A Comprehensive Biographical Analysis
What you are looking at, is a completely thorough, interactive, compilation of 15 years of documenting my Dunn family research,100 pages, condensed to just about 20.
Many of these FamilySearch profiles were created by me, and the vitals, etc. are just as I entered them before 2025. There, you will find sources, documents, discussions and images, that you won't find, anywhere else, and I highly recommend that you examine every link in this document, from beginning to end. Geni refuses to recognize FamilySearch profiles, claiming that they're unreliable, but these profiles are extremely accurate, and Geni is unreliable, and needs to correct John Dunn's date of birth.
John Ross Dunn, Esq., was born in 1697, in Charles Parish, York, Virginia, and died in 1783, in Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina. WikiTree has protected his old, conflated profile, which I had created in error, wherein I had misidentified his origins, as Cornwall.
John Dunn was a younger son of Thomas Dunn and Elizabeth Gray, and descendant of the original immigrant, Thomas Dunn, who immigrated to Virginia, at the age of 14, from Worcestershire, England, in 1620. See British Isles, and Hill of the Whicce.
See also Colonization and the evolution of rural settlement In Worcestershire, prior to 1349. University of Birmingham. Ph.D. Hamshere, J.D. (1980)
This Dunn family is shown on RootsWeb, and traces back to the Donne's of Devon, to wealthy London mercer, Sir John Don, to Henry Dwnn ap Gruffudd (c.1330-1416), of Wales, to Prince Arthur, 'the Briton', brother of Eochaid, and son of Áedán mac Gabráin, King of the Scots, to Fergus Mor, King of Scotland, to Noah. See Legendary History and Fergus Mor mac Erc. There is also a 774 charter to the Dunne family of Worcester. See Huicciorum Dunnan famulæ Dei.
Here are their FamilySearch profiles. Fergus Mor appears to have a few duplicate FamilySearch profiles, and Henry Dwnn has two WikiTree profiles.
Legacy Disputes
See Throne of Britain, Joseph in Britain, and Joseph of Arimathea. Watch Exodus(on YouTube), Abraham(on YouTube)
According to Rev. Jethro Rumple, John Dunn, Esq. was connected to the Erskines, on his mother's side. See Lord Gray, and Peerage of Scotland. See image below. Geni needs to make this merge.
According to General William Smith and W. Thomas Smith, John Dunn relocated to North Carolina when he was about 17 years old, and he and Frances Peronneau parented 10 children, Nancy, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, four girls; Joseph, John, Isaac, Hezekiah, Leonard and Bartholomew, six boys. See images below.
In 1714, Frances Peronneau faked her death, and joined into a Common Law union with John Dunn, which was a Capital Offense, equivalent to rape, and punishable by death. See Burial.
In 1726, they parented Priscilla, born in South Carolina, where Frances’ relatives lived. See her profile on WikiTree, and on RootsWeb.
After Royal Gov. George Burrington died, Gov. Gabriel Johnston finally resolved the disputes between the original settlers of the Backcountry, and Britain.
John Dunn was a surveyor, and in 1731, was appointed to survey the road, in Goochland, Virginia.
And, in 1736, John was assigned to lay out the dividing line between the Carolinas. See History of The Old Cheraws.
John Dunn and Frances were living in a Common Law union, which was prohibited, but was not being stringently enforced, in North Carolina. It was only permitted if one person was sick and dying. Rape was a capital offense, so, from 1736, to 1739, while among the Royal Governors, and while briefly residing in South Carolina, John wrote a Will, claiming he was sick, and expecting to die. It was strictly formality.
To further the ruse, Frances went by her given name, Katherine, and they named their son, born September 24, 1736, John Dunn, Jr., so it would not be apparent that they were the same John and Frances, who parented children, out of wedlock, in North Carolina, as they already had a son, named John Dunn II. Read this original theory, on genealogy.com.
From Feb. 1736 - Jun. 1736, May 1737 - Sept. 1737, Feb. 1738 - Sep. 1739, Gov. Johnston's Executive Council met in Newton, on Cape Fear, to address the issues regarding original land patents, and the division line between the Carolinas.
In 1736, when John "Jack" Dunn was born, his birth was recorded, in St. Philip’s Parish, S.C. Then, after he was weaned, John delivered him to his relatives, in Virginia, where he was Christened. Geni.com has the wrong dates of birth and death.
When John returned to S.C., it was recorded in the St. Philip’s Parish Register that the child was buried, on July 27, 1738.
In November, 1738, John served on the Petit Jury for the Parish of St. Philips, in Charleston, S.C., where Jury Men included Frances’ Uncle, Henri Peronneau, her cousin, Henry Peronneau, Jr., and her future husband, Joseph Moody.
On April 29, 1738, their son, William was born, and Christened on May 26. Someone at FamilySearch is trying to sabotage this family.
Then, John was able to acquire some land in Cape Fear, where they settled their children. When John and Frances arrived in Newton, NC, Priscilla was 12 years old, and William was newborn. William was subsequently raised in Onslow, NC. John had known Newton when it was called Newtown, and that was probably how he got the nickname, "Toune". See History of Hanover County.
They likely stayed in Darlington, South Carolina, where Catherine's relatives lived, or at one of Maurice Moore's properties, in the Cheraws. Boochawee Plantation, Orton Plantation
Roger Moore was present at Gov. Johnston's Executive Council meetings. http://www.elliewoodkeith.com/getperson.php?personID=I1187&tree=EW1
Governor James Moore was the leader of the Goose Creek Men. See The Founding Fathers of the Deep South
Maurice Moore transferred land, in New Hanover County, to Richard Dunn. https://www.ncgenweb.us/newhanover/deed1.html
When John left Catherine with their younger children, in 1739, she recorded his burial, on August 7, 1739, in the St. Philip’s Parish Register, and he went to retrieve his 2-year-old son, "Jack", from where he was living among relatives, in Augusta, Virginia. Then, he brought his son, Jack, to Brunswick County, or Lunenburg, Virginia, where, according to Archibald D. Murphey, he married Betsy Howard, and according to Murphey, Betsy Howard was John's second wife. It was also here, in Lunenburg, Virginia, where John Dunn met, and married Mary Read. See "The Reads and their Relatives"
John and Mary Read parented 5 children: 2 boys, and 3 girls, Charles, Eleanor, George, Susannah, and Elizabeth. Given that their children were born after 1749, Mary Read's birth date may be approximated to have been about 1720 - 1725.
