The Jerry Dunn Family Home Page

The William Dunne Family came to America in 1868 and settled in Camp Grove, Illinois. William was born in County Cork, Ireland and his wife Anne Hennessy was born in Moycarkey, Tipperary, Ireland. They were married at St. Peters in Moycarkey on June 22, 1857. Anne was the mother of eight children. In 1876, she and her baby died during child delivery and her baby was buried with her. After her death her children were scattered to the four winds and some were never seen again.
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William Hennesey Dunn married Mary Teresa Craig on Valentines Day in the year 1900. Mary Craig, wife of William Dunn, died during childbirth on October 31, 1904, giving birth to a daughter Mary Teresa (Dunn) Carson. She left behind three small children Margaret, Morris, and the infant Mary Teresa. Bill Dunn, died on February 25, 1939 which was his wife’s birthday having never remarried.

John Kelly, his wife Mary, and their four children, left County Cavan Ireland, in 1840 for America . At that time their daughter Margaret who was born on March 10, 1839, was only one year old. The family spent one year in Pennsylvania and then moved to Lacon, IL. John really left his mark on our community. A priest would come to Lacon once every three months to celebrate Mass in the home of John Kelly. John acquired and donated the land to build the Catholic Church in Lacon, was in on the transaction of getting the land for building the rectory for the priest and another relative of ours, the Lilly family, donated the land that is the site of the new parish hall.

John as an early settler in Lacon was buried in one of the unkept cemeteries just outside of town on Route 17 East of Lacon. They lowered the hill and widened the road about 50 years ago along side of the Old St. Mary's Cemetery. Sometime in the past few years they had taken all the tombstones that they could find and placed them all together side by side face side up in the middle of the cemetery. His was not one of them. At one time he had a tombstone there - so much for being an early settler.

Patrick Craig was born in County Sligo, Ireland, in 1833 and came to Sparland, IL in 1864. Four years later, he was married to Miss Margaret Kelly on May 29, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Craig moved to Lacon from Sparland in 1872. To this union came five children, one daughter Mary, and four sons - John, William, Peter and James. And now here is the rest of the story.