JAGwinn
Retired User
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2016
- Location
- Bloomington, IL Corvette Gold
Before the start of the Civil War, the name "jayhawkers" applied to bands of robbers, associated with the Kansas Free-Stater cause, who rustled livestock and stole property on both sides of the state line. During this period, a jayhawker could be a hero or a villain, depending on individual circumstances or one's opinion on the issue of slavery in Kansas Territory. By the time the war ended, however, the term "jayhawkers" became synonymous with Union troops led by abolitionists from Kansas, and "jayhawking" became the generic term for armies plundering and looting from civilian populations nationwide.
[Source: Introduction by Tony O' Bryan,University of Missouri—Kansas City;http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/content/jayhawkers]
Champion Guinn b. 1823/4 TN--d. November 24, 1861, Osceola, St. Clair County, MO: I'm looking for the parents, siblings and two, maybe three other children than what I have found from his first marriage. He married Rebecca Ann Jackson in 1841. He was living in Franklin County, TN on the 1840 census with apparently a widowed mother (more likely step-mother) and a much younger brother and sister and other relatives. In 1850 he was in Hardin County, TN with his first wife, Rebecca, and two children: George M. b. 1843 and Sarah E. b. 1845/6. The family name was "Guinn" in 1840, "Gwinn" in 1850, and Guinn again in St. Clair County, Missouri. Rebecca died probably in 1854. Champion Guinn met Nancy Ellen Dunlap at a social event in either Haywood or Lauderdale County where he was playing the fiddle. He eloped with Nancy, with the help of one of her aunts and married her in Cheatham County, TN on January 1, 1856 and immediately afterward went to Osceola, Missouri.
He had a good friend, Micajah Dark who had already moved there. Since there is no evidence that Micajah Dark was ever in the southernmost central part of Tennessee, we believe Micajah and Champion met in west central or northwest Tennessee where we know Micajah had been from time to time.
Champion Guinn and Nancy Ellen Dunlap-Guinn had two daughters in Osceola: Susanna Poindexter Guinn (named for Nancy's maternal grandmother) b. 1857 and Lucretia Almedia Guinn b. 1859. Champion Guinn was a wagon maker, and on his way to making a tidy little fortune making and selling wagons to emigrants headed west along the Santa Fe trail.
He was a respected townsman in Osceola and one of a group selected to protect the main bank if Senator Lane from Kansas made good his threat to pillage Osceola. He did and brought several hundred Kansans who overpowered the 12-15 men trying to guard the bank. Senator Lane found very little money in the bank and could only find one of the four hidden parcels of funds because only one person in town would tell him anything. He then "tried" the townsmen who had been attempting to protect the bank for "treason," on the spot. Lane acted as prosecutor and judge and allowed no defense or pleas. He promptly sentenced to death those who had not already been killed in the gun battle to take the bank, and did the countdown to fire and participated in the firing squad. Seven men were immediately killed. Champion Guinn and William Berry were mortally wounded and eventually died of their wounds; William Berry died about 2 weeks after the September 23, 1861 sacking and burning of Osceola, and Champion Guinn died November 24, 1861. Micajah Dark was very seriously wounded but after a year finally recovered and married Champion Guinn's widow, Nancy Ellen Dunlap Guinn. They had 5 more children. Twin sons died as infants but three other children survived and lived to old age.
I descend from the only daughter of that marriage, Martha Jane Dark, b. June 17, 1867, who was named for the aunt who helped Nancy elope and the older sister, Hannah Jane Dunlap-Tillman, who was the only immediate family member not to disown her for marrying Champion Guinn, and even sent her a wedding present. Nancy Ellen Dunlap was not quite 21 when she eloped. She had been born on May 5, 1836.
Nancy Ellen Dunlap's father was William Anderson David Dunlap b. in 1813 in Montgomery County, TN but who lived in Humphreys, Haywood and Lauderdale from about 1830 until 1856 when he moved his family to Marshall County, Iowa. He married Emily Poindexter in 1832/33. The elopement of Nancy Ellen Dunlap and Champion Guinn was made possible by her father's going back and forth to set up the new home in Iowa. Her grandfather was William Dunlap of Williamson and Montgomery Counties, TN who married Ellen Thomas in 1806, and her great-grandfather was Samuel Dunlap who died in Humphreys County in 1840, and was a Revolutionary War veteran from South Carolina. Her father had lived with his grandparents to help care for them in old age during his late teenage years and continued to live in west central Tennessee after that.
