Today I have the pleasure of presenting two new pages on this site: Family Tree – Dunning Family and Family Members – Dunning Family. You’re excited! You want to click on it! But wait, before I disappoint your genealogical expectations, please note that this is not the “official” record. This is my version of a portion of the Dunning tree, researched in earnest but fully mutable, and totally fallible.
My tree is a way to help identify people in the family photos
My level of spatial intelligence is naturally, abysmally low. If I manage to park the car between the lines at the mall parking lot, it’s a good bet I won’t be able to find it again when it’s time to go. My child beats me at chess. If you try to explain to me that “my grandmother’s father’s brother-in-law” I will stop you mid-sentence because my brain really can’t work it out.
Putting a family tree on this site is one solution. I can reference people in our family history without forcing you, or (worse) me, to do mental gymnastics.
My tree begins with “Orange County Michael”
As per this genealogy, the Dunning family has existed in England from, at least, the 13th century. The “prevailing opinion…seems to be that the earliest immigrants of that name [to America] came from Devon, England”. The report mentions the towns of South Tawton and Trowleigh, and, sure enough, the baptism and marriage records on the Family Search site show plenty of Dunnings there:
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/South_Tawton_with_South_Zeal,_Devon_Genealogy
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Throwleigh,_Devon_Genealogy
From England, according to that history, the Dunnings immigrated to Fairfield County, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, North Carolina, and Canada. I’ll only be displaying the Orange County, New York Dunnings on my family tree. That branch begins with Michael Dunning who helped to found Goshen, N.Y. in 1719.
My family tree and family member records are imperfect works-in-progress
Even after limiting the Dunning family tree to Michael’s descendants, the branches contain more ancestors than I can currently process. Where possible, I have reviewed census records, death records, and newspaper articles. There are mistakes. There are missing relationships and erroneous dates. I welcome your help in making this as accurate as possible – please contact me should you find something that needs correction.
Also, please note that in the interest of privacy, I will not add living members to the tree.
This week’s post had me thinking plenty about trees, and about the continuity of life in general. I love the idea that even if the records don’t exist, that we all come from a family tree planted ages back. Here’s a poem I wrote to that effect: enjoy!
Your Tree
Though not your choice you came to be
A twig upon the family tree
By virtue of your birth it grew
And now the history of you
Comprises not just your pursuits
But all those branches, all those fruits.
From faith it grows out of the ground
Through love it heals the air around.