 
JAMES H. DUNN
JAMES H. DUNN. 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.
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 [sic] 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.
B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West
Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 649-650.
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