Archibald D. Murphey erroneously spelled her last name "Reid", and claimed that they settled on Reid's Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin River, but her last name was spelled "Read", not Reid, nor Reed, and they actually settled on Reedy Creek, a tributary of the South Yadkin River. See South Yadkin River. In that same paragraph, Murphey also stated that all of John Dunn's children were by his first wife, whom we now know to have been Frances Peronneau.
Archibald D. Murphey also wrote, that John, later married Frank Petty, which was actually Frances (Françoise) Peronneau, but she had shortened her name to Franç, and her last name to Peddy, "Peronneau-Moody". Then, they actually married, in 1775, when John was 78, and Frances was 83. Lincoln County, North Carolina was formed in 1779, from Tryon County.
When John was in Cecil, Maryland, he stayed at William Rumsey's Bohemia Manor. I have found no evidence to support claims that he was in the Maryland Militia. This was not him.
Here is how the Dunn family acquired land, in New Hanover County, North Carolina.
John Carteret was a favorite of both King George I and King George II. Upon the death of his father at a young age, he inherited a share of Carolina and was the only Lords Proprietor not to sell his share to the Crown in 1728/1729.
He forced the Crown to survey a large swath of North Carolina and deed it to him when they purchased the other seven shares. As Lord Granville, he sent several Land Agents to North Carolina to manage the sale of his land holdings, piece-by-piece, until his death in 1763.
Thomas Broughton was acting governor, and his home was in Berkley, South Carolina.
He was also one of the Goose Creek Men.
Landgrave Thomas Smith, Jr. died in 1738, and willed an enormous amount of land,
including his plantation, in Goose Creek.
Landgrave Robert Daniell was also a Goose Creek Man. See Hon. Robert Daniell.
His father, Abraham Daniell was married to Grace Dunn, daughter of Davy Dunn, of Parkham, Devon, England.
The Dunns of Virginia and Maryland were not only Goose Creek "family", by marriage, but descend from the original Donne family members of The Virginia Company.
The following excerpts show John Dunn's movements, after he left Catherine with their children.
According to General William Smith and W. Thomas Smith, in 1748, by the same Colonial Records, John Dunn appears as Lord Proprietor of 100 acres of Bladen County land, and in 1749, Lord Proprietor of 100 acres in New Hanover, 150 acres in Craven, and 200 acres in Bladen. "From the east he came further west and settled in the town of Salisbury."
Bladen Co, was formed in 1734 as Bladen Precinct of Bath County, from New Hanover Precinct, and from 1734 until 1750 took in all the settlements to the north, northwest, and west. The following early counties were formed from Bladen: Anson, 1750; Orange (partly), 1752; Cumberland, 1754; Brunswick (partly), 1764; Robeson, 1787; etc.
Priscilla, daughter of John Dunn and Katherine, married Thomas Polk, Jr., who was born in Cecil, Maryland, and according to Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762, by Robert W. Ramsey, pages 28-30, John Dunn was a resident of Bohemia Manor, in Cecil, Maryland, in 1743, and was there at the time his daughter, Priscilla, met her future husband, and this link shows the Polk Farm, right next to the Rumsey Farm.
Priscilla's brother, "Jack" was captured by the Shawnee, on Feb. 8, 1778, along with Daniel Boone, and briefly lived among the Makujay sept. Boone escaped after four months, and returned to Boonesborough, to prepare the fort for a raid. Jack Dunn also escaped early, and joined Benjamin Logan's Kentucky Militia. In 1780, when the Shawnee still had not launched an attack on Boonesborough, Jack defected, and returned to his former tribe, perhaps with a warning, or in a foolish effort to secretly learn of their plan, and to attempt a rescue of the other captives. The Shawnees did not trust him, called off the raid, and burned Jack at the stake.
John's and Frances' son, Bartholomew, begat Isaac, who begat Susannah, who married William Bennett. We see Richard Bennett, of Queen Ann County, Maryland, into whose family, Susannah married.
Rev. Jethro Rumple claimed that John Dunn briefly resided in Charleston, before coming to Salisbury, unaware that John had previously resided in North Carolina before his brief residency in South Carolina, nor does Rumple make any mention of John's visits to Virginia and Maryland prior to the founding of Rowan. Apparently, Rev. Rumple's sources were extremely lacking.
The biography of John Ross Dunn, by Archibald D. Murphey, claims that John Dunn was from Ireland, when we know he was from the Dunn family of Virginia. See Anson County NcArchives Biographies, by Leonard Wilson (1916). NCpedia also makes that error, and while including some of the information from the Family tree book, overlooks a lot of it, specifically the details involving the first half of his life with his first wife, Frances, and also, completely omits that source from its referrences. The University of North Carolina makes the same erroneous claim that he was Irish, and also makes the claim that John Ross Dunn was the Salisbury lawyer who was arrested, although documents simply indicate that his name was John Dunn.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr15-0650
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr19-0028
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr15-0651
Upon further investigation, the erroneous information appears to have originated at the Florence County Detention Center, South Carolina, which suggests that John lied about his true identity when he was incarcerated, in 1776, for Treason, which now makes perfect sense, as the previous time he was in South Carolina, from 1736 to 1739, he had faked his death, to avoid being charged with unlawful cohabitation, and rape, and if that had been discovered, his legal problems would have multiplied, exponentially. Possibly worse, if Frances' true identity had been discovered, John would have been in hot water with the proprietary government, and when pressed as to why he sounded like an Englishman, he further lied, claiming to have attended Oxford. I would be inclined to believe that he also lied to William Rumsey, and others, about his name(Ross?), age, origins and education.
