Mary M. Wharton was
the daughter of Joshua B. Wharton and Elizabeth Ann Cooke, born abt. 1818
Tennessee.
Coming from Lawrence County,
Tennessee to Independence County in the Arkansas Territory before 1830, a
few years later, Mary's father, Joshua Wharton, was one of the earliest
settlers of Wharton's Creek, in War Eagle Township, in Madison County,
Arkansas. On 1 March 1837
she married Jesse Dunlap, Jr., the son of Jesse Dunlap, Sr. and Mary
Williams,
in Madison County. The couple
resided in Madison County, before moving to Johnson County, and then
Marion County, Arkansas.
Mary's older sister, Nancy Jane
(Wharton) was married to her husband's older brother,
Lorenzo Dow Dunlap.
With her sister, Nancy Jane, her husband's brother, Lorenzo Dow Dunlap,
and their eight children, Mary, her husband Jesse Dunlap, Jr., and their
ten children, comprised "The Dunlap Train" that departed from Marion
County, Arkansas in April of 1857. "The Dunlap Train" had 18
children with them, their ages ranging from 18 years to 7 months. 13 of
the Dunlap children died in the Massacre.
Mary M. (Wharton) Dunlap, her husband, Jesse
Dunlap, Jr., and 7 of their 10 children (Ellender,
Nancy M.,
James D.,
Lucinda,
Susannah,
Margarette, and
Mary Ann) died in the
Mountain Meadows Massacre. Mary was 39 years old when she died on 11
September 1857. Her three youngest daughters, Rebecca Jane Dunlap, born 4
June 1851, Louisa Dunlap born 10 November 1853, and Sarah Elizabeth
Dunlap, born 16 August 1856, survived the Massacre. The three surviving
Dunlap girls were returned to Arkansas in 1859 and raised by their
paternal uncle, James Douglas Dunlap, and his wife Linda (McMurray)
Dunlap.
© 2008 A.C. Wallner for the
Mountain Meadows Association. All rights reserved
Inscription:
IN MEMORIAM
IN THE VALLEY BELOW BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 7 AND 11, 1857, A
COMPANY OF MORE THAN 120 ARKANSAS EMIGRANTS LED
BY CAPT. JOHN T. BAKER AND CAPT. ALEXANDER FANCHER WAS
ATTACKED WHILE EN ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. THIS EVENT
IS KNOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
MARY WHARTON DUNLAP, 39
*Please note
that the names of the victims of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre that
appear here are those who we have personally researched and verified as
victims. In some cases this list will differ from the names that
were inscribed on the 1990 Monument on Dan Sill Hill.
Leave
virtual flowers - MMA FIND A GRAVE
MEMORIAL
FOR
MARY M. (WHARTON) DUNLAP
