JOHN M. DUNN. Foremost among the young business men of Morris township stands the gentleman whose name opens this sketch. He is a son of Daniel Dunn, Jr., of Scotch-Irish descent, whose grandparents emigrated from England in early colonial days. Joseph Dunn came to Washington county at a time when it was but a vast wilderness, carrying his possessions in a bandanna handkerchief. He blazed trees, raised sheep and stock and, and when he died he possessed a large estate. He married Elizabeth Montgomery, of Washington county, Penn., and to this union nine children were born: Sarah, Daniel, James M., Elizabeth, Joseph, Caroline, Hannah, Cassius, and William. Of these James M., Joseph, Hannah, Elizabeth and William are living. Daniel Dunn, Jr. (father of subject), was born October 21, 1830. He was reared to farm life, received a common-school education, and afterward entered Waynesburg College, from which--but for the untimely death of his father--he would have graduated. He taught school, and after his father’s death virtually assumed charge of the vast estate which the latter had left. His excellent business ability was here shown, his management of the estate being a nature which would have done credit to one of much greater experience in business affairs. In 1856 he married Eunice Minton, who was born April 8, 1836, a daughter of John Minton, of Morris township, and of this union there were the following children: John M.; Joseph Lincoln, born December 25, 1859; Isadore, born August 12, 1862, died November 25, 1865; Clara, born July 29, 1865. Mr. Dunn was a successful and prominent business man, giving a considerable portion of his time ti the settlement of estates entrusted to his care. He was elder and superintendent for years in West Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church and an active worker in church matters. he died June 14, 1886. His widow makes her home with her son, J. Lincoln, who resides on the old hole farm near Dunn’s Station, Morris township. John Milton Dunn was born June 7, 1857. He attended the common schools until he attained the age of seventeen, when he entered Waynesburg College, where he pursued his studies for three years. On account of the failing health of his father, whose position of trust in business and individual possession required considerable attention, he was called home at the expiration of this time to render necessary assistance. His father’s health being partially regained, John M. went to Iowa and located in Des Moines, engaging in the dry-good business but the failing health of his father again called him to the old home to assist in the management and settlement of business trusts, and here he remained until after hi fathers death, which occurred un 1886. On December 12, 1882, Mr. Dunn married Annie Ross, who was born August 18, 1862, a daughter of Timothy Ross, of Morris township, and of English origin, her great-grandparents having been natives of England. Of this union the following children were born: Ross Allen, born October 2, 1884; Laura Isadore, born April 25, 1886; Harold J., born July 5 1889; and Annie E., born December 23, 1892. Four years after his marriage Mr. Dunn lived in the home farm with his father, and then purchased adjoining land, where he has since resided. Mr. Dunn us an enterprising business man, and one of the busiest in Washington county, having within the last two years settled four estates. He is secretary of the Morris Oil & Gas Company, deals quite extensively in real estate, owns considerable farm property, which is worked under his personal direction and is also a dealer in wool. in politics he is an active republican, and for six years has been a school director, for two successive terms in a Democratic township, which has two Democrats and one Republican, and was president of the school board. He was last elected by a much larger majority than at first; he is a man who understands his convictions in the face of opposition, and of advanced educational matters. He and his wife are members of the West Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which he is elder and Sunday-school superintendent. He is stated clerk of the Pennsylvania Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania (the oldest Presbytery of the State), a position he has held for some eight or nine years, being the first elder that ever held the position. He represented the eldership of this Presbytery in the General Assembly at Memphis, Tenn., in May, 1892. He has been trustee of Waynesburg College four years, and has been re-elected three times; has been secretary and treasurer of the church for ten or twelve years; has held many positions of trust in his county, and has always declined re-election or re-appointment, never being et aside, and he enters heart and soul into all matters he undertakes. The Morris Oil & Gas Company was organized in 1889, and Mr. Dunn was at once chosen secretary and general manager, He is serving his third term as a member of the county vigilance committee, and has served twice on the county executive committee. He has been director in the W. Mt. M. N.& W. Telephone company since the completion of the line in 1889. Timothy Ross, father oft Mrs. John M. Dunn was a prosperous farmer of Green county, and was a buyer of cattle, wool, etc. The county line ran through his farm, and he chose Morris township as a living place. He married Joanna Tharp (daughter of Samuel Tharp), and both died many years ago off typhoid fever, the father dying first, the mother a few weeks later. When the wife of our subject was small, an uncle of our subject, Daniel Dunn Sr., helped nurse them, and he too, died. Mr. and Mrs. Ross has six children: Ella, Thomas, Hiram, Virginia (deceased), Annie (Mrs. Dunn) and Laura (wife of James Miner of Jefferson, Greene county). Mrs. Dunn’s home was in Jefferson, where she attended college and graduated.

Text taken from page 1370 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed January 1997 by Mary M. Tokarcik of Gloucester, MA as part of the Beers Project. Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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