Barton Burgess DUNNING was born in Cayuga County, New York near the town of Genoe on April 3, 1809, the son of Dr. Isaac DUNNING, M.D. (1772-1849) and Huldah (ROOD) DUNNING (1783-1861). When Barton was 8-years-old, the family moved to Erie County, New York, and in 1832, they moved to Edwardsburg, Cass County, Michigan.

Laura Lucina STILES was born May 23, 1815 at Granville, Massachusetts, the daughter of Roger STILES (1783-1949) and Lucinda Kent (SPELLMAN) STILES (1875-1862). Barton and Laura were married in 1841 at Edwardsburg, Michigan where they resided for several years. While residing in Michigan, Mr. DUNNING learned the cooper's trade.

In 1852, Barton decided he would explore the gold fields of California where he hoped he would seek his fortune. He joined a party that traveled overland. He preferred, however, a more easterly climate and returned home in the Fall of 1853. The DUNNING family headed west in 1855, going by rail to St. Louis, Missouri, then up the Missouri River to the mouth of the Grand River. From there, the family traveled by wagons.

In June of 1855, Barton B. DUNNING, along with his wife Laura and three young sons - Walter, Frank, and Day - arrived at the spot where Mount Ayr now stands. The DUNNINGS came over the Dragoon Trace, the only road leading to Ringgold County at the time, and when arriving at their destination found bare prairie ground as far as the eye could see. The land was at the time in a state of purity. The DUNNINGS had entered a thousand acres of that land for their own.

Mr. DUNNING build a pole cabin [on the lot where the United Presbyterian Church would later be located] and covered it with slough grass. After the cabin was completed, Barton traveled to Decatur County, Iowa, where the boys and Laura stayed during the construction. They traveled to their new home by team and covered wagon. A tribe of Pottawattamie who lived in the vicinity were frequent visitors to the new cabin.

Barton and Laura's fourth son, Charles, was born on December 5, 1855, becoming the first child born in Mount Ayr.

After town lots had been platted, Mr. DUNNING had access to hewn logs and built a double log house on the lot which was later occupied by the Iowa State Bank. The new house had two rooms and a loft. One room was used by the family and in the other room Mr. DUNNING established the first store in Mount Ayr, a general store and the post office.

When Mr. DUNNING first arrived in what would become Mount Ayr, he had a small stock of merchandise which he kept in a trunk. Because the original pole cabin was so small, the trunk was kept under the DUNNING'S bed.

Barton B. and Laura Lucina (STILES) DUNNING were crucial in the early settlement of their selected homestead site, hence they are often referred to at the "Father and Mother" of Mount Ayr. Mr. DUNNING was the primary factor in the establishment of a post office in Mount Ayr and served as its first postmaster. At the time, the mail was carried once a month to Mount Pisgah, located northeast of present-day Afton in Union County. Either Mr. DUNNING or his son Walter made the trip on horseback to pick up the mail, and then returned the following day. In the fall, N. H. DEWITTE assumed the contract to carry the mail.

Once Mr. DUNNING'S log house was ready for occupancy, he traveled to Keokuk where he obtained stock for his store. Later, Mr. DUNNING obtained other items - boots, shoes, calico material, pins, needles, thread, and other such items needed by the pioneers - from Saint Joseph, Missouri. One time, after returning from Saint Joseph, Mr. DUNNING presented the first Sunday School library to the people of Mount Ayr.

Laura M. (STILES) DUNNING brought the first sewing machine to Mount Ayr. It was a small machine, screwed down on a table and was turned by hand, making one stitch for each turn of the handle. It was the only type of sewing machine available at the time and was considered to be quite a marvel.

In her book, Mrs. LESAN states that Barton DUNNING "was the first and always the leading merchant in Mount Ayr at the time. he also owned a great deal of land and farmed and raised stock and did more for the uplift and law enforcement than any manin town. He was a small, wiry, good, temperate man, but was as gritty as a mill rat, and on several occasions took his gun,and went out, and told the whiskey element what would happen if they gave whiskey to his boys."

The following is a letter Laura wrote to her sister in Missouri, Emeline (STILES) EMMONS.