According to 'Over the Hills and Far Away', by Richard (Ric) Berman, this was John Ross Dunn.
and North Carolina state records attribute the following claim to John Ross Dunn, Esq., but it was John "Jack" Dunn. In 1754, John "Jack" Dunn was being recruited by Arthur Dobbs to fight in the French and Indian War. He agreed to meet Dobbs, at Fort Dobbs, and signed the contract, with a mark, (x).
John "Jack" Dunn subsequently dictated a letter to Arthur Dobbs stating that he could not meet him at the fort, and that he was kicked by a horse. This was not John Ross Dunn, Esq., and it was not John Dunn II.
These two excerpts, from The Family Tree Book, claim that John Dunn, the emigrant, and John Dunn, the Salisbury lawyer, were the same man.
John "Jack" Dunn was also referred to, in the Regulator Movement Participation Database. In exchange for his execution, he performed the Civil Service, as Tax Collector.
His brother, William T. Dunn, received the same offer, and chose to join the North Carolina Militia. In 1770, he was imprisoned for assaulting John Williams, during the Hillsborough Riots, and in 1771, was residing in Alamance, NC.
http://piedmontwanderings.blogspot.com/2016/03/who-were-regulators.html
In 1758, at the invitation of his father, John Ross Dunn, Esq., John "Jack" Dunn married Sara Cross, in Rowan, North Carolina. Note that his middle name was indicated with an "X", and witnesses were the same Andrew Cathey and James Dorthey, refered to in the above notice to appear at Fort Dobbs. And, as evidenced in that dictated reply, it was he, Jack, who was assigned the duty, of Tax Collector, for his involvement in the Regulator Uprisings. Sara Cross was the daughter of John B. Cross, Jr., of Baltimore County, Maryland, and sister of Asahel Cross.
In 1782, just before his grandfather, John Ross Dunn, Esq. died, my GGGGG grandfather, John "Jackie" Dunn, born August 21, 1758, Lunenburg, Virginia, married Sarah Greer, also in Rowan, North Carolina. Here is his WikiTree profile. He served in the Bedford County Militia, and migrated to Garrard County, Kentucky. His father was John "Jack" Dunn, who had migrated to Kentucky, in 1775, and was captured by the Shawnee. WikiTree hasn't created a profile for Jack.
Sarah Greer was the daughter of Aquilla Greer, of Baltimore, Maryland, and Elizabeth Hannah Riley, and they were in Pendleton, South Carolina, in 1809, where my GGGG grandfather, John Dunn, born 1785, Virginia was, when my GGG grandfather, John Dunn was born.
Supporting Documents: Due to the dynamic nature of documenting my research, the following research papers have some inaccuracies, and inconsistencies, which I've since corrected. View all of my research, in the following three documents.
1. Breaking Down My Dunn Brick Wall (20pgs),
and Addendum,
2. Hezekiah Dunn (40pgs),
3. My Kentucky Dunn Family (20pgs)
During the many years I worked to create, and document, my Dunn family tree, on FamilySearch, I continually met with resistance from persons who, simply, didn't have the education, the resources, the desire, nor the dedication, but who seemingly, had nothing better to do. And frankly, what I was able to do, had not been possible for anyone, at all, in the past. Yet, as I've since retired from my labors, I've noticed that there are still those who want to tamper with my work, offering alternate, flawed, biased analyses of the facts, changing dates, and creating fake profiles, to obscure, and falsify the historical record. You can clearly see who has littered these profiles, so I'd like to further solidify the findings of my research, by indicating some important elements, here.
Firstly, according to Archibald Murphey, Mary Dunn was the daughter of John Ross Dunn and Frances Peronneau, but someone has reassigned her to Mary Read. Please note that the historical record clearly states that Mary was the daughter of John's first wife, who has been proven to have been Frances.
Secondly, John Ross Dunn and Mary Read did not have a son named John, yet someone created a profile, showing him to have been born in 1740, long before John Ross Dunn had even met Mary Read, so I identified him as John Benefield Dunn, b.1741, son of John Dunn II and Lucy Bolling. Genealogy.com identifies John Dunn II and family. Geni confuses him with John B Dunn, and have also conflated this profile. I know of no Charlotte Benefield.
Only my unique perspective enabled me to trace my Dunn ancestry. My family genealogist, Gail Bisbey informed me that my DNA, and that of my Dad, was a close match with that of Pharaoh Dunn (1778-1859). It was known that Pharaoh Dunn was the son of William T. Dunn and Olive, but no one knew who William T.'s father was. My earliest known direct ancestor, at that time, was John Dunn, born 1785, in Virginia. The genealogists at WikiTree helped me analyse The James McMurry Dunn family book, and distinguish John Aldridge Dunn of Maryland, from John "Jackie" Dunn, of Virginia, and from there, the pieces just fell into place.
I've spent 13 years of very diligent research on this family, and until now, no one had presented any working theory about John Ross Dunn's identity, nor origins, and since its publication, nothing in this document has been disputed. To the contrary, it is rapidly receiving the unanimous acceptance of Dunn family genealogists, as should be, considering that it is solidly founded upon their own collaborative efforts and contributions, and I created all of these profiles without severing any links to any pre-existing Dunn profiles. I've done the research. Further, if you bring any error in my analysis, to my attention, you can trust that I will correct it.
John Ross Dunn, Esq's Ancestry
Now, for those of you who haven't done any research on this family, and those who don't have many years devoted to this research, let me make this as easy as possible. I reitterate, until now, there had never been a viable theory as to the origins of Thomas Dunn, "the immigrant", nor John Thomas Dunn, who married Obedience Ann Burgess, and frankly, if you didn't know where to look, you wouldn't find anything about them.
