Dicey (Willson) Cunningham (1819 - 1897)

Born 14 Feb 1819 in Sevier County, Tennessee, USA

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Wilkerson (Cunningham) Cunnyngham — married 17 Nov 1842 in McMinn County, Tennessee

Descendants

Died 18 Nov 1897 at age 78 in Polk County, Missouri

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kathryn Cunnyngham [send private message]

Biography

Dicey (Willson) Cunnyngham (b. 14 Feb 1819, d. 18 Jun 1889)

Dicey (Willson) Cunnyngham (daughter of James L. Willson and Sarah Ann Cannon) was born Dicey Willson aka Wilson, February 14, 1819 in Sevier County, Tennessee; died November 18, 1897 in Polk County, Missouri; burial in Morrisville Cemetery, Polk County, Missouri. She married Thomas Wilkerson Cunningham (son of William Henry Cunningham and Magdalena "Modlin" Lewis) on November 17, 1842 in McMinn County, Tennessee. Thomas Wilkerson was born June 8, 1814 in Knox County, Tennessee; died June 18, 1889 in Looney, Polk County Missouri; burial in Morrisville Cemetery, Polk County, Missouri. After Dicey migrated her family to Missouri she was know as "Dicy Wilson" and the family name changed to "Cunnyngham".

Children of Dicy Wilson and Thomas Wilkerson Cunnyngham are:

(i) James H W Cunnyngham, born September 13, 1843, McMinn County, Tennessee; died July 28, 1894, Polk County, Missouri.

(ii) Robert Winton Cunnyngham, born August 16, 1845, McMinn County, Tennessee; died January 5, 1929, Polk County, Missouri.

(iii) William G Cunnyngham, born April 16, 1847, McMinn County, Tennessee; died October 1, 1882, in Looney, Polk County, Missouri.

(iv) John Mock Cunnyngham, born January 30, 1849, McMinn County, Tennessee; died January 8, 1933, in Springfield, Green County, Missouri.

(v) Thomas W Cunnyngham, born September 13, 1852 in Morrisville, Polk County, Missouri; died November 13, 1924, in West Looney, Polk County, Missouri.

Dicy Wilson's father, James L. Willson, migrated with his father Robert Willson to Jefferson County, Tennessee about 1786-1790, just a few miles south of the French Broad River where the Cunningham family had settled in 1786. The Cunningham family then moved in 1826 from Knox County (formerly Jefferson County) south-west to Niota in McMinn County, Tennessee. Around 1830-1836, James and Sarah Willson moved to Missouri, intending to settle there, leaving their children in Sevier County (formerly Jefferson County), Tennessee.

In 1842 Dicey Willson married Thomas Wilkerson and moved to the Cunningham family farm in Niota to live with Thomas and his parents, Modlin and William Henry Cunningham (they died in 1845-46, and were buried in the Niota Cemetery). In December 1848 James and Sarah Willson returned to Tennessee from Missouri, joining Dicey and her younger brother James Willson on the Cunningham farm in Niota, as well as Thomas Wilkerson and their three children James (age 5), Robert (age 3) and William (age 1). After a full disclosure of the parent's experience in Missouri, Dicey and Thomas Wilkerson Cunningham decided to leave the Tennessee farm to the Willson family, and to migrate with their four young children to Polk County, Missouri (baby John Mock was born January, 1849). [A few years later, in 1853 and 1857, James L. Willson and Sarah Ann died in McMinn County, and were buried in the Niota Cemetery.]

In 1850 Dicey Cunningham with her four children, joined a wagon train headed to Missouri, and Thomas Wilkerson followed them in 1851. The family settled on the property in Looney, Polk County, Missouri, where their last son Thomas was born September 13, 1852, and where Dicy and Thomas Wilkerson Cunnyngham lived until his death June 18, 1889.

Residence 1850 Subdivision 23, McMinn, Tennessee (Based on Birth Locations of Children and 1889 Goodspeed Article, "Migration to Missouri 1850".); 1860-1880 Looney, Polk, Missouri; ID: P-1560713958 ^[1]

Burial: Morrisville Cemetery, Morrisville, Polk County, Missouri; created by Sharon Day. Record added Oct 15, 2006, Find A Grave Memorial# 16206901 (see photo of memorial)

No more info is currently available for Dicy Willson. Can you add to her biography?

Sources

• Kathryn Cunnyngham, notes from Sharon Wilhite Day, http://just4day.tripod.com/Cunnyngham.html.

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bateschastain&id=P-1560713958&style=TABLE

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=cunnyngham&GSfn=dicey&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=16206901&df=all&

• Tennessee State Marriage Index https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNDV-LSC

See the Changes page for the details of edits by Kathryn and others.

1. ↑ Entered by Kathryn Cunnyngham, Dec 1, 2011; Jon Cunnyngham, Feb 16, 2012.