Family Bible Records of Alfred Doster Dunagan

by Darline Dunagan Scruggs

(Click on the image below to enlarge)

A. D. Dunagan Family Bible (Certificate of Authenticity)

This photo image is of the Bible Records of Alfred Doster Dunagan, who was the son of James Reid Dunagan and grandson of Ezekiel and Lydia Ann Brown Dunagan. I received the authenticated records from the Georgia State Archives.

Following Joseph Dunagan

by Darline Dunagan Scruggs

Joseph Dunagan was born the son of Thomas and Sarah Dunagan in Orange County North Carolina in or around the year 1740. The summation of my research. is as follows:

According to George Dunagan, whose researches I trust more than anyone else, Thomas and Sarah Came to America in the 1730’s, they bought land in Orange County North Carolina in 1748. It is in Orange County, North Carolina that Joseph was born. There is record of Joseph serving on the Grand Jury at Hillsboro in 1763. George said that in “the same year he was known to be in South Carolina looking for a place to settle”. He purchased 150 acres on the Pendleton side of the Saluda River in 1768 and in 1769 he purchased another 150 acres adjoining his land. George said, “This is where he raised his family”. So this must be the birthplace of Ezekiel.

George does make mention of the Dunagan’s in Surry County as being an ‘Uncle John’ (not the same as John, the brother of this Joseph) whose son John Jr and of David who was his brother John’s son. All along with Joseph, Joshua, and Thomas served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

I have found records of Joseph in 1790 census in Pendleton South Carolina. Listed in the house were 3 males under 16 and 2 over 16 and 4 females. We know that he did have at least 6 sons and 3 or more daughters but the daughter’s names are not known. I also have record of Joseph Dunagin in the U.S. Census Reconstructed Records for Franklin County Georgia, for the residence year of 1790, however household remarks on the record has a date listed for a petition given by the Governor as 11 November 1793. He must have first come into Georgia in 1790 since we find him listed in both censuses.

We know that he and others applied for land grants. Records, authenticated by the Georgia State Archives, prove that an order was given on 6 February 1792 to give Joseph Dunagan head rights for 200 acres in Franklin County, Georgia. He was given the land warrant on 1 January 1793. His brother Thomas was also given 100 acres in Franklin County, Georgia.

Next we find records indicating that a general order was given by Major General Elijah Clark that a Block House be erected on the Dunagan land near the Currahee Mountain dated 2 January 1793. Again we find records concerning the building of the Block House dated 30 April 1794. Then in the years of 1800, 1802, 1803, we find Joseph Dunagan in the Franklin County Georgia tax census. Another record is found in 1807 for J Dunnigan. Often the name is spelled ‘Dunnigan’ throughout the census.

It is said the Joseph traveled to Tennessee where he spent some time before traveling on to Madison County, Illinois to visit his sons Isaiah and Ande who had moved there from Georgia. George said “It is said he traveled some west of the Mississippi River. He left Georgia in the early part of 1805 but died in the latter part and was buried across the river from St. Louis, Missouri in St. Clair County, Illinois.”

So perhaps the J. Dunnigan of the 1807 census is not Joseph Dunagan, which means that he is last documented in Georgia in 1803. I know that his brother Joshua Dunagan, who was written in the Hall County records as Joshua “Darnigan”, died shortly after their arrival into what is now Hall County, Georgia. We know that they came into the area around 1796, but we do not know how long they were here before Joshua was killed by the Indians. So perhaps the J. Dunnigan could have been Joshua, however as the story has been handed down, I was always under the impression that Joshua was killed not long after they settled here and built their stockade.

Ezekiel and Lydia Ann Dunagan Grave Site

by Darline Dunagan Scruggs

Ezekiel Dunagan is my fourth great grandfather. We believe that Ezekiel was actually born in 1770, in Pendleton, South Carolina, according to family Bible records we discovered recently. Other records show his birth year as 1771. His father Joseph was given a land grant for 200 acres near the Curahee Mountain in Georgia and it is then that the first Dunagan’s came into Georgia. Later Joseph along with his brother Joshua Dunagan, transcribed in the Hall County records as ‘Joshua Darnigan’, lead the first group of settlers into what is now known as east Hall County Georgia. They were followed by Ezekiel and his brother leading the second group of settlers to the ‘Joshua Darnigan (Dunagan)’ settlement. It is in the same area that we find the grave of Ezekiel and Lydia. Through the years, nature had taken over the cemetery and many graves have been lost. Thanks to those Dunagan’s who still live on the land that Ezekiel owned, we never lost the location of his grave site. It was a long time dream of mine to restore and mark the graves of my grandparents for present and future generations. Along with my cousins, we made this possible. The new tombstone was recently placed on the site. Thanks to each of you who contributed your time and money to make this possible.

