Dunning Family Photographs

This is an attempt to show likenesses of Dunning family members of Dover, Del., and Philadelphia, Penna. in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The genealogy of the family has begun to be posted but is still very much under construction. Stay tuned....

James A. Dunning (1811-1865)   is the oldest Dunning for whom I have a likeness.

James Anderson Dunning, son of David Dunning and Mary Mariah (Anderson) Dunning, married twice. His first wife was Louisa Turner, the second was Margaret Ann Stevenson.
 

James was a shopkeeper in Dover, Delaware. After his death in 1865 the store was continued by his son James. This photo was taken in 1869 or 1870, showing an ox cart in the street in front of the store on __ Street. This photo was made from a glass plate negative.

James and his first wife, Louisa Turner, had three children. I don't have a photograph yet of Louisa, but here is her mother, Rachel Clark Turner King. She herself had been widowed and remarried.

After her daughter's death she continued to play the important role of grandma to her young grandchildren and step-grandchildren.

Caroline Dunning, b. Oct. 3, 1838	Anna Eliza Dunning, b. Sept. 27, 1840	Erasmus Clark Dunning, b. June 18, 1843

                    Caroline "Lina"                                        Anna                                                   Erasmus "Raz"

Caroline, called Lina, and Anna, were the "belles of Dover". In a double wedding on January 26, 1860 Lina married Charles J. Jones. Anna married Albert Cowgill. The girls were given matching Hepplewhite chairs which came down in the Dunning family, but got pretty battered over the years, and were relegated to the kitchen, and then finally out to the shed.









Caroline "Lina" Dunning accompanied Dr. C. W. Jones who had enlisted as a physician in the Union Army.   

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After Dr. Jones's death, Lina married Cyrus F. Woods of Enfield, Mass. Cyrus owned a box factory in Enfield.
Lucy Shoe and Aunt Lina on the porch of the house in Enfield. As a widow Lina moved to Philadelphia to live in her half-brother's home at 1328 North 15th Street, where she died on 20 June 1926.

For more on Lina see her own page, Caroline Dunning Jones Woods.  


Anna Eliza Dunning lived in Dover.

Albert Cowgill, the husband of Anna E. Dunning, was a pharmacist in Dover.  The Cowgills had several children, including Albert James, shown here with his parents. But all the children died young of "membranous croup".

. . ...
Clara Cowgill, born 6/23/1861,               Anna Louisa Cowgill, called Lulu,              the Cowgill's home in Dover, Delaware
died 5/18/1865                                     born 4/14/1867, died 10/14/1870

As a widow Anna, too, moved to Philadelphia to live in her half-brother Thomas's home. Anna died there 4 December 1914.

This is one of Anna's dresses modelled a half century later by Lucy.

Erasmus Clark Dunning, son of James A. Dunning and his first wife, Louisa (Turner), was born on Sunday 18 June 1843, "almost 25 minutes past 9 O'clock P.M.". He was married to Harriet Shallcross Morris in St. Andrews Church in Philadelphia on 17 January 1872, by the Right Rev. Alfred Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Delaware. Raz died on 7 June 1880.[David Dunning family Bible]

Raz had just entered Dickinson College when the Civil War began. He received the appointment of Third Lieutenant of Company A in the 1st Delaware Cavalry, but the War Department abolished this grade. He then mustered as a non-commissioned officer, namely as Orderly Sergeant. He was soon promoted, in January 1863 becoming second lieutenant, and then in December,  first lieutenant. [this data from History of Delaware, 441-42.] A letter from his half brother, Thomas S. Dunning, written 6/23/1936, describes the following incident during the Civil War:

