Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Volume III

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

DUNN The family of Dunn settled in southwest Maine many years ago, and the name of Jonah Dunn appears often in the histories of the towns lying along the course of the Saco river. Several Dunns were men of prominence there. (I) Jonah Dunn lived in Cornish, York county, Maine, where he was selectman, 1806-08-09-15; there he married and his children were born. In 1826 he removed with his family to Houlton. Their journey was made in the winter and part of it lay over the frozen surface of the Baskehegan river to its head, where, leaving it, they pursued the remainder of their journey through woods, guided by spotted trees. He was a Friend, or Quaker, a man of good education, with a clear head and a keen power of discernment. He held the office of justice of the peace and made many conveyances and other papers requiring legal form. He was familiarly known as Squire Dunn. He always used the words thee and thou when addressing another person. About the time of his settlement at Houlton, the British military authorities of New Brunswick were bullying the settlers on American territory, and this soon became unbearable. At this juncture, when the settlers had passively borne British insults for some time, Jonah Dunn said: "This state of things must not and shall not continue. The federal power we will invoke, and it shall all be known that the United States of America can protect its subjects and its territory." He wrote several communications to the papers of Maine rehearsing the situation and calling upon the people to give expression to their feeling upon the subject. In the settlement the first mentioned the subject to John Hodgdon in his office, and wished a petition to congress drawn asking that Houlton be made a military post, and that an appropriation be made for the support of the same. Colonel Hodgdon drew up the petition, and it was numerously signed. This was probably in 1827. In response to this petition a military post was created at Houlton, a garrison established, and British interference with the settlers was forever ended. He married Lydia Trafton, who died in Houlton. His death occurred in Augusta. (II) Charles, youngest child of Jonah and Lydia (Trafton) Dunn, was born in Cornish, December 13, 1813, died in Houlton, November, 1897. He went with his father and family to Houlton in 1826. He was fond of horses, which he managed with skill, was a fine reinsman and handled four or six horses as well as men usually handle one. He established lines of transportation in different directions from Houlton, and for twenty-eight years carried the mails from that place to all points north. In connection with his mail service, he did a large express business, and carried many passengers, especially during the war. In 1868 others underbid him for carrying the mail, and he sold the successful bidders his entire outfit and retired from active life. From that time he lived quietly in Houlton, speculating in farms. He was a staunch Democrat, but supported the war measures of the government. He married, in 1859, Lydia Cloudman, born in Saint David's Parish, New Brunswick, 1833, died in Houlton, June 20, 1861, two years after her marriage and eleven days after the birth of her only child. She was the daughter of James Cloudman, of Wakefield, New Hampshire, and granddaughter of Gilman Cloudman. Her mother was Hannah (Foster) Cloudman, of Saint David's Parish, daughter of George and Cynthia (Chase) Foster, and granddaughter of Colonel Benjamin Foster, a hero of two wars, a soldier in Pepperell's army at the capture of Louisburg, and the companion of O'Brien in the capture of the "Margaretta," at Machias, at the beginning of the revolution. James Cloudman was left an orphan at a tender age, and was brought up by his grandfather, who lived at Horne's Mills, Wakefield, New Hampshire. At eighteen years of age he went to the lumber regions of St. John, in New Brunswick. Subsequently he settled on a farm at Oak Bay in St. David's Parish. Hearing of the fertile country of the Aroostook, he went there on a tour of observation in 1844, and the next spring moved to Presque Isle, where he farmed continuously till 1883. He was a successful farmer, and made a specialty of raising fine beef cattle. He sold this farm in 1883 and went to the village south of Presque Isle, where he afterwards resided. He died in Portland, at the residence of his grandson, Charles Dunn Jr., in 1893. He was six feet four inches high, straight, lean, strong as a giant and weighed two hundred pounds. His wife, Hannah Cloudman, died in 1889. Charles Dunn married (second), 1868, Jennie, widow of George Bagley and daughter of George and Cynthia Whidden, of Presque Isle. (III) Charles (2), son of Charles (1) and Lydia (Cloudman) Dunn, was born in Houlton, June 9, 1861, and was educated in the common schools and the Ricker Institute where he prepared for college. He then began the study of law in the office of General Charles P. Mattocks, and was admitted to the bar in 1885, after three years' study. He entered upon the practice of his profession, which he followed seven years in Portland. In 1892 he was a member of the city council. In 1892 he was attacked by an illness which rendered him an invalid for nine years, during which time he was engaged in out-of-door employment. Recovering his health in 1901, he received the appointment as deputy from Sheriff Pearson, who died in 1902, and was succeeded by Mr. Dunn, who served out the remainder of the term, about one year. On leaving office he became special agent of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, of New York. He was afterward a candidate for the office of sheriff on the Independent Democratic ticket and was defeated. He was master of Portland Lodge, No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons, in 1895; is a member of Greenleaf Royal Arch Chapter, No. 13, of which he has been an officer for two years past; and Portland Council, Royal and Select Masters. Charles Dunn married, in Portland, November 21, 1888, Grace Elizabeth, born in Portland, November 2, 1862, daughter of Mark and Elizabeth (Pote) Walton. Mark Walton was a designer of furniture, and for thirty years was in the employ of the widely known firm of Walter Corey. His father, Mark Walton Sr., came from the Isle of Shoals, and was brought up by Judge Sewell, of York. Mark Walton Jr. died about 1864, and his wife died in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn are members of the Baptist church. They have one child, Esther Cloudman, born May 6, 1891, now in the third year of the Portland high school.