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1998 will mark 150 years the descendants of Thomas #1 Dunn and Mary Higgins have been in America and nothing more fitting can be conceived that to honor our ancestors and ourselves than by reflecting on our heritage and keeping alive our family story.The Potato Famine of the mid-1800s in Ireland was one of the world's worst human disasters and many Irishman saw fit to leave their homeland to survive. One such family was the Dunn family of Kilkenny, Ireland. But first, History 101...In the middle of the 17th century Britain invaded Ireland and broke the back of

the Irish chieftains and immediately forced upon the Irish their feudal systemof government and forbid their Catholic religion. Hugh O'Neil, one of the dis

placed Irish leaders attempted to militarily force the British out of Ireland,was defeated and forced to escape to Italy. (becoming a legend revered for hisloyalty to Ireland and noted for his fierce strength.)

Within a few short years the Irish people had become a wandering, homeless, poor, disposed people within their own country no less, and committed to an existence as tenants and servants to their conquerors who at best regarded them as lazy, drunken fools incapable of self direction. On any given English estate might be found as many as 10,000 of these tenant farmers owing their dependence on British Lords whose collection of taxes/levy's was persistent.Important to remember that emigration from Ireland began shortly after the British conquered Ireland. Boatloads of emigrants were heading for the New World, America, even while the Irish population tripled at home, to escape the tyrannyof their British conquerors. Equally important to note here, that emigration was favored by Britain to the point that often landlords would finance their travel. One landlord calculated that it cost about 7 pounds to keep a starving, indigent tenant one year on welfaroe. The cost of a boat ticket to New York about4 pounds, to Quebec 3 pounds; half price for the children. It was officially seen as one answer to the "Irish problem", an economical way to downsize.Ironically, with the next 50-75 years the British Lords found themselves in a unique position as well. Out of regular contact with England and with less andless influence in parliament; having purposely estranged themselves from theirIrish subjects, they became isolated themselves; finding themselves alone in acountry they really couldn't call home. As we shall see this will become a serious problem for the Irish poor in later years.

In the late 17th century and early 18th century the British trading companies were scouring the world for trade and one of the items surfacing first in Britain and very quickly in Ireland was the Potato, imported initially from the Andes

This root vegetable quickly found favor in the Irish climate, was inexpensive to grow, withstood the damp climate, easy to store and could nourish whole families throughout the year. Understandably it quickly became, along with wheat and barley, their primary sustenance. For the poor Irish, (3 million in number) it literally became their breakfast, dinner and supper and was used even to feed

their livestock. (It brings to mind even as I write, watching my grandfather,Daniel Dunn, feed ng potatoes to his cattle in Troy, Vermont a hundred years later! )The ritual cycle evolved over the years suggested the soil be prepared starting

February 1st, potato's are planted on st Paddy's Day and all the crops harvest

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ed starting on Halloween. Between planting and harvesting, the men were forcedto leave home and find work either at the ports or in England itself to supplement their meager income.In the fall of 1845 the Irish awoke on a rainy, foggy day to an overpowering stench that filled the air .. Investigating they suddenly discovered to their shock the potato plant so vital for life turning black and dying. One can only imagine their despair. Ireland was in crises.The British had seen in the recent pasts, many crop failures, and in fact reacted quite quickly to this one, importing corn and barley into the country and in

reality they managed to save the lives of millions of Irishman that year. As the disaster spread across Ireland and its magnitude became known to the crown it was seized as an opportunity to "reform".By 1846 the second potato crop failed, millions of Irishman had died ..and emigration became a reality for millions more, fueled by desperation for their lives ...

no sense of adventure here.Meanwhile, in England, Trevellian became the Exchequer for the Crown. A fiercely dedicated loyalist, workaholic, who became obsessed with the "Irish Question"; an idealist who saw the need but was equally insistent that the Irish be made to work for their living and determined not to raise generations dependent on

handouts. He established a plan of building roads across Ireland, putting theresponsibility for social reform into the hands of the estate lords. "So muchpay for so much stone".Blinded by his idealism, shortsighted in his enthusiasm, he failed to grasp the

obvious. The Irish were dying ...by the millions. A prolonged period of starvation had taken its toll. Nutritionally incapable of doing the labor demanded of them, barefoot, unclothed, suffering from typhus, dysentery ...The solution becamethe problem. Millions more died on the rock piles struggling to eke out a meal.As mentioned earlier, the estate lords, many of them incapable, incompetent buffoon's heretofore content to live off the taxes of their tenants became increasingly indebted themselves and frantically sought relief from Britain. Others,most notably perhaps Lord Sligo of Sligo county, (northwest of Kilkenny) passionately pleaded on behalf of their subject for relief but to no avail. These men for the most part had lost their influence in Parliament, had no real political constituency either locally or in Britain. Again, the real innocent victims

