Susan Crawshaw

  General Notes:

Mrs. Susan Dunn, 95 years old,
Resident of Iowa Since 1837
Hale and Hearty at Great Age

Special to The Gazette

Central City, Iowa. June 18, - Mrs. Susan Dunn passed her 95th birthday anniversary last Sunday. She was born in Lancaster, England June 15, 1818, and was one of nine children. In 1827 her father came to America where he labored and saved for five years in order to send for his family - the wife and nine children. For five years they lived near Buffalo, New York. From there they moved to Clinton county, Iowa, in 1837, nine years before it was admitted as a state. The family then did their trading in Chicago, going back and forth by ox team. It would take them several weeks to make the trip, and the families along the way would send by them for groceries and notions that they were in need of. It was necessary for them to take along a camping outfit so long were they en route. She remembers of one trip her brother and a neighbor made with two yoke of oxen. Each had a load of wheat which they hauled to Chicago. They sold their wheat for 35 cents per bushel and brought home in exchange one barrel of salt each. Times were hard in those days. They were obliged to subsist on potatoes, fish and salt for many days. If they had had the means they would have returned to 'York State,' but remained here by force of circumstance. They were permitted a few luxuries, for in the summer they would take up their residence in a shack on the open prairie and in the winter moved back into the sheltering timber. In 1844 the subject of this sketch was married, the license for which marriage was one of six that were issued in Clinton county that year. Mr. Dunn died twenty-one years ago and although the widow has traveled somewhat she has not been out of state since coming here in '37. She has been to Denison, Iowa several times visiting relatives, among whom was the wife of ex-Governor Leslie Shaw, a niece of Mrs. Dunn. There are in the house four generations, and she has the honor of having nineteen living great-grandchildren. She is the oldest resident in this little city, and is in splendid health for one so advanced in years. Since the death of her companion she has made her home most of the time with her son, James Dunn. She spends much of her waking hours viewing and reviewing the changing scenes of the greater part of the last century. [Cedar Rapids Gazette] ⁸

  Noted events in her life were:

• Immigration: from Lancaster, England, 1832, New York, New York, New York, USA. ^{9 10}

In 1827 her father came to America where he labored and saved for five years in order to send for his family - the wife and nine children.

• Retirement: and moved to live with James and Mary Ann Dunn, 1886, Central City, Linn, Iowa, USA.

• Census: 1905 IA: Central City, Linn, Iowa, USA. ¹¹

Card 678 James Dunn Central City
Card 679 Mary Dunn "
Card 680 James A Dunn "
Card 681 Arthur Dunn "
Card 682 Ernest Dunn "
Card 683 Charles Dunn "
Card 684 Edna Dunn "
Card 685 Susan Dunn "

• Cemetery: Rose Hill Cemetery: Camanche, Clinton, Iowa, USA. ^{7 12}

SUSAN DUNN
DIED Jan 25 1916
AGED 98Ys 7Ms 10Ds

Susan married Alexander Dunn, son of Michael Dunn and Elizabeth Entwhistle, on 07 Dec 1843 in , Clinton, Iowa, USA.^{1 2} (Alexander Dunn was born on 20 Jun 1811 in Derryaghy, , Antrim, Northern Ireland ^{5 13 14 15}, christened on 19 Jul 1812 in Derryaghy, , Antrim, Northern Ireland, died on 20 Jan 1892 in Camanche, Clinton, Iowa, USA ^{5 16 17} and was buried in Camanche, Clinton, Iowa, USA ^{5 18}.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Residence: Alex Dunn Farmhouse on Dunn Road, Bef 1892, Camanche, Clinton, Iowa, USA. ¹⁹

  Marriage Notes:

This is to Certify that there is recorded in Marriage Record No. 1, Page No. 4, in the office of Clinton County Clerk of District Court, Clinton, Iowa, Record of Marriage, as follows:

Alexander Dunn and Susan Crawshaw were married by Charles Bovard on December 7, 1843

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto Affixed my hand and seal of said court, at Clinton, Iowa, this 10 day of March A.D. 1997
Marilyn K. Huff, Clerk of the District Court
by /s/ Cindi Rickertsen, Deputy


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Some Dunn History

Dunns were some of the first settlers in Clinton county, coming here from Ulster County Downs, Ireland.

Four of the boys came in the early 1800's. They didn't come to America together. There were 10 children in the family and came a few at a time. One of them died at sea enroute to America.

The four boys that came earlier were John, Adam, Alexander and Will. They were sons of Michael and Elizabeth Dunn. My grandfather was Alexander. My Grandmother was Susan Crawshaw. She was born in Lancaster, England and came to Lockport, New York with her parents, later traveling by boat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Clinton, Iowa. Her father hewed a cabin of logs for a home which was located just west of where Du Pont is now located. My grandmother was 16 weeks on the boat coming from England to New York.

My grandfather and grandmother were married in 1843 and farmed in the vicinity of where the Frontier Motel is now located. Later they bought land on what is now the Dunn Road. Gary Schneckloth lives there now. The Dunn brothers built stone houses and were known as the famous stone houses built by the Dunn brothers.

