Samuel McNight Dunaway, Williamson County pioneer, real estate tycoon, and business man, helped settle the village of Bainbridge in Williamson County and became an early land owner of more than 50 parcels of 40 acres or more. Buying and selling this land, along with his other business interests which included everything from merchant to railroad president, made him the richest man in the county by the middle 1800’s.
Sam came to, what was at that time, the western edge of United States civilization in about 1827. He came from North Carolina, where he was born in 1809, by way of Tennessee and first settled in Union County, Illinois. It is said his father died in the War of 1812 and that he had been apprenticed to a master from whom he ran away as a young man. He later moved to Bainbridge, and began work as a hatter. His hat shop, primitive as it was, represented the first manufacture in the county other than mills. Bainbridge had a tanning yard, run by the brothers Frank and John Brown about 1850. The former was a son-in-law of Samuel Dunaway after 1852. They marketed their leather in St. Louis, hauling it overland and returning with a load of goods for Bainbridge merchants. The town of Bainbridge was never large. There were 16 lots in the town which were bought in 1838 by 10 men: James Wiley (3 lots), William Duncan (2 lots), William R. Roberts, Allen Bainbridge, William Denning (2 lots), Anderson Walker (2 lots), Austin R. Finley, Joel Norris, William T. Turner and Silas Grattin.
The earliest land he bought in 1837 was located about a half-mile south of where Bainbridge was located. The exact location of Bainbridge remains somewhat of a mystery. The tombstones in the cemetery have been moved. But no one knows for sure exactly where they were moved from. The land on which they rest today may be the site of the original cemetery and the stones moved together to conserve space. Or the tombstones may have been moved during construction of the Illinois Ordnance Plant called Ordill.
He married Julia A. Tarpley who was born in Tennessee May 24, 1817. They had 14 or 15 children who survived infancy. Children listed in the 1850 and 1860 censuses and their approximate years of birth are: Elizabeth 1836, John 1838, Sarah 1840, Samuel 1842, Lucinda 1844, Mary J. 1846, Malvina 1847, Thomas 1848, Julia 1850, Josephine 1851, Martha 1853, William 1856, George 1858, and Charles 1860. The census states that Samuel was born in North Carolina, Julia in Tennessee and all the children were born in Illinois.
The first land that Sam bought was in 1837 just one half mile south of the town of Bainbridge. This first parcel was probably where he built his house and where he lived for thirty-five years.
He and his wife Julia bought many tracts of land in the area south of Bainbridge and throughout Williamson and Jackson Counties. The Dunaway family bought 59 parcels of land from 40 to 160 acres in size in Williamson County alone from the Federal government. He also bought land for taxes and from individuals.
In 1840, the census gave the name of the head of household but did not give names of individuals in the household, only their age bracket. Based on the ages in 1840, Sam and Julia were living with two girls and a boy, Elizabeth, John and Sarah.
In 1850, Samuel and Julia A. were living with 9 of their children from ages 18 to 2 years. He moved his store to Marion by 1852 but remained living in Bainbridge. His dry goods store was on the south side of the public square in a wood frame building. This building and lot, located on the east corner of S. Market Street would later be purchased by Francis M. Westbrook.
In the 1860 census, Samuel and Julia were near Bainbridge with 9 children. Elizabeth, John, and Sarah had already married and moved out of the home. Another son, Alexander, had been born about 1852 and had died by 1860. Sam had real estate valued at $30,000 and personal property valued at $20,000. His son, Samuel, age 18 also had $400 in personal property. Several parcels of the land were in Julia’s name.
In 1870, Sam and Julia had just six children living with them. They were still living in Bainbridge and hadn’t moved to Marion, a town that had grown considerably while Bainbridge had declined. Sam was listed as a merchant with $30,000 real estate and $50,000 personal property, a considerable sum in 1870, equal to $1,300,000 of 2010 dollars.
