Does anyone have any information on African American Dunns in Mississippi and east Texas?

Question

I am struggling to find information on the African American side of my family. I am working on putting up profiles of those that I do know. The furthest I could get back to was my great great grandfather Soloman Dunn, born in 1834 Mississippi. He then migrated to Marshall, Texas.

Answer 1

Hi Mira and Welcome to WikiTree.

Below are a couple of records I found at FamilySearch.org (it is a free research site). I imagine you are actually trying to get farther back than these records, but I hope these will help.

You might add the tag ʻAfrican Americanʻ to your question.

Please come back to WikiTree anytime for additional help.

 

Name:    Salemon Dunn
Titles and Terms:    
Event Type:    Census
Event Date:    1910
Event Place:    Holland, Bell, Texas, United States
District:    ED 7
Gender:    Male
Age:    77
Marital Status:    Married
Race:    White
Race (Original):    White
Relationship to Head of Household:    Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original):    Head
Birth Year (Estimated):    1833
Birthplace:    Georgia
Immigration Year:    
Father's Birthplace:    Georgia
Mother's Birthplace:    Georgia
Sheet Letter:    A
Sheet Number:    6
Sheet Number and Letter:    6A
Household ID:    101
Affiliate Name:    The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Affiliate Publication Number:    T624
Affiliate Film Number:    1530
GS Film Number:    1375543
Digital Folder Number:    005157165
Image Number:    00258

Household    Role    Sex    Age    Birthplace
Salemon Dunn    Head    M    77    Georgia
Nancy Dunn    Wife    F    72    Georgia
Luther Dunn    Son    M    35    Alabama
Pauline Dunn    Granddaughter    F    10    Texas
Thelma Dunn    Granddaughter    F    8    Texas

 

Citing this Record:
"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M29G-XS3 : accessed 2 October 2017), Salemon Dunn, Holland, Bell, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 7, sheet 6A, family 101, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1530; FHL microfilm 1,375,543.

 

Name:    Solomon Dunn
Titles and Terms:    
Event Type:    Census
Event Year:    1900
Event Place:    Justice Precinct 3 (election precinct 15), Harrison, Texas, United States
District:    42
Gender:    Male
Age:    66
Marital Status:    Married
Race:    Black
Race (Original):    B
Relationship to Head of Household:    Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original):    Head
Number of Living Children:    
Years Married:    38
Birth Date:    Jul 1834
Birthplace:    Mississippi
Marriage Year (Estimated):    1862
Immigration Year:    
Father's Birthplace:    Mississippi
Mother's Birthplace:    Mississippi
Mother of how many children:    
Sheet Number and Letter:    20A
Household ID:    365
Line Number:    21
Affiliate Name:    The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Affiliate Publication Number:    T623
GS Film Number:    1241643
Digital Folder Number:    004118497
Image Number:    00208

Household    Role    Sex    Age    Birthplace
Solomon Dunn    Head    M    66    Mississippi
Margaret Dunn    Wife    F    53    Texas
Jessie Dunn    Daughter    F    21    Texas
Sherman Dunn    Son    M    19    Texas
Rachel Dunn    Daughter    F    17    Texas
Ibby Dunn    Daughter    F    12    Texas
Cornelius Dunn    Son    M    11    Texas
Asa Dunn    Son    M    8    Texas
Joseph Dunn    Grandson    M    9    Texas
William Dunn    Grandson    M    4    Texas

 

Citing this Record:
"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3GL-JHT : accessed 2 October 2017), Solomon Dunn, Justice Precinct 3 (election precinct 15), Harrison, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 42, sheet 20A, family 365, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,643.

 

Name:    Solomon Dunn
Event Type:    Military Service
Event Year:    1864
Age (Original):    35
Military Unit Note:    26th US Colored Infantry
Affiliate Publication Title:    Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: Infantry Organizations, 26th through 30th, including the 29th Connecticut (Colored)
Affiliate Publication Number:    M1824
Affiliate Film Number:    4

 

Citing this Record:
"United States Civil War Service Records of Union Colored Troops, 1863-1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JZDF-CBR : 12 December 2014), Solomon Dunn, 1864; from "Civil War Soldiers - Union - Colored Troops," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing military unit 26th US Colored Infantry, NARA microfilm publication M1824, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., roll 4.

Comments

Well done Kristina

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Your first form is for a white guy

Answer 2

Hi Mira,

Have you used the FamilySearch website at all in your search? It has a Record Search that can be used to look up Census records. Not that they are always perfect. My experience in searching for African American families shows that they can't always be found in Census records the farther back one goes.

Answer 3

Except in the case of "famous" slaves, the first recognition of African-Americans was the 1870 census.  And that should be used with caution. Frequently, after the Civil War, the freed slaves on a plantation took their owner's surname and were NOT related to each other.

If you have ancestry.com, pull down the Search tab, select census, wait, select U.S. Census, wait then scroll down to the years. When the form for 1870 comes up, fill in names etc then at the bottom, there will be "race". Type "black". Sometimes, you can type "colored" or "mulatto". The ancestry form doesn't recognize African American

Answer 4

Another caution. When slave families formed up immediately after the Civil War, some of the children of a mother were not fathered by the man she married or lived with. And legal marriages were rare because they couldn't pay the fees required by the county . Some black churches kept their own records, especially Baptist and AME. If you know the town they lived in, look for the oldest black churches and write a letter. The same for graves. Look for black cemeteries. Whites and blacks were NEVER buried in the same cemetery

Comments

Wrong information. Blacks and white were commonly buried together in cemeteries in Mississippi. But of course, their race is not recorded on the grave marker, so church records are very important for that reason, as well as census records to match the names on the grave markers, dates, and area they lived.

This goes back to the knowledge one has of the community and county that they live in.  Stories that need to recorded and handed down to the generations to come.

Those records are priceless treasures.

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I respectfully disagree . In tracing all my ancestors in Alabama and Mississippi, I have yet to find a desegregated cemetery pre-Civil Rights/ LBJ era.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-persistent-racism-of-americas-cemeteries

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2016/09/05/development-could-lead-to-cemetery-integration/89722442/

 

https://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-cemeteries/index.cgi/md/read/id/4186/sbj/names-of-ms-colored-cemeteries/

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cemetery-segregation-grounded-in-tradition/

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As an organizer of our local Historical and Genealogical Society in my home county in Mississippi. I only spoke from personal experience.  I also live beside a cemetery first buried there in 1840, which would be pre- Civil War Era.

Not arguing with you, but each county in Miss. is unique in itself.  Had I not been involved in the recording of the cemetery grave markers, and doing the History of the Church as well as the  Cemetery, I would not have known this very helpful information.

And never believe everything you read or see in the news media.  Our local paper wouldn't print the stories I have concerning the Black graves identified without markers, or with  grave stone markers.

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I'm writing my PhD dissertation and I've been black for 37 yesrs

Answer 5

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=151036025&ref=acom

Answer 6

 

Solomon Dunn

 in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

 

Name:	Solomon Dunn
Gender:	Male
Spouse:	Margaret Jackson
Child:	Rachel Dun Shepherd

Source Information

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Original data: Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007.

 

Answer 7

 

Marguerite

 in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

 

Name:	Marguerite
Gender:	Female
Spouse:	Soloman Dunn
Child:	Cornelius Dunn

Source Information

Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

 

Answer 8

Hey Mira. I am from Marshall,TX. Solomon Dunn is my great great great grandfather. Elam Dunn is Solomon's son, which is my great grandmother Retha Dunn's dad(Elam Dunn).