Benton Co., AR - Biographies - Benjamin F. Dunn

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Submitted by:
        Date: 20 Jun 1998
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SOURCE:  Goodspeed Publishers, 1890.
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Benjamin F. Dunn, member of the firm of B. F. Dunn & Co., of Bentonville, Ark., and real estate
agent, is a native of Giles County, Va., born in 1841, son of Martin and Mary (Pine) Dunn. Martin
Dunn was born in Virginia in 1793, was of Irish origin and a farmer by occupation. In 1846 he
immigrated to Buchanan County, Mo., where he died one year later. Mary (Pine) Dunn was born in
Virginia in 1795 and died in 1848. They were the parents of ten children, Benjamin F. being the
only one now living. He was the youngest, and only six years old when his father died, and seven
when his mother died. At the age of ten he was taken by B. A. Dickson, with whom he lived until
he was twenty-one years of age. He received a limited education in the district schools, and at
the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company A, First Missouri Cavalry, Confederate army,
and was in the battles of Carthage, Wilson Creek, Dry Wood, Lexington, Champion Hill and siege of
Vicksburg. In October, 1862, he was captured at home and held a prisoner at St. Louis until
February of the next year, when he was exchanged. He was afterward captured at Vicksburg and
taken to Indianapolis, where he was retained eleven months. He was then discharged and returned
home. He was slightly wounded three different times. In 1865 he went to Richardson County, Neb.,
and there remained until 1870, when he became a citizen of Benton County, Ark., and began
clerking in a store in the western part of the county. In 1872 he began teaching, and followed
this profession for one term. In January, 1873, he was appointed deputy sheriff, and served three
years. In the same year he married Miss Mary J. Smith, who was born in Benton County, Ark., in
1845, and who is the daughter of H. C. Smith. To this union were born two children, Mary Bennie
and Elijah Frank, twins. In 1876 Mr. Dunn was elected treasurer of Benton County, and re-elected
in 1878. In 1880 he was elected clerk of the circuit court and ex-officio recorder. He was re-
elected in 1882, and in 1884 was again elected to the same position. He was in office
continuously for ten years, and filled the official position with credit and ability. He is a
life-long Democrat in politics; is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the I. O. O. F., and he and
wife are members of the Christian Church. Mr. Dunn is secretary of the Benton County Emigration
Bureau, and is a stockholder in the People's Bank at Bentonville.