Christopher G. Dunn Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 272

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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CHRISTOPHER G. DUNN, ex-clerk of the circuit and county courts of 
Hanson county, South Dakota, is one of that county's most popular 
citizens. Attention, method and industry are the foundation stones of 
success both in business and politics, and these combined with 
integrity of word and deed have been the corner stones of all his 
transactions, and during his residence in Hanson county he has made 
many friends throughout the county. He is of Irish ancestry, and a 
native of Winnebago county, Illinois, the date of his birth being July 
31, 1858. His father, James, was a native of county Meath, Ireland, 
born in 1826, and died in 1890. His wife, who bore the maiden name of 
Elizabeth Bigley, was born in New York, in 1831, and died in 1871. They 
were the parents of a family of nine children, of whom the subject of 
our sketch is the fourth in the order of their birth. 

When Christopher Dunn was ten years of age, the family moved to Houston 
county, Minnesota, where the remaining years of his boyhood were spent 
on a farm and where he was educated in the common schools. In May, 
1881, in company with his brother, James E., he moved to Spring Lake 
township, Hanson county, South Dakota, and pre-empted a tract of 
government land. Soon after he also filed a homestead in Edgerton 
township, and for the following sixteen years he was engaged in 
cultivating these two tracts of land. 

In politics Mr. Dunn is a Populist, although to a certain extent he 
supports the cause of temperance and also favors the policy of equal 
rights of franchise. Ever since locating in Hanson county, both he and 
his brother have taken a keen interest in all matters pertaining to 
local politics, and they both have served their fellow citizens in the 
capacity of some of the local and county offices. In 1892 the brother, 
James E., was elected to the office of clerk of the courts of Hanson 
county, and was serving his third term in that capacity when he died 
from an attack of pneumonia. Christopher G. Dunn, the subject of our 
sketch, was then appointed to fill this vacancy, and satisfactorily 
filled that office until January 1, 1899, in his brother's stead. 
Throughout his career has been quite successful. He is a man of 
careful, systematic habits, is of a conservative turn of mind, and all 
matters with which he is connected are materially benefited when the 
management thereof is left to his care. He is a man of excellent 
character, enterprising, and no one in the city has been more liberal 
in rendering aid to public projects than Mr. Dunn. He is intelligent 
and progressive, and any project, however new, meets with his sanction 
and endorsement. Since the 1st of January, 1899, Mr. Dunn has been 
engaged in the grain and coal business at Farmer, Hanson county, and is 
meeting with excellent success. Religiously he was reared a Roman 
Catholic and continues his adherence to that faith. Socially he 
affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America and also the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen of Alexandria. Mr. Dunn has never married. He 
has a farm of five hundred and forty acres, situated one-half mile 
north of Farmer, which is in the hands of a renter.