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..