Benton Co., AR - Biographies - J. Dunagin

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Hon. J. Dunagin, a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church, of 
Benton County, Ark., was born in Georgia in 1825, and is a son of 
Hiram and Mary (Rush) Dunagin. both of whom were Georgians, born in 
1800 and 1803, respectively. The father died in Missouri in 1844, 
while on the way to Arkansas, and his widow came on to this State with 
her family, and after living in Benton County for about six years she 
went to Texas, where she died in 1882. Hon. J. Dunagin is the third of 
her eleven children, and until nineteen years of age he was a resident 
of Georgia. At that time he came to Arkansas with his mother, and, as 
he was the oldest of the family, the duty of caring for his mother and 
brothers and sisters fell mainly on his shoulders. He was of a very 
studious turn of mind, and, although the educational advantages of 
that day were of the very poorest kind and his labors quite heavy, he 
succeeded in obtaining a practical education. On the 4th of July, 
1847, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan Caveness, a native of 
Tennessee, whose parents came to Arkansas while it was still a 
territory. She was born in 1830, and became the mother of nine 
children: Sarah (wife of Thomas Stokes), Rebecca (wife of J. Tuck), 
John R., Amanda (wife of F. M. Seamster). Minerva (wife of Dr. J. W. 
Underwood), Mary T. (wife of Thomas Threet), W. D., Mattie and Robert. 
Mr. Dunagin became a member of the church the year before he was 
married, and soon after began preaching, being ordained in 1849. He 
has been actively engaged in ministerial work up to the present time, 
with the exception of two years, which were spent in trying to 
regain his failing health. He is now the regular pastor at Rogers and 
Pleasant Hill Churches. He is still a devoted student, and spends much 
of his time in his library. He was a member of the State Legislature 
for nine years, and was a member of that body when the question of 
secession came up, and strenuously opposed that measure, and is a 
Democrat. He owns a good farm on the watershed of the Ozark Mountains.