Besides the parents and siblings of this Champion Guinn, I'm looking for two or three more children from his first marriage with Rebecca Ann Jackson and for her parents and siblings. Any help is greatly appreciated.
[Source: Descendants of Champion Guinn and Family. Cecilia L. Fabos-Becker, San Jose, CA
[email protected]]
[Source: Introduction by Tony O' Bryan,University of Missouri—Kansas City;http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/content/jayhawkers]
Champion Guinn b. 1823/4 TN--d. November 24, 1861, Osceola, St. Clair County, MO: I'm looking for the parents, siblings and two, maybe three other children than what I have found from his first marriage. He married Rebecca Ann Jackson in 1841. He was living in Franklin County, TN on the 1840 census with apparently a widowed mother (more likely step-mother) and a much younger brother and sister and other relatives. In 1850 he was in Hardin County, TN with his first wife, Rebecca, and two children: George M. b. 1843 and Sarah E. b. 1845/6. The family name was "Guinn" in 1840, "Gwinn" in 1850, and Guinn again in St. Clair County, Missouri. Rebecca died probably in 1854. Champion Guinn met Nancy Ellen Dunlap at a social event in either Haywood or Lauderdale County where he was playing the fiddle. He eloped with Nancy, with the help of one of her aunts and married her in Cheatham County, TN on January 1, 1856 and immediately afterward went to Osceola, Missouri.
He had a good friend, Micajah Dark who had already moved there. Since there is no evidence that Micajah Dark was ever in the southernmost central part of Tennessee, we believe Micajah and Champion met in west central or northwest Tennessee where we know Micajah had been from time to time.
Champion Guinn and Nancy Ellen Dunlap-Guinn had two daughters in Osceola: Susanna Poindexter Guinn (named for Nancy's maternal grandmother) b. 1857 and Lucretia Almedia Guinn b. 1859. Champion Guinn was a wagon maker, and on his way to making a tidy little fortune making and selling wagons to emigrants headed west along the Santa Fe trail.
He was a respected townsman in Osceola and one of a group selected to protect the main bank if Senator Lane from Kansas made good his threat to pillage Osceola. He did and brought several hundred Kansans who overpowered the 12-15 men trying to guard the bank. Senator Lane found very little money in the bank and could only find one of the four hidden parcels of funds because only one person in town would tell him anything. He then "tried" the townsmen who had been attempting to protect the bank for "treason," on the spot. Lane acted as prosecutor and judge and allowed no defense or pleas. He promptly sentenced to death those who had not already been killed in the gun battle to take the bank, and did the countdown to fire and participated in the firing squad. Seven men were immediately killed. Champion Guinn and William Berry were mortally wounded and eventually died of their wounds; William Berry died about 2 weeks after the September 23, 1861 sacking and burning of Osceola, and Champion Guinn died November 24, 1861. Micajah Dark was very seriously wounded but after a year finally recovered and married Champion Guinn's widow, Nancy Ellen Dunlap Guinn. They had 5 more children. Twin sons died as infants but three other children survived and lived to old age.
I descend from the only daughter of that marriage, Martha Jane Dark, b. June 17, 1867, who was named for the aunt who helped Nancy elope and the older sister, Hannah Jane Dunlap-Tillman, who was the only immediate family member not to disown her for marrying Champion Guinn, and even sent her a wedding present. Nancy Ellen Dunlap was not quite 21 when she eloped. She had been born on May 5, 1836.
Nancy Ellen Dunlap's father was William Anderson David Dunlap b. in 1813 in Montgomery County, TN but who lived in Humphreys, Haywood and Lauderdale from about 1830 until 1856 when he moved his family to Marshall County, Iowa. He married Emily Poindexter in 1832/33. The elopement of Nancy Ellen Dunlap and Champion Guinn was made possible by her father's going back and forth to set up the new home in Iowa. Her grandfather was William Dunlap of Williamson and Montgomery Counties, TN who married Ellen Thomas in 1806, and her great-grandfather was Samuel Dunlap who died in Humphreys County in 1840, and was a Revolutionary War veteran from South Carolina. Her father had lived with his grandparents to help care for them in old age during his late teenage years and continued to live in west central Tennessee after that.
Besides the parents and siblings of this Champion Guinn, I'm looking for two or three more children from his first marriage with Rebecca Ann Jackson and for her parents and siblings. Any help is greatly appreciated.
[Source: Descendants of Champion Guinn and Family. Cecilia L. Fabos-Becker, San Jose, CA
[email protected]]
Forum Host
Bringing the