Biographical/historical information

John Dunn was born on March 14 1843 in Shelby, NC to Samuel and Julia Dunn. He was the fourth of eleven children. During the American Civil War, John was taken as a prisoner of war until he was released and discharged on May 14th, 1865, in accordance with President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. In 1866 Dunn married Anna Babb, who died in 1876. He then married his second wife, Sarah Swatzel, in 1877. Dunn had five children in total, three with Anna and two with Sarah. In 1898, he was appointed Judge of Election for the Bentonville township in Johnston County, NC. John Dunn died in 1915 in Tennessee. He is buried alongside his wife, Sarah, who died in 1921.

Scope and arrangement

Correspondence includes an 1860 letter from Indiana describing weather, prices, and land values in several of the midwestern states and commenting on the election of Lincoln as president. The only other letter is written from Petersburg, Virginia, in December of 1962. It tells of the situation around Richmond and Fredericksburg and gives casualty figures for the Fredericksburg battle. The letter also comments on the rumor of a Union raid on Mount Olive, N.C., which resulted in the burning of the town and destruction of railroad and telegraph lines.

Other material consists of a cure for rattlesnake and mad-dog bites, an oath of allegiance to the U.S. government (1865), auction list for the personal property of John D. Dunn (1859), a crop lien, election judge appointment, receipt, prayer, essay, and two poems.

Administrative information

Custodial History

September 21, 1967, 11 items (photocopies); Papers of Dunn family, including correspondence, crop lien, oath of allegiance, appointment, essay, and poems. Loaned for copying March, 1966, by Mr. Michael Johnson, Smithfield, N.C.

Source of acquisition

Loaned by Mr. Michael Johnson

Processing information

Processed by D. Lennon

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Metadata Rights Declaration

Key terms

Family Names

Dunn family

Topical

Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va., 1862
Liens--North Carolina--Wayne County
Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions
Migration, Internal--United States--History--19th century
Presidents--United States--Election--1860

Places

Mount Olive (Wayne County, N.C.)--History, Military
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Casualties

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