were the Irish people themselves.In November/December Ireland was hit by a blizzard, the worst ever recalled inhistory. 7 weeks of blowing snow, drifting often to depths of 50 feet! Imagineif you can millions of people homeless, starving, living in caves, one room stone lean-to's_The Irish began to believe they were "cursed altogether". Death became a blessing ...Perhaps an even greater disaster affected our Irish ancestors.cally an aggressive, fiercely pugnacious people, they suddenlyithdrawn, passive ...almost indifferent to their realization theyogether".

Apathy. Historibecame sullen, wwere "cursed alt

In the mid 1800's a Famine ship left Sligo for Quebec with 500 people aboard bound for the New World. Less than 12 could walk off the ship on arrival in Quebec! More than half died either on the voyage and were thrown over board at sea,

or died in the infirmaries in Port.

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They tell the story of a man and his wife with 2 children sailing to New York and the baby dying of the "fever". The mother is wailing with grief and not willing to part with her daughter. The Captain of the ship pulls the baby from her arms, throws the body over the side ...the mother jumps over to be with her cherished daughter.

The weeping mother abandons ship,To where her child had gone.

The dry-eyed captainSmokes his pipeAnd the sailing shipSails on.

Author unknown

That is the way it was in 1848.In October of 1848, a young 29-year-old Irishman, James C Dunn, left hi

s family and sailed to New York City determined to create a home for his familyWithin weeks of his arrival he had settled in Newport Vermont. Within the ver

y next few years 6 of his siblings were to follow and our American heritage begins.

Note: I wrote the above paragraph in October of 1997 ...part of an introduction to publication of our Family History. Today it sounds trite...almost surreaL.suggesting a dream-like quality that could not have been further from their truth.

James Dunn left Ireland in October of 1848 desperate, period. Frantic for his family, especially his new wife and their very young daughter ...probably grieving over the possible loss of his parents who more than likely would perish

in the famine and be among the millions of unknown bodies strewn about the Irish country side in unmarked, hastily dug graves, worried sick about his 6 siblings he left behind and scared to death of what lay before him.

James Dunn made it to Newport, Vermont, his wife and daughter followed,his siblings arrived and all of us are here today, beneficiaries of the streng

th and determination of this one Irishman.A lonely IrishmanBoards a ship

His sad eyes looking froA nothing-ness.

But in his heartHope-a glow!

Author unknown(maybe ..)DEMOGRAPHICSIt might be fun to link together people to places (environment) and see if wecan get a flavor for what their actually life might have been like ...to do this we'll need to review History 101 (yuk)

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The names and ages of individuals are confirmed in the Vermont census over thedecades. The Irasburg, VT census of 1850 shows: James Dunn at age 27, a laborer; Ellen, age 19; and Mary, age 1, all born in Ireland living in Irasburg. Thepopulation for Irasburg is 1034. (Newport is only 748!)

This is interesting.tled in Newport. The reality1 do anything for a joke) Ift can easily be checked out.

The folklore of the family is that James Dunn setis that he settled in Irasburg. {Those Irishman wilthe source for the 1850 Census is accurate and tha

Irasburg was chartered in 1781 to Ira Allen and 69 associates comprising some 23,000 acres. A shrewd businessman Ira soon acquired conveyances from his associates and original alleged proprietors and in 1789 owned the entire town exceptfor public rights. (Ira, the benevolent scoundreL. must have been a Democrat) When Ira married (Jerusha Enos) and in accordance with the custom of the time, the marriage settlement given to her by Ira was the entire township! (Ira was also

a diplomat!)Settlers held their land under leases and it wasn't until 1814 that propertiesbegan to be sold and deeds effected. Nearly all of the land in the northeastern

part of the town remained under lease; the general area of the settlement of James and Ellen in 1849-1850. As an aside there still exist in Vermont today hugh land grants. Dartmouth College, I believe, still "owns" massive amounts of 1and that is still leased annually and dues paid to the college, by the present"owners". (Up until recently exempt from property taxes because ....Dartmouth is a

school_ get it?) I think old Dean Davis, a Republican stuck his finger in thatleaking hole ...

