William J. Dunn, Calhoun County, AR

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SOURCE: Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.
Contributed by Carol Smith.
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Calhoun County, Arkansas - from Goodspeed's History of Arkansas

William J. Dunn has been identified with the interests of Calhoun County since 1843, and of the State since 1840 at which
time he came to Union County, where he resided for three years and then came to Calhoun County, being among the first
settlers. He came up the Ouachita River in a skiff in which he brought his personal effects. As there were no roads at all in the
country at that time, he was obliged to clear the roads out to different places, when he had business to attend to. He was made
road overseer, and cleared out many roads, the following being among the most important opened by Mr. Dunn: First the road
from Moro to Camden, a distance of forty miles, for the construction of which he employed twenty-five men, and made a
passable wagon road in six days; the next was the Little Bay and Chambersville road, a distance of thirty miles. By this time
hands were plentiful, and the work was much easier. The third was the Little Bay and Princeton road, a distance of about
thirty-five miles. Mr. Dunn enlisted as a private in the War of 1836 (in the spring of that year) under Capt. Minter, and served
for three months. He was engaged in several lively skirmishes, but no important battles. March 26, 1843, Mr. Dunn was
married to Miss Mary E. M. Barker, a native of Milledgeville, Georgia, the youngest of six children born to John and Susan
(Osborn) Barker, natives of Georgia. Her parents came to Arkansas in 1842, and settled permanently in the present Calhoun
County, where they died. This union was blessed with thirteen children, viz: Thomas J. (who died during the war), Laura E.,
William S., Eulodia, Alice V., Mattie S., Elnora M., Ida M., James A., John E., Walter C., Robert J. (died in 1872), and a son
who died in infancy. The surviving children are all residents of this State. William J. Dunn is a native of Georgia, born in
Columbia County, April 19, 1813, the second child born to John and Martha (Samms) Dunn. His parents moved from Georgia
to Alabama, and thence to what is now Calhoun County (then Ouachita County), where they settled permanently. His father
was the second man to erect a house in the present Calhoun County, and he and his family resided in this county until his death,
which occurred about 1862, at the age of seventy-nine years. His wife died in 1852, at the age of fifty-nine. Our subject was
principally raised in Dallas County, Arkansas receiving but a limited education. He commenced doing for himself at the age of
twenty-two years. He first engaged in merchandising and followed that occupation for two years, when he turned his attention
to farming and has continued in this calling ever since. He owns about 320 acres of land, with about eighty acres under
cultivation. He belongs to the Democratic party, and takes a deep interest in politics. At one time, in a very important election,
in 1849, he voted for a Whig, Mr. Thomas Woodward, who agreed to divide Ouachita and make a county called Calhoun for
people living in the eastern part to attend court. After the division of the county was secured, the struggle for the county seat
began. The center of the county, Hampton, was finally agreed upon as the place for the courthouse to be erected. Mr. Dunn
takes an active interest in the public welfare, and has always supported, as far as he was able, all laudable enterprises.