OK, here is a good place to leave a disclaimer. What you see, in this blog, speaks for itself; however, I admit that it is incomplete, and there is further research necessary. You can be assured, I have taken into consideration all of your very own arguments, and if I've interjected an opinion, in this matter, where it just doesn't belong, let's just call it a mere mistake, and not be offended. I'm confident it will all be sorted out.
Let me begin with Thomas Dunn, the 14 year old immigrant to Virginia. He's on RootsWeb, and according to genealogy.com, he was born in 1606, in Brandesburton, Yorkshire, England, but that was just a guess, and turned out to be a brick wall.
Thomas Donne "the immigrant" was actually born in 1605, in Worcestershire, England, son of Henry and Frauncis. Read about the Sandys family of Worcestershire.
In 2012, I created Robt Dunn's profile, and constructed this entire family tree around it. See Hezekiah.
Someone has removed Robt's Christening Record, and detached him from his father. These original profiles need to be restored.
Someone has created a duplicate, and another.
The following FamilySearch profiles show the wives and children of Thomas Dunn "the immigrant",
and, in 1699, he received land, as reward, for bringing nine individuals into the colony.
According to Evan David Ittel, John Thomas Dunn was born in 1640, in Brandesburton, Yorkshire, the son of Thomas Dunn and Anna Greene, and Obedience Ann Burgess was his niece. Again, that was just a guess, and a brick wall, and I have another theory.
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According to genealogy.com, and several other sources, Obedience Ann Burgess was the daughter of Robert Burgess and Anna Dunn, but no evidence could be found, anywhere in Colonial America, so I believe this occurred in England, probably in Worcestershire.
So, here's another theory. Thomas Dunn briefly separated from his wife, Ann Lenard, during which time, before 1641, she (Ann Dunn) bore Obedience Ann Burgess, with Robert Burgess, in England, then reunited with Thomas Dunn, and they parented John Thomas Dunn, in 1641.
We know of only two marriages between a Thomas Dunn and an Ann, and it's conceivable that he married Ann Greene, and Ann Lenard, and because there's no record of a marriage after that, for children born to a Thomas and Ann, their mother could have been Ann Lenard, or a yet unidentified Ann, and given that scenario, this Thomas would not be the Thomas Dunn who parented children with Elizabeth (Smythe?).
Evan David Ittel claims that Obedience was John Thomas' niece, but I believe she could have been his half-sister, and neither of them were born in Virginia. Again, let me reiterate. John Thomas Dunn, b.1641, was only 9 years old in 1650, when the other family members immigrated to Virginia and Maryland, so it would be correct to identify him, as an immigrant.
John Thomas Dunn (1641-1732) married Obedience Ann Burgess, and their son was Thomas Dunn, born 1679, who, with Elizabeth Gray, parented David, William, Thomas, John and Gray. Someone at FamilySearch is creating fake, duplicate, and conflated profiles. It's destructive and deliberate.
Louisa County Dunn Family
Now, I'd like to propose another Dunn family relationship, which has also befuddled genealogists. I think the John James Dunn family of Louisa County, Virginia, identified on Angelfire, belongs to this Thomas Dunn (1696-1772) family. Here he is, on genealogy.com, and also here, and here, although most of that has never been confirmed. I haven't fully researched that branch of the family, and probably won't, but I offer that theory, and wish you good luck in your family search.
Disputes
It seems that not a day goes by without someone altering these FamilySearch profiles, with no substantial contribution, and when I add new research findings to this blog, they directly target those new findings. You can't rely on the Dunn profiles on MyHeritage, Ancestry, WikiTree nor Geni. Regardless, while there will always be haters, the efforts of those, to alter my family tree, are futile, because the official documents, and historical facts, will forever remain indisputable, and in the end, all will be revealed.
OK, I can't help but ask myself, "Why would anyone want to sabotage this tree?" Some so-called FamilySearch "volunteers" seem to be trying to corrupt the database, and defeat the AI. There are three reasons I might think of, off the cuff;
1. Conflicting claims, 2. Roman Catholic family, 3. Professional Hit Job/vendetta, but there's a more glaring reason, and I think it's for nothing other than some childish satisfaction, out of making me look stupid.
One particular FamilySearch user, who goes by the user name RTorchia is absolutely the most destructive of all.
Don't be fooled. He's just a miserable troll, who claims to know everything about Dunn genealogy, and Dunn DNA. History doesn't seem to be his strength, either. Just look at what he did.
He created multiple duplicate profiles, and detached all relatives, supporting sources, documents and images, from their original profiles, which would ordinarily display in some links in this document. It's good that I made images, and saved the links to original sources. And, I've got lots more.
I've restored these profiles three times, and he's nuked them again. He used flawed, unsound logic, public ridicule, insults and bullying to strip everything from these profiles, and attached them to scattered, duplicate profiles. Then, he has the audacity to call these profiles unsourced.
RTorchia and his gang wouldn't let me perform my regular research, and harrassed me to the point where my FamilySearch account got suspended. What a tragedy.
I have now been suspended from all family tree platforms, because I don't work well with others. As you see, FamilySearch has been invaluable to me, during my research, and has provided the absolute best, all-around, data platform, perfectly suited for the field of genealogy, where I've been relatively free to construct my tree, and store a mountain of evidence. And, it's FREE.
Ideally, all collaboration between genealogists, should occur there, on FamilySearch, because, alternative family tree websites, like Ancestry, MyHeritage and WikiTree, just aren't very user-friendly, and the curators at geni are not Database Specialists, as they claim to be. They can't grasp the concept of one profile, per person, and they leave profiles conflated, and refuse to purge phony data.
About the Author
Joseph Leon Dunn is a retired Computer Information Systems Analyst, with a Specialization in Database Analysis and Design. Much of his professional occupation was sorting data. All of the links in this blog are to primary sources that exist in the public commons.
