DUNKERTON, James O. 1826-1911

DUNKERTON, HODGES

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 12/30/2013 at 22:22:15

[Waterloo Times Tribune, Tuesday, August 15, 1911, Waterloo, Iowa]

JAMES DUNKERTON GONE BEYONE

FOUNDER OF TOWN QUICKLY FOLLOWED HIS SON WHO DIED SATURDAY

WAS IOWA PIONEER

Following close on the death of his son C. K., James Dunkerton, 85 years of age, and a pioneer settler of Black Hawk County passed away Sunday night at his home in Dunkerton, the town just northeast of this city, founded by and named after him. Death was due to complications and the maladies attendant upon old age.

Mr. Dunkerton came to Iowa and settled in Lester Township on the site of the present town of Dunkerton, just fifty-nine years ago. He retained his faculties almost to the end, and it was always a source of pleasure for him to tell the others to listen, of how he came went to Freeport, Ill., from Ohio and there found the end of railroad lines west. He then "schoonered" on west to the site of Waterloo, which at that time was composed of a single log cabin on either side of the Cedar River. A man of brain and brawn and a determination and will, he pushed on into the thicket and settled in the woods north of the city. Here, he hewed out the wood and built a log cabin to serve as a home. he cleared off the land, and with the crude tools and methods used in those early days, dug out a livelihood from the soil For years the sturdy farmer toiled, and he felt a personal satisfaction to know that he had made such an effort and had undergone such hardships to help make the country develop to the extent it has when the town later sprang up on the site of his home, the townspeople sought to call it after the man who had first settled there, and Dunkerton thus got its name.

By his sturdy methods and years of toil, he was able to accumulate a conquerable portion of the world's goods and at the time of death was well to do.

James Dunkerton was born July 18, 1826, in England, and when but a lad of three years his parents came to America, going at once to Ohio where they settled. Here his early boyhood was spent in the pursuits of the frontiersman's life, for Ohio was still a undeveloped country.

The deceased was married in 1854 to Christiana Hodges and to their union five children were born. C. H. Dunkerton died at the home in Dunkerton only last Saturday, preceding the death of his father by only 24 hours. Thomas R. and F. O., both residing in Dunkerton survive their father. Two others passed away in infancy. The wife died in February 1903.

As like the son, whose remains were buried from the Baptist Church in Dunkerton yesterday afternoon, the father will be buried tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock from the same church. Deceased has been affiliated with that denomination. The pastor who conducted the services over the remains of C. H. Dunkerton, the son, will be in charge of the services. Burial will be in the family lot in Dunkerton.

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Photo is the property of Dennis Magee

Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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