   My brother Erasmus C. Dunning was a boy of about 19 years when he enlisted as a private in Co. A of the first Del. Calvalry. He was well educated for his years[,] about ready for college and was soon made orderly... and advanced from that to Lieutenant and Captain when Captain Lord became Major.
   When the Maryland troops were removed from Va. the whole battalion of the Delaware Calvary were ordered to the Md. & Va. peninsula to guard the telegraph line which had been built extending from Pocomoke City down through Doummondtown and Eastville and the very small villages between them on to the mouth of Cherrystone Creek.
   Along in early June 1863 Captain Dunning was riding and inspecting the line with the Adjutant George Massey when the latter's horse a handsome black stalion kicked towards my Brother's horse, a mare, so as to hit the heavy stirrup of the McClellan saddle and drive it against brother's shin. It seemed nothing but an abrasion and they continued the ride to Eastville. By morning it was much inflamed and he was obliged to lay at the hotel there. The surgeon had gone with the battalion, or was getting ready to go with it, so brother was left to the care of the local physician. After ten days or two weeks, father went down to see about his condition and to try to get him home on furlough. He found he was too ill to bring home with him. The bone was injured and necrosis had set in. (Later pieces of dead bone were thrown off.)
   So Father & Mother conferred and it was arranged that the latter and I should go down to Eastville and stop at the hotel where brother was, care for him, and nurse him back to health, and bring him home.
   About the 20th of June 1863, we took the train for Salisburg, Md. then a hack to Princess Ann where we stayed all night. Up about 3 A.M. and by private conveyance furnished by hotel-keeper to what is now Pocomoke City. Breakfast there[,] hired a team to take us to Drummondtown[,] dinner there and another private team to Eastville which was reached at 9:30 P.M.
   We were there until July 2nd or 3rd. I rode with some of the soldiers up and down the lines from time to time.
   The telegraph line ran along the main road and through the intervening towns to Cherrystone Creek where a cable was carried across the Chesapeake to Old Point Comfort I understood, and thence to communicate with McClellans headquarters on the peninsula. [The remaining pages of the letter are lost.]

In April 1865 Raz was commissioned captain of his company. His regiment was sent to Washington where more than 20,000 cavalrymen were ordered to dismount and become infantrymen. Although they were not happy, none of the officers resigned in protest. In March 1865 Raz received word that his father had died. So a few days beforethe surrender at Appomatox he resigned to return home.[this paragraph and the remaining data on Erasmus is from History of Delaware, 441-42.]

Raz studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in March 1868. He was commissioned April 21 as Assistant Surgeon, US Navy. He served in a number of posts until 1 January 1873 when he resigned to open a private practice in Wilmington. He died suddenly of "hemorrhage of the lungs" on 7 June 1880.

Daughter of Erasmus Clark and Harriette Shallcross (Morris) Dunning:

i.   Mary Rogers Hartshorne Dunning.

James Anderson Dunning married secondly Margaret Ann Stevenson:

James Anderson Dunning, in 1847  He was born August 28, 1811 in Maryland, and died Feb. 6, 1865 in Dover, Delaware.	Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning, in 1847  She was born Oct. 26, 1818 in Dover, and died. June 26, 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Stevenson family now has its own page. Click on Stevenson.

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 James A Dunning's rocking chair        Margaret Ann (Stevenson) Dunning's chair            1847 daguerreotype of Margaret and James Dunning (slightly damaged)

James A. Dunning and his second wife, Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning had three children.
 

Thomas Stevenson Dunning, age 6, 1854 (b. 8m/1/1848)	James Henry Dunning, age 8, 1858 (b. 2m/5/1850)	Charles Thompson Dunning, (b. 11m/21/1852)

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Three Dunning brothers: James, Charles, and Thomas                                                      The two younger boys, Charles age 1 1/2, James age 4 (1854)
 

Thomas Stevenson Dunning, b. Aug. 1, 1848; d. Jan. 12, 1945 in Philadelphia, Pa.	James Henry Dunning, b. 1850; d. Sept. 8, 1870 in Dover, Del. He was unmarried.	Charles Thompson Dunning, b. Nov. 21, 1852; d. Oct. 22, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning lived her final years in the home of her son, Thomas, at 1328 North 15th Street, Philadelphia. She purchased a three-piece cherry bedroom set for her use in his home when it became too difficult for her to climb up into the high two-poster bed made by her father.
 

Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning

Next Generation

Click here for more on Caroline Dunning, the daughter of James A. Dunning and his first wife, Louisa (Turner).

Thomas Stevenson Dunning, son of James A. Dunning and his second wife, married Lydia Balderston, the daughter of Samuel F. and Martha Ann (Griffith) Balderston. Click here to see the Balderston picture page.
 

Lydia Balderston Dunning	TSD at "Camp Paxson" in Collegeville, beside the Perkiomen Creek, July 27, 1922.	1940, 68th wedding anniversary  of Thomas and Lydia

                 
A Bachrach portrait of Dr. Thomas S. Dunning.    Illustration in the April 1906 Pearsons Magazine
                                                                                                     Sent to TSD by his friend and colleague D. Oliver Sloan Haines

Thomas S. and Lydia B. Dunning had eight children, of whom six survived into adulthood.
 

Margaret Balderston Dunning, born Sept. 20, 1873; died Dec. 13, 1965.	Martha Kelso Dunning, called "Martie", born Mar. 23, 1875; died Mar. 2, 1965.	Thomas Snively Dunning, called "Bud", born Sept. 30, 1876; died Feb. 12, 1954.