Mt. Ayr, Ia.
Oct. 19, 1862
Dear Sister:

When I take my pen to write to you I always feel my hand unnerved for the task. It is of no use for me to make propositions for you to come here. If you are alive you always think that you have always got along some way.

I know not what danger you are in but it seems to me that you should know. Are you going to stay where you are and let the cold weather set in, then come what will, you know you cannot get away?

You ask me what makes me write short letters. [illegible] I have to keep a girl all the time to do my house work.

Mr. Dunning is from home a good part of the time. Walter is in the Army. I have a good deal of care and as I grow old, I think less interested in other people's business and think others care less about mine.

We have got into our house once more and we are comfortably suited. It has been a very hard effort. If I had a printing press and a sheet of paper as large as the Tribune I would try to describe the hardships of getting settled in a new land.

When we moved here we had to travel the last 22 miles without seeing but one cabin. Of course we did not expect to see a house. The track that we followed was made by Indians.

At last I arrived [April 1855] at my pole cabin that Walter and Mr. Dunning had thrown up. It made me think of mother saying that she would rather live among the Indians or in a hollow log than have the noise of so many children.

Here we located on a lot. The next October, the village was surveyed.

It was a very dry season or we never could have crossed the streams. It was a mile to water or to a stream and it was so stagnant that the water was in little puddles.

I strained the wrigglers out and made coffee and burnt corn meal and made beer to drink through the day. We soon commenced digging a well. got down 25 feet, when one day as I was sitting quiet my neighbors came rolling in, bag and baggage, most of them living ten miles off.

I inquired what was up. They said they would not live scattered while a tribe of Indians lived 7 miles from the county seat. All came together and camped while the men went to Bedford, the county west, and to Missouri, got 100 men and went to the Indians, told them they had to leave. They showed no resistance and our men went with them across the Missouri River into Kansas. [NOTE: This was the result of the murder of Absalom DRIGGS by David HALE. HALE attempted to place the blame on the Indians. As a result the Indians were escorted out of Ringgold County. HALE went unpunished for the deed and eventually moved away from Ringgold County. -SRB]

While they were doing this our well caved in, the multitude had eaten us out of house and home. What we had we brought from Brunswick on the Missouri River.

Of course Mr. Dunning had to start for supplies, was gone 2 weeks. I did not get my well until fall. I felt sometimes that I could go 10 miles for a drink of water. This well cost us $80.

When we sold our farm [Feb. 1855] we sold everything but 1 bed, 1 carpet, 1 bureau.

We went to St. Louis. Mr. Dunning had our location picked in his mind. It was to settle in the southwest part of Mo. He somehow changed his mind and we traveled north. I started with him and we stopped in Brunswick, Mo. He went on until he found the place. In 3 weeks he returned to Brunswick, got me and the children and we came to Decatur, the county east, until he put up the cabin.

I was taken sick at Brunswick with chills and fever and was so sick I did not care where he took me.

In our little cabin we put in 5 loads of dry goods and groceries, my bed and table. When my table was set I had to go out one door and go around the house to get into the other side of the house.

People always come at dinner time to trade. At night the land speculators come to enter the land up around the county seat so you see we had plenty to feed, bringing all we had from Keokuk 80 miles.

In the fall the county seat was laid out and the next fall the price was fixed by the govt and we gave $400 for 3 lots on the public square.

We never were satisfied with the price they made us pay but we have got our house up and our well and here I will tell you that half of the county seat was owned by the county and half owned by private individuals. Our money was paid into the treasury and made improvements for the county.

The courts were held in my room, the judge not living at the county seat. This gave us the opportunity of giving away from 15 to 30 meals a day, I doing the work.

Charles was born that fall [1855]. He loves watermelons, because they have the most water in them of anything but a well. Everything that came here the first two years used water from our well. If I live to be as old as Methuslah I think this county owes me my living. Still we have 2 improved farms and this property in town and Mr. Dunning has bought [illegible] worth of steers. He is now in Missouri buying mules.

I have just commenced my fall sewing. Cut a coat out yesterday. If he had a tailor I would never cut out another.

I have just written to Walter. He is at Camp Dodge at the bluffs. I cannot feel reconciled to his going into the Army. If there are enough young men to get a victory I will not complain. Hardships are the portion of some if they ever so much property. I never expect anything else.

