830-1848, by Susan Easton Black, Vol 14, p 699
3. [S40] Book - Mormon Redress Petitions - Documents of the 1833-1838 Missouri Conflict, Johnson, Clark V., Editor, (Religious Studies Center Monograph Series, Vol 16, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah), s, p 694
4. [S71] Database - Nauvoo Databank
5. [S145] LDS - Nauvoo Death Records
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Sources from Hauck History: FHL & FGRS by Priscilla Jane Hauck; Cemetery Records Plymouth, Nakin, Livonia, townships Wayne county, MI; & Rhea Cemetery, at Ontario, NY; James Dunn's Book, records of missions and notes on family in Church History Department Archives, MS d 1707 fs2; Thomas Dunn diary in Mormon Battalion; Barker genealogy, p 33; History of Ulster Co. NY, Phelps, Ontario, NY and US census 1810, 1820, 1830;
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Cleo