In 1871 the contract was let to build the Carbondale and Shawneetown Railroad. Samuel Dunaway of Bainbridge was president of the railroad company which was incorporated by the legislature in 1867. The main line had thirteen miles of track in the county, with stations at Fredonia, Carterville, Crainville, Bainbridge, and Marion. The county subscribed $100,000 toward its construction, less than one-fifth the total cost. The last rail was laid at Marion Jan 15, 1872 although trains had been running for some time. Sam Dunaway, as president of the company, saw that the train made stops in Bainbridge.
In 1872, Sam and another prominent merchant and former partner, James T. Goddard, moved to Marion and the village of Bainbridge declined rapidly after that.
Sam Dunaway died at his residence in Marion on November 28, 1876 after a brief illness. His body was returned to Bainbridge to be buried in the family cemetery there. He died without leaving a will. The older children and their spouses filed a petition for partition against Julia, Mary J. Watkins, and the two minor children, George L. and Charlie H. The estate was still being liquidated in 1884. Julia received land and the home in which they lived for her part.
By the 1880 census, only a few houses remained in Bainbridge. Julia lived in Marion with her son Charley who died in 1880 at 23 years of age.
Julia died in 1893 and was buried in Bainbridge alongside Sam. Her estate was partitioned in 1898.
The Dunaway family burial ground remains today as the Bainbridge Cemetery. At some point down through the years eleven tombstones from the original cemetery were moved to the west side of what is today called Bainbridge Trail. Samuel and Julia are there, as are Charlie H., Alexander, William A., a child’s tombstone with the name Samuel on it, Martha A. Newton, another small stone with the name gone, John L., George L. and one more whose inscription cannot be read.
Today, Sam and Julia’s tombstones and nine others stand like guards of honor in the field along Bainbridge Trail in the farmland west of Marion.
Notes on the Dunaway Children:
The children of Sam and Julia intermarried with the children of other pioneer families of Marion and the surrounding area.
Elizabeth Dunaway married Frank Brown who ran the Bainbridge tan yard in 1852.
John Dunaway married Nancy J. Duncan, daughter of George M. and Rose Ann (Hinson) Duncan. He died in 1880 possibly from pneumonia at the age of 42.
Sarah Dunaway married Andrew Snyder and moved to Carbondale.
Samuel W. Dunaway married Virginia Thorn. See the post on “Samuel W. Dunaway”
Lucinda Ellen Dunaway died in 1863 at about 19 years of age. She was married to a Duncan.
Mary Jane Dunaway married John W. Watkins, Francis M. Goodall and Hartwell Duncan. She was born on January 3, 1847 and married Frank Goodall November 26, 1863. They had three children, but only one, Anna G. Reed, wife of Edward Reed, survived childhood. Francis “Frank” Goodall was a prominent Marion businessman and son of pioneer Joab Goodall.
Malvina Dunaway married Martin Wiley Robertson, nephew of James T. Goddard, in 1866. She lived until 1916.
Thomas Dunaway married Bethena Benson and Emma Benson. Thomas, a Marion merchant, died in 1921. He and a brother were the builders of the Dunaway Opera House on the Marion square. Thomas and Emma had a son named Samuel Dunaway (1895-1976) who became a prominent real estate and insurance business man in Marion. They also had a daughter named Mabel Dunaway (1885-1963) who served as a public school teacher in Marion for 44 years. See the post, Thomas Dunaway
Julia Dunaway was a new baby in the 1850 census and did not appear on the 1860 census.
Josephine Dunaway married Robert Marion Hinchcliff. She also married H.T.B. Moy in 1883. They lived in Washington, D C. Their infant daughter who died in Washington was brought back to be buried in the family cemetery.
Martha A. Dunaway married Thomas Newton and died in 1875 at the age of 22.
George Dunaway also died at the age of 22 in 1880.
William A. Dunaway died also in 1880 at the age of 24. He married Mary Clara McCowan. Their children were Daisy, Amelia, Anna Louisa and Samuel. Their son, Samuel Dunaway, married Mattie Oakley.
Charlie H. Dunaway died at the age of 24 in 1885 leaving a wife and baby.
Six of the children of Sam and Julie died as young adults in their early 20’s. Two were infants.
(Extracted from Federal Census Records; Pioneer Folks and Places; Illinois Death Records; 1905 Souvenir History; History of Williamson County; compiled by Colleen Norman)