While I have written the first several hundred pages of a history of my Collins line, my work on the Dunn line is still under way. An example of the detail I eventually hope to provide on all my ancestors can be seen in the biography of my great-grandfather, Rev. John Henry Dunn. (The extra photos and maps will be posted later, but the text and footnotes are there now.) You'll also already find a family picture album of early Dunns, and a few chronological details about my grandfather, Jesse Louis Dunn. Bits and pieces of my research appear here, such as a page on how we are related to Governor Roy E. Barnes of Georgia (my third cousin, though I'm sure he doesn't know it), information on our Cherokee connections, and some clues to our origins, and more of my ongoing research can be found in the database, which is also at this site. I have also provided a very brief Summary of the Ancestry which will help orient the reader to the main lines of Dunn, Kell, Wikle, and Page. More details on these families will be added over time.
I have not tried to write a narrative history from the beginning, as I have with the Collinses, because there is no clear beginning. The reason is, in part, that the early history of the family remains a major puzzle. My great-great-great-grandfather John Dunn, born about 1796 or 1797, was a devout Methodist whose life can be traced in some detail, but his parentage remains a problem. There are some clues linking him, without proof, to a group of Dunns found in western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, who indisputably crossed paths with at least some people our John Dunn did. These possibilities are discussed in a little essay here on "The Earliest Clues Found so Far on the Origin of Our Dunns"
John Dunn married Elizabeth Kell, daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran, and moved thereafter with the Kells and another set of in-laws, the Smiths. He seems to have cut any ties he had with his own kin. This may be understandable if he is related to the Dunn family I think he is, since they moved on to Kentucky and he stayed in Georgia.
The Kells are somewhat better known than the Dunns, and more will appear here in time on that family. Through the Kells, we have Cherokee cousins, since my great-great-great-grandmother's brother married a Cherokee woman. I've also put up a little piece on "The Dunns' Cherokee Connections", though it is really about the Kell family.
Fuller material on the Dunns will be put up as time permits, with my intention being the writing of a history with the same sort of detail now shown in the biography of Rev. John Henry Dunn.
Brief Summary of the Dunn Ancestral Lines
The Earliest Clues Found So Far on the Origin of Our Dunns
The Dunns' Cherokee Connections
How We're
Related to Governor Roy E. Barnes of Georgia
John Dunn (To Come)
James Dunn (To Come)
Some Preliminary Notes on Jesse Louis Dunn
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