Important in all of this is the fact that Ira had a widespreadreputation as a benevolent and honest landowner. (Still a democrat though ...sort

of a Clintonesque White Water ambiance?) Is it a stretch to speculate that a poor or at best meager of means Irishman could corne to Vermont, arrange a leasefrom the Allen's of Irasburg and establish a homestead? This may have been a simple and expedient way to establish a foothold in the New World. (See? Isn't history fun?)

{While in the mood to abandon caution and sort of wing it....relenting tothe urge to wildly fantasize and speculate beyond reason, lets stretch this ou

t to its fullest_lWhy did this Irishman arrive in New York in the late Fall of 1848, tra

vel directly to northeastern Vermont and matter-of -factly establish his roots.How can this be? This question has interested me for years. (Yeah, who would e

ver want to settle in Irasburg for Gods sake?)Pat Logan ...Every year for the past 55 years I recall somebody discussing

our History mention Pat Logan. Who was Pat Logan and how did he fit into ourhistory? (Hang on_there's that word again)

Pat Logan was assuredly a neighbor of James/Ellen Dunn. He lived justup the hill and across the valley from the Dunn homestead on Road 34, a farmerwith 96 acres of land. (Darn, we're good!) My father often told me of the friendship Jim and Pat had and this was confirmed in conversations with Howard and Teresa. ( And you know what happens when two Irish friends get together!!) Pat had children and one of them was also named Pat, born about the time of Tim and Dan Dunn. I do recall my grandfather Dunn speaking often of stories relating to

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his friendship (hic) with the junior Pat Logan.Folklore also says that Jim worked for Pat at various times during tho

se very early years, logging to earn money and that Pat and Jim would often swap labor over the years. It is also related that Pat had arrived in Newport a few years before Jim. Is it possible that they knew each other in Ireland, hadsome correspondence and Jim's direct route to Newport was in fact intended?

Pat Logan is buried in st Mary's Cemetery in Newport, his children wereborn there (not in the cemetery, dummy!) so it won't be too difficult to inves

tigate some of this. Now may be the time to reign in and talk about what we doknow ...(Whew, thought he I d never stop)

Now the Census of 1860 clearly indicates James and Ellen and their 6 children are living in Newport. Folklore does not ever suggest a move during these years. The story is that Dunn Hill was first and lastly their homestead. So what happened? (Went to bed one night in Irasburg, woke up the next morning in Newport! party or what?!) This bears further investigation but land annexations, transfers between townships by the State legislature was occurring regularlyas communities began to sort themselves out (And the benevolent Democrats beganbenevolating) and it may have been that this eastern corner of Irasburg which bordered Newport was in fact effected by legislation.In 1816, November 16, ( now get it right Tom) ...On November 16, 1816 a small partof Coventry and of Salem was annexed to this territory and the name of the town

changed from Duncansborough to Newport. The portion annexed from Salem included the land of the present Village of Newport. (Went to bed one night in Duncansborough .....you know what I mean right?)In 1854, there were only 11 buildings in what is now (1884) included in the corporation limits (which simply means village),--two stores, one hotel, and eight

dwellings, while the whole population consisted of the families of Orville andMoses Robinson, George W. Smith, Levi Fielding, Benjamin Moss, Jonathan Randal

1, Phineas Page, and Bauchman. The 1850 Census indicates the populationis 748 for the entire town!

Moving right along now, in 1880, Newport (Town) had a population of 2,426. Someof those inhabitants were our ancestors. Ellen A Dunn lived on Road 35, was awidow of James Dunn, and occupies 20 acres. Also on Road 35 was Thomas Dunn, (

don't get smart, I'm not that old) a farmer occupying 60 acres, and Michael Dunn, living on Road 35, a farmer with no acres listed for him. (Those Irishmen sure know how to con a poor census taker!) 1880 area maps show these properties as

adjacent.In 1882, Newport was divided into 15 school districts, and contained 15 commonschools, employing three male and twenty-seven female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of $3,370.58. There were 610 pupils attending these schools. (Note: Averages $112/school year and 20 students per teacher) This gives us

a flavor for the wages/earnings of these times ...oh...for the good old days when teacher salaries wereIn 1884 Newport contained 5 churches, (Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal), two large hotels, a well conducted Bank, several manufacturing establishments, 25 stores of various kinds, 3 livery stables, 8 lawyers, six physicians, 1 dentist, and from twelve to fifteen inhabitants. (Nothing new here ...8 lawyers for 15 people ...seems about right)