John F. Dunagan's Civil War Record

by Darline Dunagan Scruggs

John Franklin Dunagan, son of Joseph Ellis Dunagan and Lucinda Beall Dunagan, was my great great grandfather. I have a photo of him and his wife, Samantha Frances Bryant Dunagan, that I made from an old photograh that hangs in my great Aunt Elizabeth's house.

I was going through my files and came across John's Civil War Records where he signed allegiance to the United States at the end of the Civil War. In the record he is described as being 5 feet seven inches tall, dark hair, and blue eyes.

Dunagans Move West

Stephen Reed Dunagan's parents were Ezekiel Dunagan (1771-1836) and Margaret "Peggy" Wallace(Wallis) and he was born in Hall County, Georgia in 1827. Ezekiel died in 1836 and according to the 1850 Federal Census, Peggy Dunagan was living in Hall County, Georgia,still. Sometime after 1850, Peggy moved to Alabama with her children to live with relatives, who I  believe were the McCleskeys.

In the Civil War, Stephen Reed Dunagan rose to the rank of Captain and served as a calvary officer with the CSA, Company G, 4th. Alabama Calvary, also known as Russell's Rangers. They say that he had red hair and a red beard and must have been an imposing figure when leading a cavalry charge. This is the story of Captain Stephen R. Dunagan moving his family westward ending up settling the wilds of New Mexico.

Source:  To Animas With Love, A History Dunagan and Smith by Carol Dunagan Smith

Stephen R. Dunagan and wife Eliza Ann Turk Wood Dunagan, and their living children, along with other family members left Alabama because of a son with tuberculosis. The doctor advised a dry climate. Poverty and unrest after the Civil War also prompted their decision to move westward. Stephen had served in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. He was a Captain of the Fourth Alabama Calvary Russell’s Rangers. Stopping along the way to work to obtain the money to continue on, they located in Calahan, Texas, and lived there for several years.

A granddaughter told of winding their way to New Mexico. “Came from Texas in 1883, Ma and Pa, Granpa and Grandma, Eliza Ann and Stephen Reed Dunagan, Sr., and the whole bunch. Pa (Robert Sexton) and Ola (son) herded the sheep and Ma (Clifford Ann Dunagan Sexton) drove the wagon. Ma chewed pine gum all the way and almost died from the turpentine. She got sick and her baby came early and it died. Aunt Indy had a baby on the way and lost four year old boy. Buried him in a Mexican grave yard in a little village along the way.” (a direct quote of Minnie Sexton White)

Letters written home (Click on below to enlarge)

On the long trek to New Mexico the dangers of Indians and wolves kept the wagons as close together as possible. Any weakened animal, dropping behind, would be a prey for a wolf pack. Minnie remembered the continual fear of the children going off alone. They crossed through the Territory of Arizona, coming down into the Blue River, near Luna, NM. Minnie told of the men cutting trees and tying them to the wagons for a brake to keep them from running into the horses.

They were sheep drovers, and their arrival in Silver City was not welcomed. After much disagreement with cattlemen in the area, they left. The decision was made after a cattleman shot the family dog. One of the Dunagan boys drew his gun, but the others talked him out of using it. After one year at San Simon valley on the west side of the Peloncillo Mountains, where the family lived in fear because of Indians, they drove their sheep to Litendorf, New Mexico. They lived there about two years, where the men made piling for the mines. At this time, two daughters, Clifford Dunagan and her husband, Robert Sexton; Indiana Dunagan and her husband, John Brooks; one son, Lorenzo Dow, moved to the Gila valley and named the community Richmond (now known as Virden), New Mexico.

Mr. Dunagan and sons, Stephen R., Jr., Ezekiel and Robert, drove their sheep to Animas Valley. Among their children was a granddaughter, Etta Morton, daughter of Georgia Dunagan Morton, deceased, and married to John Morton. 

One of the sheep herders employed by the Dunagans, a Mr. Taylor, was killed by a band of raiding Apaches. A detachment of United States soldiers stationed at the Gray Ranch chased the Indians back into Mexico.

Stephen R. Dunagan, Sr. was also a surveyor and with the help of his sons surveyed a large part of Animas Valley.

Captain Stephen Reed Dunagan, Sr., passed on in 1894 and is buried at Shakespeare, the pioneers cemetery, beside his wife, Eliza Ann who died in 1896. Buried at the foot of their grave is their son Ezekiel, who preceded his parents in death in 1885. He was 26 years old when he died of tuberculosis not long after they came to New Mexico. His survivors were his wife, Sara L. McCleskey Dunagan and three children; Buena, Georgia, and Ezekiel  J. Dunagan, Jr..