 

Mary Esther Dunning, born Oct. 31, 1878; died Dec. 5, 1969.	Lydia James Dunning, born Oct. 11, 1883; died July 4, 1946	Anna Bartlett Dunning, born May 27, 1894; died Sept. 25, 1915 of tuberculosis.

 

The other two children were John Erasmus Dunning, born Oct. 20, 1880, died April 13, 1885, and a girl who was stillborn on Dec. 12, 1891, simply named Cherub Dunning.

The Dunning family, ca. 1900, from left: Lydia, Thomas "Bud", Lydia B. holding Anna, Margaret, Thomas S., Mary (in back) with Martha "Martie" in front of her.
 
 

Five Dunning children ca. 1881: Thomas "Bud", James, Margaret, Mary, and Martha "Martie".

The hospitable Dunning home took in an extended family of related and unrelated people. Here are three generations. Back row: Hannah M. James, Martie, Mary, Margaret; seated: Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning, her son Thomas S. Dunning, Lydia B. holding Anna, Charles T. Dunning; in front: Thos. Snively "Bud",  Lydia J., Mary Crever Dunning (wife of Charles). October 28, 1898, taken at 1328 N. 15th St., Philadelphia.

The Dunning family enjoyed summers outside of the city. In 1895 they rented a house on the Main Line, in Haverford. In later years they went to the sea shore, usually Wildwood, NJ., where TSD practiced medicine from July to September.

Martie, Mary, Margaret, Thomas S.; front row: Bud, Anna, Lydia B., Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning; seated on the ground: Lydia J. summer 1895, Haverford.	Margaret, Lydia, Walter Adams, Ralph Adams, Elizabeth N. Dunning (wife of Bud), and little Lydia Adams. 1915.

 

Margaret Ann Stevenson Dunning, Martha K. Dunning and "Auntie Jay". They all lived in the Dunning home.	Lydia J., Martie, Thomas, Lydia B., and Mary in the yard of Martie's home, 2104 W. Ontario St., Philadelphia, on June 2, 1935.

.. .    .
Auntie J's chest of drawers, Aunt Lina's brass   Martie's birthday? ca. 1940; standing: Charlie, Tom, T. Snively, Margaret, Walter Adams, Harry Brian;
clock and candle holders, painting by Anna      middle row: Marion Townsend, Charlie, Martie, Thomas S. Dunning, Lydia J. Dunning;
B. Dunning (in house in Austin).                   on the floor: Helen, Anne, Margaret "Moggie", and Katherine "Kitty"

The Dunnings worshipped at Grace Methodist Episcopal Church at Broad and Master Streets. Photograph taken in 1905.  On the right is the interior, decorated for a "harvest home" service.

Lydia, Thomas and their seven beloved grandchildren, on the occasion of the Dunning's 50th wedding anniversary, 8 October 1922. That evening there was a large dinner party in their honor at the Bellevue Stratford in Philadelphia.
From the left: Helen, Charlie, TSD, LBD, Lucy, Lydia, Ruth, Tom, and Margaret in front.

The next section will feature each of the Thomas S. Dunning children in turn. 

1. Margaret Balderston Dunning married Walter Scott Adams in 1905.

   

They had a daughter, Lydia Dunning Adams.

       
    Margaret and infant Lydia              Lydia D. Adams age 1 year            Walter, Lydia, Margaret, 1911             Lydia age 13, 1921

   
The Dunnings loved to have their children and grandchildren visit at their summer home in Wildwood, NJ (1911). On the right is a miniature of Lydia Adams painted in Oct. 1913 by Anna B. Dunning, Lydia's 19-year-old aunt.

   
    Margaret, Lydia, and Walter Adams, 1925          Margaret B. D. Adams, 1933, age 60    Walter S. Adams, age 72, 1933

Lydia married twice. By her first husband, George Saylor, she had a son, George. She later married Robert Herbert.

   
        George Saylor                              George and his mother Lydia        Bob and Lydia (Adams) Herbert in 1944

2.  Martha Kelso Dunning, called "Martie", attended the Pennsylvania School of Design. She had her own studio for a while, and has recently been entered in the National Museum of Women Artists. Married Charles S. Paxson.

Martha Kelso Dunning, age 11 months.
Growing up, Martie's best friend was Helen Childs. To see something about her, click on "Nellie" C. Shepler.

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Martie designed these stained glass windows, but I do not believe they were ever actually made. To see her painting of her daughter's house in Lansdowne, click here.	Martie's children with their grandfather Dunning: Tom, Moggie, Helen, and Charlie

3. Thomas Snively Dunning, called by his family "Bud", and by his colleagues T. Snively, attended Drexel Institute of Technology where he became good friends with William Bonaparte "Dub" Shoe. Then he turned his attention to medicine and graduated from Hahnemann Medical College, serving as a homeopathic physician for the rest of his working life.  