Pedigree
Each of the Dunn profiles, presented in the following pedigree, have satisfactorily provided, documented evidence, of patrilineal relationship, and have been positively verified, through DNA testing, by FamilyTreeDNA. Dunn Pedigree FTDNA Kit# 46931
From Henry Dwnn c.1330, 26 generations back, to Prince Arthur c.545, simply follow the profiles on FamilySearch. To be clear, we're talking about this Prince Arthur. See WikiTree, and FamilySearch.
I am very grateful to Dr Andrew Breeze, who has fully validated this research.
Henry Dwnn ap Gruffudd (c.1330-1416)
Thomas Don (c.1350-) *possible match.
Thomas Don (c.1390-)
Sir John Don (-1477) m. Agnes (1433-1516)
Sir Angell Donne (1455-1506) m. Anne Haywardine (1448-1518)
Gabriel Donne (1496-1558)
David Donne (1513-1580) m. Katherin Crambury (1512-)
Thomas Donne (1545-1621) m. Jane Cole (1557-)
Henry Donne (1574-1619) m. Frauncis
Thomas Dunn (1605-) m. Anne Lenard
m. Ann *duplicate
John Thomas Dunn (1641-1732) m. Obedience Ann Burgess (-1690)
Thomas Dunn (1669-1728) m. Elizabeth Gray (1676-1767)
John Ross Dunn (1696-1783) m. Frances Katherine Peronneau (1691-)
John "Jack" Dunn, Sr (1737-1778) m. Sarah Cross (1736-)
John "Jackie" Dunn, Jr (1758-1840) m. Sarah Greer (1758-)
John Dunn, Sr (1785-) m. Mary "Polly" Hayes (1785-)
John Dunn (1809-1859) m. Nancy Hatfield (1807-1859)
Charles Walter Dunn, Sr (1846-1909) m. Mary Elizabeth Henderson (1844-1936)
Leslie Theodore Dunn (1884-1918) m. Nancy "Nannie" Purcell (1887-1963)
The Dunns of Virginia and Maryland were not only Goose Creek "family", by marriage, but descend from the original Donne family members of The Virginia Company.
The following excerpts show John Dunn's movements, after he left Catherine with their children.
According to General William Smith and W. Thomas Smith, in 1748, by the same Colonial Records, John Dunn appears as Lord Proprietor of 100 acres of Bladen County land, and in 1749, Lord Proprietor of 100 acres in New Hanover, 150 acres in Craven, and 200 acres in Bladen. "From the east he came further west and settled in the town of Salisbury."
Bladen Co, was formed in 1734 as Bladen Precinct of Bath County, from New Hanover Precinct, and from 1734 until 1750 took in all the settlements to the north, northwest, and west. The following early counties were formed from Bladen: Anson, 1750; Orange (partly), 1752; Cumberland, 1754; Brunswick (partly), 1764; Robeson, 1787; etc.
Priscilla, daughter of John Dunn and Katherine, married Thomas Polk, Jr., who was born in Cecil, Maryland, and according to Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762, by Robert W. Ramsey, pages 28-30, John Dunn was a resident of Bohemia Manor, in Cecil, Maryland, in 1743, and was there at the time his daughter, Priscilla, met her future husband, and this link shows the Polk Farm, right next to the Rumsey Farm.
Priscilla's brother, "Jack" was captured by the Shawnee, on Feb. 8, 1778, along with Daniel Boone, and briefly lived among the Makujay sept. Boone escaped after four months, and returned to Boonesborough, to prepare the fort for a raid. Jack Dunn also escaped early, and joined Benjamin Logan's Kentucky Militia. In 1780, when the Shawnee still had not launched an attack on Boonesborough, Jack defected, and returned to his former tribe, perhaps with a warning, or in a foolish effort to secretly learn of their plan, and to attempt a rescue of the other captives. The Shawnees did not trust him, called off the raid, and burned Jack at the stake.
John's and Frances' son, Bartholomew, begat Isaac, who begat Susannah, who married William Bennett. We see Richard Bennett, of Queen Ann County, Maryland, into whose family, Susannah married.
Rev. Jethro Rumple claimed that John Dunn briefly resided in Charleston, before coming to Salisbury, unaware that John had previously resided in North Carolina before his brief residency in South Carolina, nor does Rumple make any mention of John's visits to Virginia and Maryland prior to the founding of Rowan. Apparently, Rev. Rumple's sources were extremely lacking.
The biography of John Ross Dunn, by Archibald D. Murphey, claims that John Dunn was from Ireland, when we know he was from the Dunn family of Virginia. See Anson County NcArchives Biographies, by Leonard Wilson (1916). NCpedia also makes that error, and while including some of the information from the Family tree book, overlooks a lot of it, specifically the details involving the first half of his life with his first wife, Frances, and also, completely omits that source from its referrences. The University of North Carolina makes the same erroneous claim that he was Irish, and also makes the claim that John Ross Dunn was the Salisbury lawyer who was arrested, although documents simply indicate that his name was John Dunn.
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr15-0650
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr19-0028
https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr15-0651
Upon further investigation, the erroneous information appears to have originated at the Florence County Detention Center, South Carolina, which suggests that John lied about his true identity when he was incarcerated, in 1776, for Treason, which now makes perfect sense, as the previous time he was in South Carolina, from 1736 to 1739, he had faked his death, to avoid being charged with unlawful cohabitation, and rape, and if that had been discovered, his legal problems would have multiplied, exponentially. Possibly worse, if Frances' true identity had been discovered, John would have been in hot water with the proprietary government, and when pressed as to why he sounded like an Englishman, he further lied, claiming to have attended Oxford. I would be inclined to believe that he also lied to William Rumsey, and others, about his name(Ross?), age, origins and education.
