Nancy Jane Wharton was
the daughter of Joshua B. Wharton and Elizabeth Ann Cooke, born abt. 1815
in Tennessee.
Coming from Lawrence County,
Tennessee to Independence County in the Arkansas Territory before 1830, a
few years later, Nancy Jane's father, Joshua Wharton, was one of the
earliest settlers of Wharton's Creek, in War Eagle Township, Madison
County, Arkansas. In 1839
Nancy Jane Wharton married Lorenzo Dow
Dunlap, the son of Jesse Dunlap, Sr. and Mary Williams,
in Madison County, Arkansas. The
couple
resided briefly in Madison County, before moving to Johnson County, and
then Marion County, Arkansas.
Lorenzo Dow Dunlap had
guardianship of Nancy Jane's brother Caleb Wharton, who was "not of sound
mind", until it was decided that their family would move to California.
Custody of Caleb Wharton then went to Nancy Jane (Wharton) Dunlap's sister
Talitha (Wharton) and her husband, Robert Wilson.
Nancy Jane's younger
sister, Mary M. (Wharton), was married to her husband's younger brother,
Jesse Dunlap, Jr. With her sister Mary, her husband's brother Jesse
Dunlap, Jr., and their ten children, Nancy Jane, her husband Lorenzo Dow
Dunlap, and their eight 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.
Nancy Jane (Wharton) Dunlap, her husband Lorenzo Dow Dunlap, and 6 of
their 8 children (Thomas
Jesse Dunlap, John H. Dunlap,
Mary Ann Dunlap,
Talitha Emeline Dunlap,
Nancy Dunlap, and
America Jane Dunlap) died in the Mountain Meadows
Massacre. Nancy Jane's two youngest children, Prudence Angeline Dunlap,
born 9 January 1852 and Georgeann Dunlap, born 1 February 1857, survived
the Massacre. In 1859 the two Dunlap girls were returned to their paternal
aunt Nancy Isabella (Dunlap), the wife of William C. Mitchell, in Marion
County, Arkansas. Nancy Jane (Wharton) Dunlap was 42 years old when she
died.
© 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
NANCY WHARTON DUNLAP, 42
*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
NANCY JANE (WHARTON) DUNLAP
