Wood County, West Virginia Biography of B. F. DUNKLE This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 574-575 B. F. DUNKLE for fifteen years has been a resident of Parkersburg, and has here given evidence of his superior talents as a thorough business man and is one of the city's capable merchants and public spirited citizens. He was born at Bedford, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1863, son of William and Mary Margaret (Franks) Dunkle, also natives of Pennsylvania. The record of the Dunkle family runs back in Pennsylvania to earliest colonial times, the family having been established there from Hesse-Darmstadt Germany. For many generations they lived and flourished around Lancaster and Bedford, where some of the name are still found. William Dunkle was a Pennsylvania fanner, and at the time of the Civil war volunteered in the Union Army and served until honorably discharged on account of disability. He died in 1905, at the age of eighty-one, and his widow died two years later, at seventy-nine. Of their six children four are now living. Benjamin F. Dunkle grew up on his father's farm, at- tended the common schools and the public schools of Bed- ford Springs, and at the age of eighteen became a cigar maker. He operated an establishment for the making of cigars at Bedford Springs for about fifteen years. He then made a change of business and for six years managed a steam laundry at Pittsburg. From Pittsburg in Novem- ber, 1907, he removed to Parkersburg, and for ten year was in the livery business. This business suffered seven competition on account of the growing use of the automo- bile, and in 1915 he began developing a new line as a dealer and jobber in flour and feed, and that has now become his chief business. Mr. Dunkle is a member of the Board of Commerce, and is a Presbyterian. May 30, 1883, he married Belinda B. Bridaham, of Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania. They have four children, Charles W., Percy K., John H. and Starline McMiller. Percy married Eliza Lucretia Buckley.