According to 'Over the Hills and Far Away', by Richard (Ric) Berman, this was John Ross Dunn.
and North Carolina state records attribute the following claim to John Ross Dunn, Esq., but it was John "Jack" Dunn. In 1754, John "Jack" Dunn was being recruited by Arthur Dobbs to fight in the French and Indian War. He agreed to meet Dobbs, at Fort Dobbs, and signed the contract, with a mark, (x).
These two excerpts, from The Family Tree Book, claim that John Dunn, the emigrant, and John Dunn, the Salisbury lawyer, were the same man.
John "Jack" Dunn was also referred to, in the Regulator Movement Participation Database. In exchange for his execution, he performed the Civil Service, as Tax Collector.
His brother, William T. Dunn, received the same offer, and chose to join the North Carolina Militia. In 1770, he was imprisoned for assaulting John Williams, during the Hillsborough Riots, and in 1771, was residing in Alamance, NC.
http://piedmontwanderings.blogspot.com/2016/03/who-were-regulators.html
In 1758, at the invitation of his father, John Ross Dunn, Esq., John "Jack" Dunn married Sara Cross, in Rowan, North Carolina. Note that his middle name was indicated with an "X", and witnesses were the same Andrew Cathey and James Dorthey, refered to in the above notice to appear at Fort Dobbs. And, as evidenced in that dictated reply, it was he, Jack, who was assigned the duty, of Tax Collector, for his involvement in the Regulator Uprisings. Sara Cross was the daughter of John B. Cross, Jr., of Baltimore County, Maryland, and sister of Asahel Cross.
In 1782, just before his grandfather, John Ross Dunn, Esq. died, my GGGGG grandfather, John "Jackie" Dunn, born August 21, 1758, Lunenburg, Virginia, married Sarah Greer, also in Rowan, North Carolina. Here is his WikiTree profile. He served in the Bedford County Militia, and migrated to Garrard County, Kentucky. His father was John "Jack" Dunn, who had migrated to Kentucky, in 1775, and was captured by the Shawnee. WikiTree hasn't created a profile for Jack.
Sarah Greer was the daughter of Aquilla Greer, of Baltimore, Maryland, and Elizabeth Hannah Riley, and they were in Pendleton, South Carolina, in 1809, where my GGGG grandfather, John Dunn, born 1785, Virginia was, when my GGG grandfather, John Dunn was born.
Supporting Documents: Due to the dynamic nature of documenting my research, the following research papers have some inaccuracies, and inconsistencies, which I've since corrected. View all of my research, in the following three documents.
1. Breaking Down My Dunn Brick Wall (20pgs),
and Addendum,
2. Hezekiah Dunn (40pgs),
3. My Kentucky Dunn Family (20pgs)
During the many years I worked to create, and document, my Dunn family tree, on FamilySearch, I continually met with resistance from persons who, simply, didn't have the education, the resources, the desire, nor the dedication, but who seemingly, had nothing better to do. And frankly, what I was able to do, had not been possible for anyone, at all, in the past. Yet, as I've since retired from my labors, I've noticed that there are still those who want to tamper with my work, offering alternate, flawed, biased analyses of the facts, changing dates, and creating fake profiles, to obscure, and falsify the historical record. You can clearly see who has littered these profiles, so I'd like to further solidify the findings of my research, by indicating some important elements, here.
Firstly, according to Archibald Murphey, Mary Dunn was the daughter of John Ross Dunn and Frances Peronneau, but someone has reassigned her to Mary Read. Please note that the historical record clearly states that Mary was the daughter of John's first wife, who has been proven to have been Frances.
Secondly, John Ross Dunn and Mary Read did not have a son named John, yet someone created a profile, showing him to have been born in 1740, long before John Ross Dunn had even met Mary Read, so I identified him as John Benefield Dunn, b.1741, son of John Dunn II and Lucy Bolling. Genealogy.com identifies John Dunn II and family. Geni confuses him with John B Dunn, and have also conflated this profile. I know of no Charlotte Benefield.
Only my unique perspective enabled me to trace my Dunn ancestry. My family genealogist, Gail Bisbey informed me that my DNA, and that of my Dad, was a close match with that of Pharaoh Dunn (1778-1859). It was known that Pharaoh Dunn was the son of William T. Dunn and Olive, but no one knew who William T.'s father was. My earliest known direct ancestor, at that time, was John Dunn, born 1785, in Virginia. The genealogists at WikiTree helped me analyse The James McMurry Dunn family book, and distinguish John Aldridge Dunn of Maryland, from John "Jackie" Dunn, of Virginia, and from there, the pieces just fell into place.
I've spent 13 years of very diligent research on this family, and until now, no one had presented any working theory about John Ross Dunn's identity, nor origins, and since its publication, nothing in this document has been disputed. To the contrary, it is rapidly receiving the unanimous acceptance of Dunn family genealogists, as should be, considering that it is solidly founded upon their own collaborative efforts and contributions, and I created all of these profiles without severing any links to any pre-existing Dunn profiles. I've done the research. Further, if you bring any error in my analysis, to my attention, you can trust that I will correct it.
John Ross Dunn, Esq's Ancestry
Now, for those of you who haven't done any research on this family, and those who don't have many years devoted to this research, let me make this as easy as possible. I reitterate, until now, there had never been a viable theory as to the origins of Thomas Dunn, "the immigrant", nor John Thomas Dunn, who married Obedience Ann Burgess, and frankly, if you didn't know where to look, you wouldn't find anything about them.
OK, here is a good place to leave a disclaimer. What you see, in this blog, speaks for itself; however, I admit that it is incomplete, and there is further research necessary. You can be assured, I have taken into consideration all of your very own arguments, and if I've interjected an opinion, in this matter, where it just doesn't belong, let's just call it a mere mistake, and not be offended. I'm confident it will all be sorted out.
Let me begin with Thomas Dunn, the 14 year old immigrant to Virginia. He's on RootsWeb, and according to genealogy.com, he was born in 1606, in Brandesburton, Yorkshire, England, but that was just a guess, and turned out to be a brick wall.