If you can read this you will get along with one hard job.

From your affectionate sister,
L. Dunning

In 1868, Barton and Laura moved their business to Chicago, Illinois, [where he was engaged in the manufacture of barrels according to Mrs. LESAN'S book]. Then, in 1872, the climate of California inticed the couple to travel West. They went out by rail to the Pacific coast, only to return six months later to Mount Ayr. Here, the DUNNINGS remained outside of a visit to Chicago and a six-month stay with their son Frank in Hopkins, Missouri.

Davenport Daily Leader
Davenport, Scott County, Iowa
May 23, 1902

MT. AYR, May 23 - Mrs. Laura Lucina STILES DUNNING celebrated her 87th birthday here yesterday. She has been a resident of Mt. Ayr since 1855. Her husband died in 1877. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. DUNNING: Walter DUNNING is a capitalist of Denver, Colo; Frank DUNNING is president of the Citizens' bank of Bedford; Day DUNNING is president of the Citizens' bank of Mt. Ayr. These three came here with their parents in 1855. Charles B. DUNNING, born here in December, 1855, died in 1880. Mrs. Dunning may fittingly be called "the mother of Mt. Ayr."

Barton B. DUNNING died on October 13, 1877. After Barton's death, Laura resided with their son Day. Laura Lucina (STILES) DUNNING died on May 18, 1906 at the age of 91 years. They were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr.

Walter Lyle DUNNING, born October 5, 1841 in Cass County, Michigan, served in Company G of the 29th Iowa Infantry as a Private during the Civil War. He married on October 6, 1867 to Jennie Elizabeth FELLOWS, who was born October 7, 1837. They moved sometime after 1873 to Denver, Colorado, where Frank was a real estate developer. Jennie died in Denver on April 27, 1903. Frank died in Denver on November 10, 1924.

The Walter DUNNING resident at 1200 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, Colorado, was built of gray lava stone in 1889-1890, featuring leaded and stained-glass windows, heavy woodwork throughout, large rooms on the ground floor, and a third-floor ballroom. The house was designed by architect William LANG [who designed the Molly BROWN house]. The house changed hands several times, and by the 1930's was used as a boarding house, called The Graystone. In the early 1950's it was remodeled into apartments. In 1964, Denver realtor Lee RUDOSFSKY bought the property and converted the house for office use. It has been a historic landmark in Denver since 1975.

Frank DUNNING was born on March 15, 1845, Edwardsburg, Michigan. He was the president of Citizens State Bank for 48 years. Frank married on January 10, 1878 to Rebecca Margaret (WEAVER) DUNNING, who was born March 21, 1849, St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, and died in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 20, 1928. Frank died on March 1, 1924. They were interred at Fairview Cemetery near Bedford, Taylor County, Iowa.

Day DUNNING was born on October 15, 1849, in Cass County, Michigan. He married in 1870 to Paroda KELLER, the daughter of Judge Isaac W.KELLER of Mount Ayr. Day was in partnership with Andrew O. INGRAM in the mercantile business known as INGRAM and DUNNING. After five years, the business was sold. Day went into the banking business and had large land holdings. He served on the Mount Ayr city council, the school board, and the family belonged to the Methodist Church. Mismanagement of the business caused his $500,000 bankruptcy on January 16, 1904. The ordeal brought on a trial of which the case was dismissed. Day and Paroda were the parents of thirteen [Mrs. LESAN said 18] children. Day died from blood poisoning and lock-jaw on July 10, 1923, Indianola, Warren County, Iowa. Paroda (KELLER) DUNNING was born in Mt. Ephraim, Noble County, Ohio, on March 21, 1852, and died January 29, 1941, Indianola. They were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr.

Charles B. DUNNING died from complications of diabetes on October 22, 1880, and was interred at Woodland Cemetery located north of Kellerton.

Day DUNNING Family Photograph

SOURCES:
LESAN, Mrs. B. M. Early History of Ringgold County: 1844 - 1937 Pp. 10-13. Blair Pub. House. Lamoni IA. 1937.

BRETZ, James. The Mansions of Denver: The Vintage Years p. 178. Pruett Publ. 2005.

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010