Martin Dunville's great-great-grandfather Richard A Dunville (born about 1765) came to South Carolina from Belfast in about 1773. Back in Belfast Richard's father William married again and it was the son of the second marriage, John, who founded the Dunville Distillery there in 1808.
Richard A Dunville came to live with his uncle Robert in the USA. Robert and Richard lived on adjacent farms in Kershaw County, South Carolina until about 1800 when they moved to Grainger County, Tennessee. They lived there for about ten years. Robert went to Ste Genevieve County, Missouri and Hempstead County, Arkansas, where he died in 1819. He was a farmer, land speculator, and Methodist preacher. He was also a veteran of the Revolutionary War.
Richard went to what is now Webster County, Kentucky, where he lived until his death in 1836. He and his wife were buried in Old Salem Methodist Church near Slaughters, Kentucky. Richard was a farmer, weaver and a pioneer Methodist preacher.
Richard's son Richard Jr (1798-1871) was a successful farmer in Kentucky, who owned about 6000 acres of river bottom land along the Green River near Slaughters, Kentucky. Most of the land was swampland that he cleared and drained with slave labour. His obituary states 'he was considered to be the wealthiest man in Hopkins and Webster County'. Several descendants still live on parts of his original farm, the 'Old Dick Dunville Farm'.
Richard Jr had five wives; all but the last died in childbirth. The last wife, Sarah Ellen (Morris) died in 1923 aged 97. It was she who changed the family name from Dumville to Dunville early in her marriage. Richard's last child was born when her father was 72.
This information was provided by the Martin Dunville (1922-1992) of Michigan and Florida
Kerry Edwards of Gainesville, Florida says in his message to the Guest Book on 20th July 2003 'There is a wonderful book, The Heyday of Onton, that gives a great description of the Dunville family in Onton, Webster County, KY. Martin Dunville was instrumental in providing much information for that book as well.' ('The Heyday of Onton' by Louise P Fleming, published by McDowell Publications in 1984)
Richard Martin Dunville (1922–1992), of Michigan and Florida, was a grandson of Benjamin Harry Dunville (1859-1896). Martin did a tremendous amount of research into the Dunville/Dumville/Domville families. His letters and papers are now kept in the Lois Foster Blount Papers at the East Texas Research Center at the Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas.
The website of the East Texas Research Center is
http://library.sfasu.edu/etrc/
Go to Collection Guides, then Personal & Family Collection, then Lois Foster Blount Papers, Identifier: A-0107
The URL of this page is http://archives.sfasu.edu/repositories/2/resources/281
The contents of Box 3, Folders 17 to 21, and Box 4, Folders 1 to 10 are listed below.
(Please return to us at www.dumville.org!)
Folder 17: Dumville/Dunville Family. Miscellaneous correspondence, 1963-1973. Photocopy, carbon, handwritten. 6 items.
Folder 18: Dumville, Harry C. Correspondence, 1933-1963. Photocopy. 8 items.
Folder 19: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence with Blount, May 12 - June 9, 1973. Includes genealogical charts and pictures. Handwritten, photocopy, carbon. 16 items.
Folder 20: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence with Blount, June 11 - July 9, 1973. Includes genealogical charts. Handwritten, photocopy, carbon. 18 items.
Folder 21: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence with Blount, July 20 - August 12, 1973. Includes genealogical charts and pictures. Handwritten, carbon, photocopy. 12 items.
Folder 1: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence with Blount, August 19 - September 14, 1973. Includes genealogical charts and pictures. Handwritten, Carbon, photocopy. 14 items.
Folder 2: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence to Blount, September 15, 1973. Includes genealogical charts. Handwritten, photocopy. 16 items.
Folder 3: Correspondence with Blount, October 4 - October 11, 1973. Includes pictures, biographical materials, obituaries for Harry C. Dumville. Photocopy, handwritten, carbon. 10 items.
Folder 4: Correspondence to Blount, (October 12, 1973). Includes genealogical charts, legal papers. Photocopy. 20 items.
Folder 5: Dunville, Martin. Correspondence with Blount, (ca. 1973). Includes genealogical data and legal papers. Handwritten, photocopy, carbon. 11 items.
Folder 6: Dumville, Mary. Certified copy of marriage bond, 1802. Photocopy with signed certificate. 1 item.
Folder 7: Dumville, Richard. Legal papers and genealogical chart, 1760-1836. Photocopy, certified typescript, certified photocopy. 4 items.
Folder 8: Dumville, Robert. Biographical and genealogical materials, 1768-1958. Handwritten, typescript, photocopy. 8 items.
Folder 9: Dumville, Robert. Will and depositions of witnesses to will, 1816-1820. Photocopy, certified photocopy. 4 items.
Folder 10: Dumville, Robert. Legal papers, 1773-1806. Photocopy, certified typescript. 5 items