My grandfather sold right-of-way for the Northwestern railroad about 1857 or 1858. My grandparents had 10 children, four of them died in infancy.

My father was born at the stone house July 15, 1860. I was born at the same house June 25, 1899. My grandparents heard the sermon preached in a house in Camanche and were present at the first burial in Camanche Cemetery. They also saw the tornado from their farm that destroyed Camanche on June 3, 1860. They encountered many experiences with wild animals and Indians, most of the animals were wolves.

I remember seeing emigrants on the Northwestern Railroad, I expect going to the Dakota's and Nebraska to take claims.

Tallman school was located where Hawkey Chemical Co. is now located. The school has been moved to 7th Ave. in Camanche and made a nice home.

My grandfather was born in 1812 and died Jan 20, 1892. My grandmother was born June 15, 1818 and died Jan 25, 1916. [Marie Dunn Kirkham]


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Susan Crawshaw Dunn was born in 1818 in Lancaster, England. Husband Alexander Dunn was born in 1812 in Antrim County, Ireland. They died in Central City, Iowa in 1916 and in Camanche, Iowa, in 1892, respectively. Crawshaw siblings included Elizabeth, James and Alice. Descendants include family of former U. S. Secretary of Treasury and Iowa Governor Leslie Shaw. [Dear Genie column]


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Alexander Dunn came to America in 1837 and at once located in Clinton county, Iowa, where he secured a farm of three hundred and twenty acres of raw land. Steadily he improved it, draining the land and erecting a house, barn and the necessary outbuildings, and, as the years rolled past, he continued to improve the place until it became one of the best in that section of the country. There, too, he reared his family of children, all of whom are now residents of the state. For forty-nine years he and his wife lived there and then retired in 1886, locating near Clinton, where he died January 20, 1890. His wife, who survives him, makes her home with her son James. She is ninety-one years old, yet is hale and hearty, in complete possession of all her faculties and gifted with wonderful memory for the days of the early pioneers.


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The Dunn Family Of Central City, Iowa
by Elizabeth Dunn Schuck

The patriarch of the Dunn Family, Alexander Dunn, was born in Derryaghy, Ireland on 20 Jun 1811. His parents were Michael Dunn and Elizabeth Entwhistle. Alex emigrated on the ship Vesper from Belfast and arrived in New York on 25 April 1835. He was one of ten children, most of who also settled in Iowa. Alexander was an early Iowa pioneer who settled in Camanche where he met and married Susan Crawshaw on 7 Dec 1843, as recorded in Marriage Book One of Clinton County. Susan and Alexander raised their four sons and two daughters in Camanche.

Two of the sons married one day apart on 12 and 13 November 1879 and they both hitched up wagons and, along with their new brides, traveled to Central City to farm lands which were given to them by their parents. Both sons had their farms next to each other on the road north of Alburnett. For more than fifty years these two brothers worked the lands around Central City and raised their families together. Even in death the two couples remained side by side. They are buried next to each other in Blodget Cemetery.

When the father of James and John passed away on his farm in Clinton County in 1892, their mother, Susan, came to live on John and Mary's farm. The Cedar Rapids Gazette interviewed Susan Crawshaw, who was born in Lancaster, England in 1817, shortly after her 95th birthday in 1913. " She was born in Lancaster, England June 15, 1818, and was one of nine children. In 1827 her father came to America where he labored and saved for five years in order to send for his family - the wife and nine children. For five years they lived near Buffalo, New York. From there they moved to Clinton county, Iowa, in 1837, nine years before it was admitted as a state. The family then did their trading in Chicago, going back and forth by ox team. It would take them several weeks to make the trip, and the families along the way would send by them for groceries and notions that they were in need of. It was necessary for them to take along a camping outfit so long were they en route. She remembers of one trip her brother and a neighbor made with two yoke of oxen. Each had a load of wheat, which they hauled to Chicago. They sold their wheat for 35 cents per bushel and brought home in exchange one barrel of salt each. Times were hard in those days. They were obliged to subsist on potatoes, fish and salt for many days. If they had had the means they would have returned to 'York State,' but remained here by force of circumstance. They were permitted a few luxuries, for in the summer they would take up their residence in a shack on the open prairie and in the winter moved back into the sheltering timber." Susan died in Central City on 25 Jan 1916 and her remains were laid to rest alongside Alexander in Rosehill Cemetery, Camanche, Iowa.

For at least a decade, between 1950 and 1961, The Central City Dunn family held a reunion every year. Usually this was on Labor Day Weekend. Most often this celebration was held at the Central City American Legion Hall but several times it was held at the Linn County Fairgrounds. Officers were elected, notes of the previous meeting were read and committees were selected to plan and organize the next year's festivities. The family gathered from all over the country. Those who traveled furthest earned a prize. The newest member of the Dunn clan was also recognized. Family members played music or gave recitals or readings and all played games. The entire family looked forward to the gatherings to see each other and share in their news of the past year. These reunions were then reported in the Linn County Press each year. ^{20 21 22 23 24}