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The village was well known as a popular summer resort, and aside from the manynatural attractions it presents, few large cities are provided with such good sanitary improvements as it can boast. It has an excellent supply of pure, cold

spring water, while its drainage is complete. (Source: Childs Lamoille/OrleansCounty Directory, 1883-1884).st. Mary's Star of the Sea Roman Catholic church, located on Pleasant street, Newport Village, was organized by its first pastor, Rev John Michaud, in 1873,The church building was erected in 1875, a wood structure capable of seating 25o persons, at a cost, including grounds of $6,135.37. The society has about 700

members, with Rev Norbert Proulx, pastor. (1884)Newport Center (1884) a village within Newport Township, is a thriving little post village and station on the SouthEastern railway, located in the central part of the town. It contains two churches (Free Will Baptist and Methodist Episcopal), a hotel, five grocery stores, a steam saw mill, shingle mill, three blacksmith shops, three carriage shops, three cabinet shops, one harness shop, and about 50 dwellings. (and 0 lawyers!!) Mud creek, with its tributaries, waters this section of the town.

Coventry was also a community that figured in our Dunn History as several of our ancestors lived there in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Charted in 1780, the charter defined its boundaries starting with "Beginning at a beechtree, being the northwesterly corner of Irasburg" ....(Like this guy already! !)

In 1880, Coventry had a population of 911, and in 1882, was divided into 9 school districts and contained 10 common schools, employing 2 male and 18 female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of 1208.86. There were 232 students attending these schools. (Note: Average salary $60.44 with about 12 students per teacher; now this is reasonable ..the salary I mean. We'll adjust student load next year!) .

Located on the falls of the Black river, Coventry commenced in 1821 byCalvin and Daniel Harmon when all was a dense forest. In 1883 it contains 2 churches (Methodist Episcopal and Congregational), a hotel, two stores, one tannery, a saw-mill, two blacksmith shops, a harness shop, shoe shop, and about 150inhabitants including Thomas Dunn who lived on Road 18, and was a stone mason and a farmer with 6 acres of land. (and 0 lawyers!!!)

Derby also figures in our Family history as some of our ancestors livedthere, traveled through Derby, or otherwise did business in the village. (Tippe

d a few pints etc) Derby was originally chartered in 1779 but increased considerably with the annexation of significant portions of Salem in 1881. (There's those Democrats again ...) As you will see, Derby was an active, industrious Town offering a greater variety of resources than its neighbors.

The Census report of 1850 is somewhat startling indicating a populationof 1750 people, over twice the size of Newport, reasons unknown to me at this

time. (All the Irishman were tipping ...Molson's...dummy!) In 1880 the population was2549 (Newport has risen sharply to 2426) and one of those inhabitants was JohnF. Dunn, who lived on Road 83, had a dairy farm of 10 cows, identified himselfas a farmer, and maintained leases of 108 acres from Horace Ruiter.

John F. Dunn is also listed in Island Pond, Essex County on Road 48, again identifies himself as a farmer owning 125 acres of land.This begs the question of why would a man who owns 125 acres, lease 108 acres,

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for a 10-cow farm? (Each cow had its own private pasture stupid!) This furtherfuels the speculation that John was an entrepreneur of sorts_"His hands were a

lways so clean and frail looking ...they just weren I t the hands of a farmer" (Teresa Decoteau, 1997) (Now c'mon, Teresa, c'mon!)

In 1882 Derby was divided into 20 school districts and had 19 common schools, employing 1 male and 26 female teachers, to whom was paid an aggregate salary of $1,994.64. There were 553 students attending these schools. (Averageteacher salary: $73.88 with 20 students per teacher)Where's the lawyers when you need one ..a case for equal opportunity if I ever heard of one!In 1880 the Town of Derby included the villages of Derby, Derby Line, West Derby, Beebe Plain, and North Derby.Derby, a post village located near the center of the town on Clyde river, contains three churches (Methodist, Congregational and Baptist) one hotel, academy building, one general store, a drug store, two furniture and undertaking stores,

a grist-mill, saw-mill, wagon shop, marble shop, and about 250 inhabitants.Derby Line, a post village located on the line between this town and Ca

nada, contains one church (Universalist), a bank, hotel, four stores, photograph gallery, livery stable, millinery shop, wagon shop, and about 250 people. It

is reached by a branch of the Massawippi railroad.West Derby, a post village located on the Clyde river about a mile east

of Newport, contains one church (Baptist), one store, one grocery, a paper milI, veneer mill, grist-mill, and about 300 inhabitants.

Beebe Plain, a post village located on the Canada line about 2 miles west from Derby Line, contains one store, a hotel, and about a dozen dwellings.

North Derby is a hamlet and station on the Passumpsic railroad, locatedin the northwestern part of the town. (and it appears nobody lives there, imagi

ne that!)

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