The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-09-11
JOHN P|ATT Dunn,
PIONEER CITIZEN,
ANSWERS SUMMONS
One of Bismarck's First Mcrch-
ants, Long Active in Civic
Affairs Is Dead
FUNERAL SERVICES TO
BE HELD WEDNESDAY

JOnn Platt Dunn, third OF that nam
in line of American pioneers VIII
have carried westward the star of tn
empire, passed away at the famil
home on Third street at 1920 O'clOc
Monday evening after an illness e>
tending over a number of weeks. Il
his passing Bismarck loses one of it
first citizens, one of a group of no
more than a dozen men who settlc'
in Edwinton, now Bismarck, within
few weeks after the founding of tn
town, in 1872, and who from that da,
to this have made the city their home
Last rites for the deceased will b'
held at McCabe Methodist Episcopa
church at 2:3O Wednesday afternoon
Rev. w. J. Hutchinson officiating, ant
interment will be made in St. Mary!
cemetery, where rests an infan
daughter of the deceased. Mr.. Dunn
was a founder of the church which
tomorrow will receive his earthly tene
ment for the last time. He served
as member of the original church
board and assisted in the building Of
the first church.
Born IN INDIANA.
John Piatt Dunn was born at Troy
Ind, on Christmas day, 1899, soon aft
er the birth of that new state. His
father, John Piatt Dunn, was one OF
the hardy pioneers who had forged
westward to make home for his fam.
lily in the infant commonwealth. The
son had such early educational adj
vantages as the frontier country Of
fered, and in 1859, when he was bare
ly 20, the spirit Of adventure inherited
from warrior ancestry called him west.
He joined the hundreds who had an
swered the lure Of the California gold
fields and drove an OK team across
the trackless wastes of the American
desert to Placerville, Cal, where the
outbreak of the Civil war in 1861
found him part owner of successful
placer mine on the American river
up from Sacramento.
A Dunn had fought for the repub-
lie in all of its wars from the reyolu-
ton, when a great grandfather, James
Dunn, had fallen at Bowling Green, to
find a last resting place in Old Trim
ity. The nations call found prompt
response from the California gold min
er, who, with a score of associates,
rounded the Horn in a small schooner
and beat their way up the eastern
coast. Upon reaching his home in In
diana John Piatt Dunn found the Hoo.
sier regiments OF volunteers filled and
he Immediately sought service in the
regular army, with which he was &C.
cepted, his California campaigns
against the Utes having already given
him the standing of veteran.
Civil War Service.
He became q member of the great
army of the Potomac, first under Nc
Clelland, with which he served at An
teitam and Gettysburg and in other
famous battles in the eastern divi'
sion. He was wounded at Gaines Mill,
but declined to drop out, and fought
in some of the most famous engage
ments in the Civil war with his arm
in sling. Not until Lee had sur
rendered did he lay down his arms
and accept a discharge. He was mus
tered out as a sergeant of Co. II,
Sixth united States infantry. Soon
after the close of the war he was
married. To this union, in New York
state, were born two children-Casius
O. and Ruth +. Dunn, now residing In
Dubois, Idaho, and both of whom were
visitors here during the last sum-
mer.
To Bismarck.
After the death of his first wife, Mr..
Dunn came west. He graduated fol-
lowing the war from the Indiana state
pharmaceutical college, connected with
the University at Bloomington, and a
drug store which he opened at Brain
erd, Mimi, in 1871, was the first estab-
lshed in the northwest, west of the
Mississippi In August, 1872, when
EdwintOn, soon to become Bismarck,
was less than two months old, Mr.
Dunn came to the Missouri river out
post and here established the first
drug store located west of the Red
river.
May Is, 1873, he returned to Mime
apolis to wed Miss Christina S. Stiles.
His bride, one of the first to come
to Bismarck, accompanied him back
to his frontier town, where white
woman's face, in that day, was a rar-
ity. The first Dunn home was located
on four lots, where the Auditorium
now stands. Years before Bismarck
had even given promise of becoming
the city which it is today, John Piatt
Dunn predicted that some day beau
tiful theater would stand on the site
his home occupied. That prophesy
was realized several years ago, when
the municipal auditorium was built.
Member Of Early Boards.
John Piatt Dunn was member of
the first board of county commission
ers. To his foresight Burleigh county
is indebted for the splendid location
of it's court house. When the town
ship in which Bismarck is located
were in litigation, Mr.. Dunn fenced off
the square where the court house
now stands and held it in trust until
the legal difficulties had been adjust
ed, when he turned it over to the
county. He did the same thing with
the site of the present Will school.
He was chairman 0f North Dakota
first state prison board in 1889, and
helped to build the first prison.
He was a member of Bismarck S
first school board, upon which he
served for twelve years, and the
county of Dunn, one of the largest in
the state, was named for him. He
built Efsmarck's first pioneer Jail of
logs where the bad men of the early
La xrs. .x-ora ho1icod for their nu,n ca fn.