Thomas Donne "the immigrant" was actually born in 1605, in Worcestershire, England, son of Henry and Frauncis. Read about the Sandys family of Worcestershire.
Book Number: 942.47 V26K
Originating System: ODM
Indexing Batch: P01426-1
Citing this Record
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5GS-W7H : 5 February 2023), Thomas Donne, 1605.
I've heard so many arguments, that claim that he was 14 y/o in 1620, 1623, 1624, and 1625, and while geni acknowledges my DNA match in Worcester, and can't disprove any of my findings, and can't present any alternative, whatsoever, they continue to skew dates, offer very erroneous analyses, and contradict themselves. To make such comments, as "There were just too many Dunns", and "impossible to distinguish which..." is destructive and irresponsible, and an indication of incompetence. You will never hear anything like that from an actual analyst, which I am.
Here are just three accounts of Thomas "Thomae" Dunn's immigration, in 1620, to America.
1. Virginia Calorum: The Colony during the Days of Charles the First and Second,
2. The Georgians: Genealogies of Pioneer Settlers, and
3. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary.
After the Powhattan massacre of 1622, wherein Anne Greene was killed, the Virginia Company was dissolved. No one knows, whether or not, this was the same Anne Greene who married a Thomas Dunn, in Clerkenwell, in 1620, and maybe the dates don't jive.
The Dunn members of the Virginia Company were identified, according to Alabama Genealogy Trails, as Sir Daniel Dunn, and his brother, William, sons of Robert Dunn, citizen and draper of London, brother of David Donne, and son of Gabriel Donne. Sir Daniel Donne was born in 1544, Ribbesford, Worcestershire, but his father, Robert, was born in Parkham, Devon.
Thomas Dunn "the immigrant" escaped the massacre, and may have returned to Worcestershire, England, where he married Anne Lenard, in November, 1624. In the original, published version of this document, I mistakenly identified her, as Anne Gerard.
They had sons, Thomas Jr., b.1626, Robt, b.1627, Richard, b.1627, and William, b.1629, and daughters, Elizabeth, b.1631, and Anne, b.1634, and after Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army decapitated King Charles I, they all, likely, immigrated to America, in 1650. As you can see, their Christening Records, and immigration data, are attached to their profiles.
Someone created FamilySearch duplicates, and attached Thomas' and Robt's Christening Records to those duplicate profiles.Here are just three accounts of Thomas "Thomae" Dunn's immigration, in 1620, to America.
2. The Georgians: Genealogies of Pioneer Settlers, and
3. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary.
After the Powhattan massacre of 1622, wherein Anne Greene was killed, the Virginia Company was dissolved. No one knows, whether or not, this was the same Anne Greene who married a Thomas Dunn, in Clerkenwell, in 1620, and maybe the dates don't jive.
The Dunn members of the Virginia Company were identified, according to Alabama Genealogy Trails, as Sir Daniel Dunn, and his brother, William, sons of Robert Dunn, citizen and draper of London, brother of David Donne, and son of Gabriel Donne. Sir Daniel Donne was born in 1544, Ribbesford, Worcestershire, but his father, Robert, was born in Parkham, Devon.
Thomas Dunn "the immigrant" escaped the massacre, and may have returned to Worcestershire, England, where he married Anne Lenard, in November, 1624. In the original, published version of this document, I mistakenly identified her, as Anne Gerard.
They had sons, Thomas Jr., b.1626, Robt, b.1627, Richard, b.1627, and William, b.1629, and daughters, Elizabeth, b.1631, and Anne, b.1634, and after Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army decapitated King Charles I, they all, likely, immigrated to America, in 1650. As you can see, their Christening Records, and immigration data, are attached to their profiles.
Digital Folder Number: 008044754
Microfilm Number: 354328
Originating System: ODM
Indexing Batch: C02051-2
Citing this Record
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JM75-KWY : 10 April 2021), Robt. Dunn, 1627.
Microfilm Number: 354328
Originating System: ODM
Indexing Batch: C02051-2
Citing this Record
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JM75-KWY : 10 April 2021), Robt. Dunn, 1627.
Someone has removed Robt's Christening Record, and detached him from his father. These original profiles need to be restored.
Thomas Dunn "the immigrant"'s son, Thomas, was born in 1641, in Ribbesford, Worcestershire, England, older brother of Edward. That source has also been stolen, but you can see that Christening Record, below. Dunn genealogists refer to him, as John Thomas Dunn, and genealogy.com refers to him, as John Dunn, Sr.
Note: It appears that there might have been a marriage between a Thomas Dunn and an Elizabeth Smyth, during that time, and I have to consider the possibility that she could have been Thomas Dunn, "the immigrant"'s 2nd, or 3rd wife.
Note: It appears that there might have been a marriage between a Thomas Dunn and an Elizabeth Smyth, during that time, and I have to consider the possibility that she could have been Thomas Dunn, "the immigrant"'s 2nd, or 3rd wife.
Source Details: 119
Microfilm Number: 6344777
Originating System: EASY
Indexing Batch: I00818-7
Citing this Record
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N12N-QYS : 5 February 2023), Thomas Dunn, 1641.
Someone has created a duplicate, and another.
The following FamilySearch profiles show the wives and children of Thomas Dunn "the immigrant",
and, in 1699, he received land, as reward, for bringing nine individuals into the colony.
According to Evan David Ittel, John Thomas Dunn was born in 1640, in Brandesburton, Yorkshire, the son of Thomas Dunn and Anna Greene, and Obedience Ann Burgess was his niece. Again, that was just a guess, and a brick wall, and I have another theory.
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So, here's another theory. Thomas Dunn briefly separated from his wife, Ann Lenard, during which time, before 1641, she (Ann Dunn) bore Obedience Ann Burgess, with Robert Burgess, in England, then reunited with Thomas Dunn, and they parented John Thomas Dunn, in 1641.