He married first Elizabeth Nittinger, in 1904.

     
     Bud aged 10, 1887                                       Bud in 1896                                       T. Snively  in 1902                  Elizabeth Nittinger, 1904

They  had a daughter, Ruth Nittinger Dunning.

   
  Elizabeth, T. Snively, and Ruth, 1911         the Dunning family 1916                     T. Snively and Ruth with his parents, 1926.

 
        Elizabeth, Bud, and his parents Lydia and Thomas                  Bud's lab at 308 Wayne Ave., 1938

After a divorce and court case Bud moved to Nevada. He married Louise Krumbigh Wentzel on Nov. 12, 1943. They eventually returned to the Philadelphia area, and I remember him as our family physician.

T. Snively Dunning and his second wife, Louise, at home	in Wayne, Penna.

4. Mary Esther Dunning

Mary and her younger sister Lydia, 1891

Mary married William Bonaparte Shoe, called "Dub", a safety engineer. They had a daughter, Lucy Taxis Shoe.
  .. ..
            Mary E. Dunning Shoe                    W. Bonaparte Shoe, called "Dub"          their daughter Lucy, age 16 (Girls High yearbook photo)

Mary and Lucy at Ocean City, June 1924		Dub, Helen and Phil with daughter Helen, and Mary E. D. Shoe

...
Mary and Lucy in Austin Dec. 1948        Helen, Mary, and her sister Martie, Nov. 7, 1964, in Princeton

Lucy, a distinguished classical archaeologist, married in 1964 at Princeton, New Jersey, Benjamin Meritt:

5. Lydia James Dunning lived with her parents at 1328 North 15th Street.

   
        Lydia, March 6, 1885                        Lydia age 3, Dec. 30, 1886                Lydia, ca. 1900

     
  wearing a "gypsy" costume        up in a tree at Marlton, NJ, 9/17/1899      commencement photo, 1904      Lydia, no date

Lydia  left several albums of photographs of young people at the beach, doing theatricals, and generally having fun together, but most of them are unlabelled.

 
            Lydia and Roy at Wildwood, 1909                                          Bill Boeger, Anna Dunning, Reace Gabell, Lydia, Lew Rose, Aug. 3, 1913

Lydia never married, but remained at home caring for her elderly parents. She worked for years for the American Baptist Publication Society (The Judson Press). She sang semi-professionally, and worked with the Young Friends Movement directing theatrical performances.

  
Ida H. Oetter & Lydia at          with Martie and Charlie Paxson and two of         with her parents in the yard of 1328 N. 15th St., Aug. 1937
Ocean Grove, July 4, 1925       their children, Charlie and Margaret, no date

6. Anna Bartlett Dunning

On the left, Lydia B. D. with her youngest daughter, Anna Bartlett Dunning, being held by Mrs. Bartlett, for whom Anna was named. Anna was the apple of her parents' eye, the pet of the entire family. On the right, Anna in her mother's arms, April 23, 1898.

July 4, 1911, Anna, Lydia, and the guys

Anna exhibited a fair amount of artistic talent and followed her sister Martie to the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. A number of her paintings and sketches remain.
 

The Philadelphia School of Design for Women, founded in 1844.	Anna B. Dunning on right being coached by the professor, Henry B. Snell. The painting of a Native American in a red blanket hung in the Dunning home until 1946, then in Austin until 2003.

. Anna Bartlett Dunning

She was diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly after her graduation in May and died September 25, 1915.

 
 

 

Charles Thompson Dunning, son of James A. Dunning and Margaret Ann (Stevenson) Dunning, the younger brother of Thomas S. Dunning, married Mary Hamilton Crever, called Mollie. They had three children: Lona Williams, born in 1876 and died in 1906, unmarried; Charles Crever (1881-1939) who married Debbie Ewin Gardner; and James Edwin (born in 1886) who married Elizabeth Fisher, called Daisy.

Charles Thompson Dunning's family, 1885:
 

Charles T. Dunning and his family: grandson Charles Wesley Dunning, daughter-in-law Elizabeth "Daisy" (Fisher) Dunning, son James Edwin Dunning, and grandson Edwin Crever Dunning. Los Angeles, 1930.	Charlie Paxson, his wife Martie (Dunning) Paxson, and her uncle Charles T. Dunning

To see the genealogy of this branch of the Dunning family, bearing in mind that it is still under construction.
To see photographs of other ancestors related to the Dunnings, click on Balderston, or Stevenson.
See the Paxson line (still under construction in the more recent generations), or the Index of Collateral Lines (which only has a few of the lines posted as yet).