Miss Mabel Dunaway, a Marion school teacher for 44 years, was born on April 26, 1885, at Marion. She was the daughter of Thomas Dunaway and Emma Benson. Mabel grew up and lived her entire life in the family home at 306 S. Market Street. Her father, Thomas, was a prominent Marion merchant and her grandfather, Samuel Dunaway, was a pioneer merchant and businessman, responsible for the first railroad spur into Marion in 1872. Continue reading
Category Archives: People
Samuel Lum Dunaway, Marion businessman, civic leader, WWI veteran and grandson of early county pioneer Sam Dunaway, was born on April 12, 1895, in Marion to Thomas Dunaway and Emma Benson.
Sam descended from one of the families that lived at Old Bainbridge, the village that served as the seat of county government, west of Marion, prior to creation of the county seat in Marion.
His father, Thomas Dunaway, retired Marion merchant, who died in 1921, was the son of Samuel Dunaway, one of the settlers of Bainbridge. Thomas Dunaway was born near that pioneer village in 1848, the last of 15 children in the family. Continue reading
James Virgil “Cuss” Wilson, former Marion High School basketball coach, teacher, district athletic director and co-owner of TVW Men’s Store, was born in Pope County at Dixon Springs on March 19, 1905, and was the son of the late Oral Moody Wilson (1868-1945) and Esther Lois Culbreth (1870-1951).
The name of “Cuss”, by which Wilson was known much better than by his given name, was given him by playmates when he was a very small boy. It originated from a youngster’s attempt at pronunciation of a name that sounded like “Cuss” to the other children, although some of his early playmates sometimes used the full name of “Custer.” Continue reading
William Clark Shannon, who held public office in Williamson County for more than a quarter of a century, including those of Marion Mayor, City Magistrate, County Sheriff and County Treasurer, was born in Cannon City, Colorado to Abraham and Mary Shannon on March 13, 1888.
William’s father, Abraham was a full blooded Irish coal miner who was born in Northern Ireland in 1861 and immigrated in 1876, at the age of 15 to America to work the mines. He became a citizen in 1884. William’s mother, Mary, was full blooded English, but was naturalized by the process of her parents becoming citizens. Continue reading
Harold Gene Johns, State Senator of the 57th and 59th District from 1971 to 1984, was born October 6, 1927 in Carrier Mills to Christopher Columbus Johns and Mabel Stricklin.
When the 1930 Federal Census was taken, the Johns family was living in the city of Harrisburg at 620 S. Main Street, which they rented for $15 a month. His father, Columbus, was 32 years old and a native of Alabama, who worked as a room boss for the Sahara Coal Company in the Sahara No. 7 mine. Gene’s mother, Mabel, was only 26 and was born in Illinois. There were three sons in the home, Bronzel Johns, the oldest was 7, Tommy Johns was 5 and Harold Gene Johns was 3 ½ years of age. Continue reading