We know of only two marriages between a Thomas Dunn and an Ann, and it's conceivable that he married Ann Greene, and Ann Lenard, and because there's no record of a marriage after that, for children born to a Thomas and Ann, their mother could have been Ann Lenard, or a yet unidentified Ann, and given that scenario, this Thomas would not be the Thomas Dunn who parented children with Elizabeth (Smythe?).
Evan David Ittel claims that Obedience was John Thomas' niece, but I believe she could have been his half-sister, and neither of them were born in Virginia. Again, let me reiterate. John Thomas Dunn, b.1641, was only 9 years old in 1650, when the other family members immigrated to Virginia and Maryland, so it would be correct to identify him, as an immigrant.
John Thomas Dunn (1641-1732) married Obedience Ann Burgess, and their son was Thomas Dunn, born 1679, who, with Elizabeth Gray, parented David, William, Thomas, John and Gray. Someone at FamilySearch is creating fake, duplicate, and conflated profiles. It's destructive and deliberate.
Louisa County Dunn Family
Now, I'd like to propose another Dunn family relationship, which has also befuddled genealogists. I think the John James Dunn family of Louisa County, Virginia, identified on Angelfire, belongs to this Thomas Dunn (1696-1772) family. Here he is, on genealogy.com, and also here, and here, although most of that has never been confirmed. I haven't fully researched that branch of the family, and probably won't, but I offer that theory, and wish you good luck in your family search.
Disputes
It seems that not a day goes by without someone altering these FamilySearch profiles, with no substantial contribution, and when I add new research findings to this blog, they directly target those new findings. You can't rely on the Dunn profiles on MyHeritage, Ancestry, WikiTree nor Geni. Regardless, while there will always be haters, the efforts of those, to alter my family tree, are futile, because the official documents, and historical facts, will forever remain indisputable, and in the end, all will be revealed.
OK, I can't help but ask myself, "Why would anyone want to sabotage this tree?" Some so-called FamilySearch "volunteers" seem to be trying to corrupt the database, and defeat the AI. There are three reasons I might think of, off the cuff;
1. Conflicting claims, 2. Roman Catholic family, 3. Professional Hit Job/vendetta, but there's a more glaring reason, and I think it's for nothing other than some childish satisfaction, out of making me look stupid.
One particular FamilySearch user, who goes by the user name RTorchia is absolutely the most destructive of all.
Don't be fooled. He's just a miserable troll, who claims to know everything about Dunn genealogy, and Dunn DNA. History doesn't seem to be his strength, either. Just look at what he did.
He created multiple duplicate profiles, and detached all relatives, supporting sources, documents and images, from their original profiles, which would ordinarily display in some links in this document. It's good that I made images, and saved the links to original sources. And, I've got lots more.
I've restored these profiles three times, and he's nuked them again. He used flawed, unsound logic, public ridicule, insults and bullying to strip everything from these profiles, and attached them to scattered, duplicate profiles. Then, he has the audacity to call these profiles unsourced.
RTorchia and his gang wouldn't let me perform my regular research, and harrassed me to the point where my FamilySearch account got suspended. What a tragedy.
I have now been suspended from all family tree platforms, because I don't work well with others. As you see, FamilySearch has been invaluable to me, during my research, and has provided the absolute best, all-around, data platform, perfectly suited for the field of genealogy, where I've been relatively free to construct my tree, and store a mountain of evidence. And, it's FREE.
Ideally, all collaboration between genealogists, should occur there, on FamilySearch, because, alternative family tree websites, like Ancestry, MyHeritage and WikiTree, just aren't very user-friendly, and the curators at geni are not Database Specialists, as they claim to be. They can't grasp the concept of one profile, per person, and they leave profiles conflated, and refuse to purge phony data.
About the Author
Joseph Leon Dunn is a retired Computer Information Systems Analyst, with a Specialization in Database Analysis and Design. Much of his professional occupation was sorting data. All of the links in this blog are to primary sources that exist in the public commons.
Pedigree
Each of the Dunn profiles, presented in the following pedigree, have satisfactorily provided, documented evidence, of patrilineal relationship, and have been positively verified, through DNA testing, by FamilyTreeDNA. Dunn Pedigree FTDNA Kit# 46931
From Henry Dwnn c.1330, 26 generations back, to Prince Arthur c.545, simply follow the profiles on FamilySearch. To be clear, we're talking about this Prince Arthur. See WikiTree, and FamilySearch.
I am very grateful to Dr Andrew Breeze, who has fully validated this research.
Henry Dwnn ap Gruffudd (c.1330-1416)
Thomas Don (c.1350-) *possible match.
Thomas Don (c.1390-)
Sir John Don (-1477) m. Agnes (1433-1516)
Sir Angell Donne (1455-1506) m. Anne Haywardine (1448-1518)
Gabriel Donne (1496-1558)
David Donne (1513-1580) m. Katherin Crambury (1512-)
Thomas Donne (1545-1621) m. Jane Cole (1557-)
Henry Donne (1574-1619) m. Frauncis
Thomas Dunn (1605-) m. Anne Lenard
m. Ann *duplicate
John Thomas Dunn (1641-1732) m. Obedience Ann Burgess (-1690)
Thomas Dunn (1669-1728) m. Elizabeth Gray (1676-1767)
John Ross Dunn (1696-1783) m. Frances Katherine Peronneau (1691-)
John "Jack" Dunn, Sr (1737-1778) m. Sarah Cross (1736-)
John "Jackie" Dunn, Jr (1758-1840) m. Sarah Greer (1758-)
John Dunn, Sr (1785-) m. Mary "Polly" Hayes (1785-)
John Dunn (1809-1859) m. Nancy Hatfield (1807-1859)
Charles Walter Dunn, Sr (1846-1909) m. Mary Elizabeth Henderson (1844-1936)
Leslie Theodore Dunn (1884-1918) m. Nancy "Nannie" Purcell (1887-1963)
Sometimes, it gets lonely, here at the top.
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